For the first time in its 49-year history, the celebrated RockyGrass bluegrass festival will offer a dynamic livestream. Produced by award-winning NOCOAST TV, the high-definition stream, which features 8 cameras and stereo audio will be available July 23rd to 25th, 2021.

New song up now for GRAMMY nominated Joe Troop of Che Apalache. “Red, White & Blues” (feat. Tim O’Brien) is Joe’s homage to the difficult legacy of America. Folk Radio UK premiered the song today for 4th of July and Joe’s got some interesting thoughts on the holiday:

With a new president, vaccines rolling out, and massive cultural changes underway, most of us are looking for a moment just to breathe. But not Joe Troop. As the GRAMMY-nominated bandleader for Che Apalache, Troop didn’t stop even for a second as COVID ravaged a whole year’s worth of performance dates. Instead he took to the rural roads of North Carolina and the American South, pushing to get out the vote among rural progressives and interviewing those most affected by Trump’s horrific policies.

The Blind Boys of Alabama are gospel icons. Bela Fleck occupies a similarly lofty perch in the world of bluegrass. Together, they have earned 20 GRAMMY Awards and scores of other accolades. For Record Store Day 2021, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Bela Fleck have joined together on record for the first time to release a special 45RPM 7” to be released on Alabama-based label Single Lock Records.

Join the Bearded Banjo Santas Holiday Hang with Messrs. Béla Fleck, Alan Munde, and Tony Trischka.

From the North Pole, 15 strings will resound and conversation propels across great distances. Be sure not to miss the tintinnabulation as picks click strings on Wednesday, December 23, 8pm ET for an hour of fun and frolic.

Tune in to any of these Banjo Santas' Facebook page to watch! Donations will gladly be accepted for Action Against Hunger USA.

To celebrate Bela Fleck's most recent GRAMMY® nomination (!!) for Best Historical Album, they're screening the award-winning documentary Throw Down Your Heart this Friday on their Facebook and YouTube pages. The film will be followed by a live Q&A with Bela and director Sascha Paladino.

When you watch this Spread The Vote video you'll hear Béla Fleck's banjo and see his brother, Sascha's, animation. The two brothers teamed up with Spread The Vote to help people understand the directions for completing their ballots.

Béla and Sascha have teamed up before, most famously on the Throw Down Your Heart documentary.

World-renowned banjoist Béla Fleck and accomplished Malian kora master Toumani Diabaté debut a new song today (2/21), titled "Kauonding Sissoko,” off their upcoming new duo album The Ripple Effect. Available March 27th from Craft Recordings, The Ripple Effect will be available as a 180-gram 2-LP gatefold vinyl and also as part of a 3-CD/1-DVD collection, titled Throw Down Your Heart: The Complete Africa Sessions, which documents Béla’s remarkable journey across Africa to explore the banjo’s roots.

We've had so much fun playing together for the 30th Anniversary Tour that we decided to play even more shows together! Here are our upcoming dates. We have another run in the late Spring and Summer. Hope to see you at a show!

Perhaps Béla Fleck's most daring experiment in musical communication was a 2006 trip to Africa. Curious to explore the African roots of the banjo, and eager to play with African musicians on their home turf, Fleck took recording equipment along, as well as a film crew directed by his brother, Sascha Paladino. The result was Throw Down Your Heart, an award-winning documentary of the trip, as well as two albums: 2009’s Throw Down Your Heart: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3 – Africa Sessions, and Throw Down Your Heart, Africa Sessions Part 2, Unreleased Tracks, which was issued the following year.