When you watch this Spread The Vote video you'll hear Béla Fleck's banjo and see his brother, Sascha's, animation. The two brothers teamed up with Spread The Vote to help people understand the directions for completing their ballots.

Béla and Sascha have teamed up before, most famously on the Throw Down Your Heart documentary.

World-renowned banjoist Béla Fleck and accomplished Malian kora master Toumani Diabaté debut a new song today (2/21), titled "Kauonding Sissoko,” off their upcoming new duo album The Ripple Effect. Available March 27th from Craft Recordings, The Ripple Effect will be available as a 180-gram 2-LP gatefold vinyl and also as part of a 3-CD/1-DVD collection, titled Throw Down Your Heart: The Complete Africa Sessions, which documents Béla’s remarkable journey across Africa to explore the banjo’s roots.

We've had so much fun playing together for the 30th Anniversary Tour that we decided to play even more shows together! Here are our upcoming dates. We have another run in the late Spring and Summer. Hope to see you at a show!

Perhaps Béla Fleck's most daring experiment in musical communication was a 2006 trip to Africa. Curious to explore the African roots of the banjo, and eager to play with African musicians on their home turf, Fleck took recording equipment along, as well as a film crew directed by his brother, Sascha Paladino. The result was Throw Down Your Heart, an award-winning documentary of the trip, as well as two albums: 2009’s Throw Down Your Heart: Tales from the Acoustic Planet, Vol. 3 – Africa Sessions, and Throw Down Your Heart, Africa Sessions Part 2, Unreleased Tracks, which was issued the following year.

It takes a hell of a lot to get me to brave the absolute sardine-pack that is a sold-out Ogden Theatre in Denver for 3 consecutive nights. There are very few bands that would warrant something like that but Billy Strings is up there at the top of the shortlist.  Over the course of a cold weekend in December, the city of Denver was lucky enough to get to take part in the only three-night run of Billy Strings’ fall tour.

What better way to celebrate this winter season than with old friends? The Flecktones launch Part II of their 30th Anniversary tour, kicking it off tonight in Auburn, AL. The guys have revisited some classics, and worked up a new tune or two, and are ready to be back at it with you!

Catch us on our 30th Anniverary Tour - see you out there!
TICKETS HERE

On Tuesday, July 9 at the Birchmere outside of Washington, DC, some of the greatest performers in American roots music will celebrate the life of their friend, Eileen Carson Schatz.

“It’s time for us to gather around our dear friends Mark and Eileen, who are going through the toughest of things,” says Béla Fleck, who will be joined by Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Sierra Hull, Danny Paisley and Eileen’s husband, Mark Schatz.  “This benefit is way we can support them, and to let them know how important they both are in our community.”

For the first time in Flecktones history, both Jeff Coffin and Howard Levy will be in the group for a special show at the the inaugural Béla Fleck & The Flecktones: Friends & Family on May 30 at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Coffin, the former Flecktones’ woodwind player and current member of the Dave Matthews Band, will be performing with the band for the first time in a decade.

While Béla Fleck & The Flecktones were confirming the final dates on their most extensive tour in years, a hippo-shaped asteroid soared close to the earth (1.8 million miles, as reported by The Independent), as predicted by the band’s 1991 album Flight of the Cosmic Hippo.

On Saturday, December 22, a mile-long, hippo-shaped asteroid soared at a distance of 1.8 million miles from Earth, and a closer pass will not occur until 2070, reports The Independent.