Béla Fleck and Renée Fleming are both known to be musical shapeshifters, despite their illustrious reputations in their own musical fields. Fleming is a beloved and acclaimed opera singer; Fleck is perhaps the most prominent banjo player in the world. Across their careers, separately, they have each employed a great deal of experimentation, exploration, and cross-pollination, surprising listeners and fans at many turns with projects, offerings, and recordings outside of their perceived “home” genres. Together, they’ve done just the same with their collaborative album, The Fiddle and the Drum, which Fleck produced. It’s a striking collection of bluegrass, Americana, folk, and is built around songs with sweeping, emotive stories – and an incredible roster of pickers from Fleck’s orbit.
In support of the album, the pair released an NPR Tiny Desk Concert together, again assembling a fantastic band of Michael Cleveland (fiddle), Sierra Hull (mandolin), Mark Schatz (bass), and Jake Stargel (guitar) alongside Fleck on banjo. Together they perform three tracks from The Fiddle and the Drum, giving a sampling of their organic and grounded blending of styles – and the traditional, familiar material they’ve leveraged to do so. Fleming’s instrument feels right at home alongside her bluegrass cohort as she renders iconic songs from the American songbook and bluegrass canon like “Storms Are On the Ocean,” “In the Pines,” and “Blackest Crow.” You can easily trace Fleck’s personality throughout the arrangements and production of the album, but primarily his role in these contexts is service to Fleming’s skills, and the songs they curated together.
“I think we all have a tendency to pigeonhole people and put them into a black-and-white kind of a concept,” Fleck explained to BGS in an exclusive conversation with Fleming published earlier this year. “You know, ‘They do this, they don’t do that,’ but people are nuanced and love all kinds of things…” You can tell both musicians take real joy and find genuine artistic fulfillment in flouting these sorts of black-and-white expectations. And while listeners may assume Fleming is new to these genres and subgenres, she displays a deep knowledge of the formats and shares a love for folk and bluegrass that goes way back, telling us, “I’m a huge fan now of Hazel Dickens, and you, [Béla], said that you had worked with her. Because there’s something so plaintive about the way she sings, it’s like Roscoe Holcomb, too. There’s something– I can’t describe it. It’s authentic and it’s immediate simplicity. I just absolutely love it.” You can hear that adoration in her own vocal stylings, too.
Since the album’s release in May, Fleck and Fleming have been making limited appearances together across the country with lineups such as this all-star backing band, billed as My Bluegrass Heart. In June they performed at the iconic Telluride Bluegrass Festival; this month they’ll take the show to Chautauqua Institution – where their multivalent artistic approach will be right at home. Look for a special performance in September at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville; in December they’ll headline the one-and-only Carnegie Hall. For those of us who may not be so lucky as to catch one of their too-rare live performances, this Tiny Desk Concert is a perfect window into the live, off-the-cuff versions of these lovely songs.
Dive into the world of The Fiddle and the Drum with our in-depth conversation with Béla Fleck and Renée Fleming here.
