Robert Crawford for ROLLING STONE – “Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn met at a square dance in Nashville. She was dancing. He was playing. Fifteen years later, they’ve built entwining careers — as well as a family — upon that initial encounter, touring the world together as a Grammy-winning, husband-and-wife folk duo.
The new video for “Take Me to Harlan” finds Fleck and Washburn revisiting the dynamic of their first evening spent in one another’s company. In the clip above, Fleck’s banjo provides the soundtrack for his wife’s clogging. She stomps, jumps and drags her feet against the ground, underscoring her vocal melody with an old-world Appalachian rhythm. Joining her are members of the dance troupe Pilobolus, whose headlamps cast stark, startling spotlights upon Washburn’s face during the video’s intro — a cover of the Depression-era union song “Come All You Coal Miners” — and whose legs work up a sweat during the song’s dance-heavy final stretch. Meanwhile, Fleck kicks up plenty of dust on his own, throwing claw-hammered riffs and jazz-influenced passing tones into his banjo playing. The result is a modern-day spin on age-old traditions, merging original roots music with classic choreography.”
Read the full article and watch the video on Rolling Stone
Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn on TKA