Banjo luminary Béla Fleck has released his latest album, Live Heart: My Bluegrass Heart at the Ryman, a triple-vinyl set documenting a historic night in music.
Catch Fleck performing My Bluegrass Heart later this year at Carnegie Hall on December 3), featuring Renée Fleming and Aoife O’Donovan, and in Ithaca at State Theater of Ithaca on December 6.
On January 8, 2022, Béla Fleck and a multigenerational gang of musical heavy hitters came together at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville to perform the songs they’d recorded together on his My Bluegrass Heart, which would shortly win the 2022 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.
Sam Bush, Michael Cleveland, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Sierra Hull, Edgar Meyer, Justin Moses, Mark Schatz, Billy Strings, Bryan Sutton, Tony Trischka, and Molly Tuttle, and a sold out crowd arrived during a major East Coast blizzard.
“We somehow managed to take and own the stage that night,” says Fleck, “My amazing peers, friends, and iconic performers really brought the fire—I’m very proud to bring you this fantastic live performance.”
“In my opinion, Béla Fleck is one of the most important musicians of all time,” says Billy Strings, who is featured on the Jimmy Martin classic, “Tennessee.” He bridges the gap between bluegrass, classical, jazz, world music, and everything in between. It seems like there’s no limit to what he can achieve on the banjo.”
“As a New York City kid who fell in love with Davy Crockett and had my own coonskin cap and fringe jacket, this song called out to me when I first heard Jimmy Martin’s classic version” says Fleck. “I even moved to Tennessee and have lived there longer than my NYC days. There’s an amazing sense of closure to playing it live with Billy Strings taking Jimmy’s lead roll, and the top players in the biz bringing their talent and depth of understanding of bluegrass to the table.”
The icy weather totally stymied Chris Thile’s travel to Tennessee, leaving the original album ensemble one man short onstage. In the liner notes, Thile writes, “It killed me not to be there in the most hallowed hall in bluegrass that wintry night back in 2022, but this recording gives us all a front row seat to this balletic intergenerational relay race.”
My Bluegrass Heart is a homecoming for the 19-time Grammy winner—the third chapter in a decades-spanning bluegrass trilogy which, by his counting, started with 1988’s Drive and continued with The Bluegrass Sessions (1999). Over the long and lauded course of his unique creative run, Fleck – the world’s premier banjo virtuoso and a celebrated musical adventurer – has both dug deep into his instrument’s complex global history and unlocked the breadth of its possibilities.
Fleck’s My Bluegrass Heart band will be touring throughout 2026, including a special performance with Renée Fleming in support of their 2026 collaborative album, The Fiddle and the Drum. Fleming will be backed by Béla and the My Bluegrass Heart Band on December 3 at Carnegie Hall in New York City, with guest vocalist Aoife O’Donovan. Tickets are on sale now.
On October 21, Béla will be a special guest on the live broadcast CMT Presents I Will Always Love You: A Celebration of Dolly Parton (9pm ET). Dolly was a guest on The Fiddle and the Drum—listen to their version of “In the Pines.”
Live Heart: My Bluegrass Heart at the Ryman Track Listing
Side A
Blue Mountain Hop
Vertigo featuring Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, and Bryan Sutton
This Old Road
Side B
Slippery Eel featuring Michael Cleveland and Billy Strings
Hug Point featuring Molly Tuttle
Round Rock featuring Michael Cleveland and Jerry Douglas
Old North Woods
Side C
Us Chickens
Tentacle Dragon (Revenge of the) featuring Billy Strings and Bryan Sutton
Psalm 136 featuring Sierra Hull
Side D
Strider featuring Sierra Hull and Molly Tuttle
Our Little Secret
Charm School featuring Sam Bush and Billy Strings
Side E
Wheels Up featuring Sierra Hull and Molly Tuttle
Hunter’s Moon
Baptist Pumpkin Farm
Side F
Boulderdash featuring Tony Trischka
When the Storm Is Over featuring Sam Bush
Dark As The Night, Blue As The Day featuring Sierra Hull and Molly Tuttle
Tennessee featuring Billy Strings
My Bluegrass Heart Tour Dates
Nov 3 Stoughton, WI Stoughton Opera House
Nov 4 Evanston, IL Cahn Auditorium
Nov 5 Grand Rapids, MI St. Cecilia Music Hall
Nov 6 Brookfield, WI Wilson Center
Nov 10 Kent, OH The Kent Stage
Nov 11 Indianapolis, IN Clowes Memorial Hall
Nov 12 Royal Oak, MI Royal Oak Music Theatre
Nov 13 Toronto, ON Koerner Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music
Nov 14 Philadelphia, PA Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts
Nov 15 Old Saybrook, CT The Kate
Dec 1 Charlottesville, VA The Paramount Theater
Dec 2 Northampton, MA Academy of Music Theatre
Dec 3 New York, NY Carnegie Hall, featuring Renée Fleming and Aoife O’Donovan
Dec 4 Concord, NH Capitol Theatre
Dec 5 Stowe, VT Spruce Peak PAC
Dec 6 Ithaca, NY State Theater of Ithaca
Dec 7 Munhall, PA Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall
Dec 10 Puerto Morelos, QR Strings & Sol
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