Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn

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Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn, “the king and queen of the banjo” (Paste Magazine), have a musical partnership like no other. Béla Fleck is an eighteen-time Grammy Award-winner who has taken the instrument across multiple genres, and Abigail Washburn a singer-songwriter and clawhammer banjo player who re-radicalized it by combining it with Far East culture and sounds.

On stage, Fleck & Washburn perform pieces from their Grammy-winning self-titled debut as well as their latest record, Echo in the Valley (2017).  With one eye on using the banjo to showcase America’s rich heritage and the other pulling the noble instrument from its most familiar arena into new and unique realms, Bela & Abigail meet in the mean, head-on, to present music that feels wildly innovative and familiar at the same time.  Whether at home, on stage or on record, their deep bond, combined with the way their distinct musical personalities and banjo styles interact, makes theirs a picking partnership unlike any other on the planet.

“Fleck & Washburn have the ability to transform the music to a level that speaks directly to the soul. Echo in the Valley is full of beautiful playing, singing and interesting songs. It magical to hear the mixture of sound coming from the various banjos and all the different styles and rhythms involved in album. Echo in the Valley will keep you totally interested every second of every song.” — Sylvannia Garutch, Elmore Magazine