Sparrow Quartet

I had the pleasure of catching Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet, featuring Bela Fleck, a few weeks ago. Of course I'm familiar with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones and have seen him many times in the past, but this was my first exposure to the Sparrow Quartet. I was completely blown away by the music.

The Quartet have just embarked on their first North American tour after touring China twice since 2005. To catch all up to speed, Abigail Washburn in a red-blooded American who found herself in China in the mid-nineties studying abroad. According to her website, she never intended on making a living out of music, but nonetheless ended up playing Appalachian tunes to an Asian audience.

Somehow she crossed paths with Bela Fleck, the genre-bending, arguably best banjo player on the planet. I'm still in the dark on all of the details. The mix of Chinese culture and Bluegrass seemed a bit strange at first, but as I soon realized, the two go together quite nicely.