Music Center at Strathmore (North Bethesda, MD)
The Music Center at Strathmore welcomes Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet. Washburn's innovative group, which fuses American and Chinese folk music traditions, features legendary banjo player Bela Fleck, a ten-time Grammy winner, plus Grammy-nominated fiddler Casey Driessen and cellist Ben Sollee. They recently performed at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
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This group is amazingly phenomenal. Tremendous musicality and massively creative.
Strathmore presents Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet featuring Béla Fleck.
As an “artist who best embodies the notion of Americana as a worldwide musical language” (The Tennessean), Abigail Washburn has created a new sound—a sound that challenges traditional notions of country and culture, embodied in the raw, transcendental music of the Sparrow Quartet. The all-star collaboration featuring acclaimed Grammy Award-winning banjoist Béla Fleck, cellist Ben Sollee and Grammy-nominated fiddler Casey Driessen will perform songs from their new album, Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet (May 2008 for Nettwerk).
Produced by Béla Fleck and composed/arranged by the unconventional foursome, this record is Abigail’s moment to “intentionally create art that is more than what I ever thought I was capable of,” says Washburn. The unprecedented combination of two banjos (clawhammer and three-finger-style), cello and five-string fiddle unfolds—live and on record—in a dreamlike chamber suite. Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet is an “intimate exploration of crossing global and cultural lines within myself,” says Abigail, who feels a reverence for both American and Chinese cultures. “As more and more people engage in this struggle for a new direction for the human spirit, we’ll recognize that we’re morphing into a global species.“
About the Musicians
Often considered the premier banjo player in the world, Béla Fleck has virtually reinvented the image and sound of the banjo in a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map. Aside from his long time group, Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, he recently journeyed across Africa to explore the origins of the banjo and record and shoot a documentary, Throw Down Your Heart, premiering at festivals nationwide this year. A 10-time Grammy winner, Béla has been nominated 25 times in the most diverse categories of any artist in Grammy history.
Born and raised in Kentucky, the young cellist and singer-songwriter Ben Sollee is changing the way people think of the cello. While Ben studied classically, receiving his degree from the University of Louisville in 2006, his soulful voice and style of playing reflect his deep connection to American roots music. Ben has toured and recorded with Avant Garde Blues man Otis Taylor. In 2007, NPR recognized Ben as one of the Great Unknown Artists of the year. His new solo album, Learning to Bend, was released in the summer of 2008.
Casey Driessen is a restless explorer and bold boundary crosser who listens for inspiration from Tennessee to Tibet. There’s no solace in safety for this remarkable 29-year-old. With his debut album 3D (Sugar Hill), this worldly instrumentalist and composer is able to show off a little, not merely as a fast and inventive fiddler, but as a visionary who translates his passion for tradition and improvisation into important new American music. This vision was recognized in 2007 with a Grammy nomination for Best Country Instrumental Performance for the track “Jerusalem Ridge.”
Prior to this new venture with the Sparrow Quartet, Abigail Washburn spent the past five years touring with Uncle Earl. The group released two records on the Rounder label, She Waits for Night (2005) and Waterloo, TN, (2007) the latter of which was produced by John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin. In the midst of touring with Uncle Earl, Washburn released her first solo debut, and bilingual album, Song of the Traveling Daughter, (Nettwerk) to much critical acclaim. In 2005, Abigail, cellist Ben Sollee, Béla Fleck on banjo, and Casey Driessen on fiddle toured China and the Quartet was born.
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