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Home » LISTEN: Bela Fleck My Bluegrass Heart Has The Mountain Stage Song Of The Week

Mallory Richards Published November 23, 2023 - 7:15 am

LISTEN: Bela Fleck My Bluegrass Heart Has The Mountain Stage Song Of The Week

Four people are seen performing music on a stage. — Bela Fleck My Bluegrass Heart performs during Mountain Stage's 39th anniversary.

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On this week’s encore episode of Mountain Stage, we revisit our 39^th anniversary celebration featuring Bela Fleck My Bluegrass Heart, The Brother Brothers, Alice Howe with Freebo, The Bing Brothers featuring Jake Krack, and a special appearance from West Virginia’s Poet Laureate Marc Harshman.

By our best count, Bela Fleck has appeared on Mountain Stage more than 15 times, including trips with his wife Abigail Washburn, alongside his band The Flecktones, small group performances with Edgar Myer, Zakir Hussain, Chris Thile and his very first, which occurred in 1989 as a member of New Grass Revival.

New Grass Revival, 1989, courtesy of Mountain Stage Archives.

Fleck’s most recent appearance is perhaps the most star-studded yet. Bela Fleck My Bluegrass Heart features the banjo master along with Sierra Hull on mandolin, Michael Cleveland on fiddle, bassist Mark Schatz, multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses, and guitarist Bryan Sutton. The corresponding album My Bluegrass Heart won top honors in the Bluegrass Album category at the 2022 Grammy awards.

Our Song of the Week is the opening track on that album, “Vertigo,” performed live on Mountain Stage.

Join us starting Friday, Nov. 24 on these public radio stations, and be sure to visit our podcast page for fresh episodes coming soon. Sign up for our e-mail updates to plan your trip to be a part of our radio audience.