NextThreeDays: Event Display

Talk: "Bluegrass Roots"
Venue: Creativity and Innovation District LLC Building (Virginia Tech), Blacksburg
Directions: Google Map Link
Organizations: Béla Fleck, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Date: Saturday, September 19, 2026
Time: 4:00 - 5:00 PM
Event Types: Music, Speaking Engagements
Cost: Free

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Description:
The Center for the Arts at Virginia Tech presents the talk "Bluegrass Roots" on Saturday, September 19, 2026 at the Creativity and Innovation District LLC Building on the campus of Virginia Tech.

Before they take the stage at the Center for the Arts, join award-winning musicians Béla Fleck, Michael Cleveland, and Dominick Leslie for a conversation about the evolution of bluegrass and its enduring roots in Appalachian music.

Just in case you aren’t familiar with Bela Fleck, there are some who say he’s the world’s premier banjo player. Others claim that Béla has virtually reinvented the image and the sound of the banjo through a remarkable performing and recording career that has taken him all over the musical map and on a range of solo projects and collaborations. If you are familiar with Béla, you know that he just loves to play the banjo, and put it into unique settings.

The recipient of multiple Grammy Awards and nominations going back to 1998, Béla Flecks’ total Grammy count is 15 Grammys won with 30 nominations. He has been nominated in more categories than any instrumentalist in Grammy history.

After graduation he joined the Boston-based bluegrass band Tasty Licks and recorded two albums with the group. In 1979 Fleck made his solo recording debut with Crossing the Tracks. He then toured with the Kentucky-based band Spectrum before joining the progressive bluegrass group New Grass Revival (NGR), with which he performed and recorded throughout the 1980s. While with NGR he also produced a number of solo albums, including the highly acclaimed Drive (1988). Following the release of NGR’s final album, Friday Night in America (1989), Fleck recorded The Telluride Sessions (1989), a landmark bluegrass album, with the all-star acoustic group Strength in Numbers. By this time Fleck’s technical proficiency on the banjo and his adventurous musical experimentation had earned him an international following.

Meanwhile, in 1988, Fleck assembled the Flecktones, the group with which he would record most consistently for the next two decades. In all of its manifestations, the Flecktones blended elements of bluegrass, jazz, rock, rhythm and blues, and world music on albums. The original Flecktones reunited for the first time in almost two decades for Rocket Science (2011), a Grammy Award-winning collection that was equally playful and provocative.

Between Flecktones recordings, Fleck continued to enrich his musical palette. While collaborating with numerous musicians, such as bassist and cellist Edgar Meyer and Indian tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain, he also ventured into classical music with the release of Perpetual Motion, a compilation of interpretations of works by Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and others. In 2005 he made a pilgrimage to the birthplace of the banjo, sub-Saharan Africa, where he studied, recorded, and performed with an array of locally prominent traditional and popular musicians. The trip yielded the documentary Throw Down Your Heart (2008) and its companion album Throw Down Your Heart: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3 (2009).

He joined clawhammer banjo player Abigail Washburn on Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet (2008), a bold experiment that fused American roots music and traditional Chinese folk songs. Fleck and Washburn were later married, and the two frequently performed and recorded together.

Links:

• https://www.belafleck.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/belafleckbanjo
• https://www.twitter.com/belafleckbanjo
• http://www.instagram.com/belafleckbanjo

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper is based in Indiana and has been awarded the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) 4-Time Instrumental Group of the Year led by 9-Time IBMA Fiddle Player Michael Cleveland.

Considered one of the premier bluegrass fiddlers of his generation, Mike Cleveland picked up a fiddle at age four, and his talent was recognized early. In 1993 he was chosen to be part of the Bluegrass Youth All Stars at the IBMA's award show. Later that year Mike made his Grand Ole Opry debut as a guest of Alison Krauss.

His list of guest appearances over the years is a who's who of bluegrass legends including Bill Monroe, Jim and Jesse, Ralph Stanley, Mac Wiseman, Doc Watson, Larry Sparks, Doyle Lawson, and J.D. Crowe. After high school Mike briefly toured with then-named Dale Ann Bradley and Coon Creek before joining Rhonda Vincent and The Rage in 2000. At the 2001 IBMA awards, Mike took his first Fiddle Player of the Year award, and shared the title of Entertainer of the Year with Rhonda Vincent and the Rage. He’s lent his skills to two Grammy-winning albums, and his most recent project with Flamekeeper, On Down the Line, is at the top of the bluegrass charts for 2015.

Other members of Flamekeeper include talented musicians Nathan Livers, Tyler Griffith, Joshua Richards and Cody Looper.

Links:

• http://flamekeeperband.com/
• https://www.facebook.com/mcflamekeeper
• https://www.twitter.com/MCFlamekeeper

Admission is free though registration is required.

To register, visit: https://tickets.artscenter.vt.edu/online/seatSelect.asp?createBO::WSmap=1&BOparam::WSmap::loadBestAvailable::performance_ids=BD896D2E-9BCC-4D3C-8C08-F67865B94DC1.

The Creativity and Innovation District LLC Building is located at 185 Kent Street in Blacksburg, VA on the campus of Virginia Tech.

For more information, visit: https://artscenter.vt.edu/experiences/talk-bela-fleck.html or https://www.facebook.com/artscenteratvt or https://www.instagram.com/artscenteratvt/ or call 540-231-5300.