via Pollstar
Béla Fleck and Punch Brothers’ “My Bluegrass Heart” tour stop at the Steven Tanger Center for the Performing Arts in Greensboro, North Carolina, shimmered like new light through an old window.
All the musicianship, improvisation and authenticity you would expect from a virtuoso cast of bluegrass performers was on full display during the Dec. 13 show, but so was a glimpse of the sunny disposition and future of the string-band, roots genre.
The tour is a celebration of Fleck’s September 2021 release, My Bluegrass Heart, which won a Grammy in 2022 for Best Bluegrass Album – Fleck’s 16th trophy. My Bluegrass Heart features appearances from a number of artists including Punch Brothers mandolinist Chris Thile. It is the third chapter in a trilogy of records that started in 1988 with Drive and The Bluegrass Sessions, which was released in 1991 and featured now-gone legends John Hartford, Vassar Clements and Earl Scruggs. After 24 years, the latest record is a 19-track, two-hour collection of non-traditional music adapted for a bluegrass band with 25 contributors.