Article Contributed by Gratefulweb
Published on 2026-09-30
Photo Credit: Jesse Borrell
Béla Fleck has released a live take of the beloved bluegrass staple “Tennessee,” featuring Billy Strings, a standout on Fleck’s upcoming album Live Heart: My Bluegrass Heart at the Ryman, out October 16 via Béla Fleck Productions/Thirty Tigers.
Listen to “Tennessee” here and watch the performance video. Also check out the previously released album opener, “Blue Mountain Hop.”
The 3LP/2CD set will be out October 16 via Béla Fleck Productions/Thirty Tigers and is available for pre-order HERE.
“In my opinion, Béla Fleck is one of the most important musicians of all time,” says Strings. “He bridges the gap between bluegrass, classical, jazz, world music, and everything in between. It seems like there’s no limit to what he can achieve on the banjo.”
“As a New York City kid who fell in love with Davy Crockett and had my own coonskin cap and fringe jacket, this song called out to me when I first heard Jimmy Martin’s classic version,” says Fleck. “I even moved to Tennessee and have lived there longer than my NYC days. There’s an amazing sense of closure to playing it live with Billy Strings taking Jimmy’s lead role, and the top players in the biz bringing their talent and depth of understanding of bluegrass to the table.”
On January 8, 2022, Béla Fleck and a multigenerational gang of musical heavy hitters came together at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to perform the songs they’d recorded together on his My Bluegrass Heart, which would shortly win the 2022 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.
Sam Bush, Michael Cleveland, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Sierra Hull, Edgar Meyer, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz, Billy Strings, Bryan Sutton, Tony Trischka, and Molly Tuttle, along with a sold-out crowd, arrived during a major East Coast blizzard.
“We somehow managed to take and own the stage that night,” says Fleck. “My amazing peers, friends, and iconic performers really brought the fire—I’m very proud to bring you this fantastic live performance.”
Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart band will be touring throughout 2026, including a special performance with Renée Fleming in support of their 2026 collaborative album, The Fiddle and the Drum. Fleming will be backed by Béla and the My Bluegrass Heart Band on December 3 at Carnegie Hall in New York City, with guest vocalist Aoife O’Donovan. Tickets are on sale now.
The icy weather totally stymied Chris Thile’s travel to Tennessee, leaving the original album ensemble one man short onstage. In the liner notes, Thile writes, “It killed me not to be there in the most hallowed hall in bluegrass that wintry night back in 2022, but this recording gives us all a front row seat to this balletic intergenerational relay race.”
My Bluegrass Heart is a homecoming for the 19-time Grammy winner—the third chapter in a decades-spanning bluegrass trilogy which, by his counting, started with 1988’s Drive and continued with The Bluegrass Sessions (1999). Over the long and lauded course of his unique creative run, 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.
Side A
Blue Mountain Hop
Vertigo featuring Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Bryan Sutton
This Old Road
Side B
Slippery Eel featuring Michael Cleveland and Billy Strings
Hug Point featuring Molly Tuttle
Round Rock featuring Michael Cleveland and Jerry Douglas
Old North Woods
Side C
Us Chickens
Tentacle Dragon (Revenge of the) featuring Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton
Psalm 136 featuring Sierra Hull
Side D
Strider featuring Sierra Hull and Molly Tuttle
Our Little Secret
Charm School featuring Sam Bush and Billy Strings
Side E
Wheels Up featuring Sierra Hull and Molly Tuttle
Hunter’s Moon
Baptist Pumpkin Farm
Side F
Boulderdash featuring Tony Trischka
When the Storm Is Over featuring Sam Bush
Dark As The Night, Blue As The Day featuring Sierra Hull and Molly Tuttle
Tennessee featuring Billy Strings
Sept 22 — Los Angeles, CA — Walt Disney Concert Hall, featuring Renée Fleming
Sept 26 & 27 — Santa Fe, NM — Lensing Performing Arts Center (Rhapsody in Blue)
Oct 8 — Clarksville, TN — Austin Peay State University
Oct 9 — Livingston, KY — The Moonshiner’s Ball
Oct 10 — St. Louis, MO — Sheldon Concert Hall
Oct 11 — Eureka Springs, AR — Hillberry Music Festival
Oct 13 — Columbus, GA — River Center PAC
Oct 14 — Gainesville, FL — University of Florida PAC
Oct 15 — Birmingham, AL — Alys Robinson Stephens PAC
Nov 3 — Stoughton, WI — Stoughton Opera House
Nov 4 — Evanston, IL — Cahn Auditorium
Nov 5 — Grand Rapids, MI — St. Cecilia Music Hall
Nov 6 — Brookfield, WI — Wilson Center
Nov 10 — Kent, OH — The Kent Stage
Nov 11 — Indianapolis, IN — Clowes Memorial Hall
Nov 12 — Royal Oak, MI — Royal Oak Music Theatre
Nov 13 — Toronto, ON — Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music
Nov 14 — Philadelphia, PA — Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Nov 15 — Old Saybrook, CT — The Kate
Dec 1 — Charlottesville, VA — The Paramount Theater
Dec 2 — Northampton, MA — Academy of Music Theatre
Dec 3 — New York, NY — Carnegie Hall, featuring Renée Fleming
Dec 4 — Concord, NH — Capitol Theatre
Dec 5 — Stowe, VT — Spruce Peak PAC
Dec 6 — Ithaca, NY — State Theater of Ithaca
Dec 7 — Munhall, PA — Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
Dec 10 — Puerto Morelos, QR — Strings & Sol
For more information, visit belafleck.com.
