My Bluegrass Heart
My Bluegrass Heart gathers a large group around Béla Fleck's banjo. The music has bluegrass momentum and acoustic clarity but regularly takes less predictable routes. Arrangements leave room for exchanges, unexpected harmonies and substantial technical challenges. Audible enjoyment among the musicians generally keeps that ambition accessible. Their skill becomes more inviting when it serves a shared musical direction.
Vertigo begins with a quiet waltz movement before the instruments gather pace. Fiddle, mandolin, guitar and banjo each receive room within the same build. Melody connects the changes, making the piece more than a collection of solos.
Tony Trischka and Noam Pikelny join Fleck on Boulderdash. The banjo parts move quickly around one another while leaving the melodic line clear. Charm School connects an attractive tune with sharper harmonies. The playing stays mobile without losing its points of recognition.
The record can turn darker too. Hunter's Moon has greater tension and a more unsettled atmosphere, while the instruments remain carefully placed. That change offers another focus within the extensive programme. A strong moment need not be the fastest or busiest one.
Sometimes display overtakes the music. Slippery Eel piles up so many quick notes that the achievement becomes clearer than the melody. Such activity can become tiring across a long instrumental record. Quieter passages consequently provide more than an interruption.
Closer Psalm 136 makes that clear. Its harmonic colours and more restrained performance provide a particularly strong ending. My Bluegrass Heart is generous and occasionally overexcited, but offers much more than dexterity. Its best pieces connect the pleasure of playing together with compositions that remain interesting beyond their virtuoso delivery.
