Béla Fleck, the banjo visionary in groups like New Grass Revival and his own Béla Fleck and the Flecktones, will release his first bluegrass album in more than two decades. My Bluegrass Heart finds Fleck collaborating with a host of fellow pickers, including Molly Tuttle, Sierra Hull, and David Grisman. The musician previews the upcoming LP with “Charm School,” a thrilling eight-minute jam with Billy Strings and Chris Thile.
“’Charm School’ started out with a banjo tune in C, using loads of harmonics. ‘C harm.’ Get it?,” Fleck says in a statement. “In some ways, it’s the wildest and jammiest track on the album, and yet highly melodic and organized. I feel this was the perfect vehicle for this band and the perfect band for this song. And when you think about us musical dogs that sometimes need to go crazy, yet live in a world where we’re expected to follow the rules, maybe it’s the perfect title, too.”