Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn
Overture Center-Capitol Theater 201 State St., Madison, Wisconsin 53703
Grammy-winning, banjo-shredding, married couple Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn are known for taking bluegrass into the 21st century. Their new album Echo in the Valley uses only banjos and Washburn’s gritty vocals to to create a mix of traditional covers and genre-bending, janglin’ tunes. These Appalachian-infused tracks blend Chinese folk music, jazz, prog rock, classical and everything in between, creating a unique blend of world-music supported by their renowned expertise on their banjos.
press release:
Presented by Frank Productions and True Endeavors
Doors 7:00pm | Show 8:00pm
Tickets on-sale WEDNESDAY, December 20, 2017 at 11:00am at Overture.org, 608-258-4141, and at the Overture Center Box Office. $59.50 | $44.50 | $34.50
On stage, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn will perform pieces from their Grammy-winning self-titled debut as well as their new record, Echo in the Valley (Rounder 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, Béla & 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.
"Two of the world’s most accomplished and innovative banjo players happen to be a married couple: Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn. They both push far beyond the bluegrass expectations of their chosen instrument: toward Africa, Asia, jazz and math-rock. Echo in the Valley, their second duet album, is both constrained — only what the duo can play and sing live in real time — and audacious as it traverses a world of possibilities.” - Jon Pareles, The New York Times
"As musicians and as songwriters, Fleck and Washburn are predisposed to embrace the entire world — its sounds and its occupants alike. Echo in the Valley ties the many threads of their interests into a work that dazzles without sacrificing a shred of approachability.” - Stephen Thompson, NPR Music