Events

[ROOTS] Fifteen-time Grammy award winner Bela Fleck tends to be thought of as the world’s premiere banjo guy and his ongoing partnership with Abigail Washburn is a compelling musical alliance that’s got one foot in tradition and the other in something much more innovative. For their second disc together, Echo in the Valley, they pushed a little harder on the edges of the template established with 2016’s self-titled set, and they laid some ground-rules: all sounds must be created by the two of them, the only instruments used are banjos (they have seven between them, ranging from a ukulele to an upright bass banjo), and they must be able to perform every recorded song live. This flies in the face of the smoke-and-mirrors M.O. that many artists use in the studio, which often leads to creating music that – however pleasing – cannot be replicated on stage without some digital trickery. The pair met over a dozen years back at a square dance and fell in love, and their chemistry really translates into their professional relationship. Unlike the 2016 album, Echo in the Valley features collaboratively written originals amid a few traditional choices, thus making it truly a duo record from all angles. They’re at Babeville’s Asbury Hall on Wednesday, April 3.