My Bluegrass Heart, out September 10, 2021 on Renew Records, is that return the 15-time Grammy winner has been talking about –
the third chapter in a decades-spanning trilogy which, by his counting, started with 1988’s Drive and continued with The Bluegrass Sessions, released eleven years later. Over the long and lauded course of his unique creative run, Béla Fleck — the world’s premier banjo virtuoso and a celebrated musical adventurer — has both dug deep into his instrument’s complex global history and unlocked the breadth of its possibilities. My Bluegrass Heart is a homecoming in sound, to be sure.
My Bluegrass Heart is vividly collaborative, and part of Fleck’s talent as a leader is encouraging his bandmates to shine. If the band is an amalgamation of generations, ideas and style, the songs are maybe even more so. It’s not a straight bluegrass album, but it’s written for a bluegrass band.
