Béla Fleck performs in the Bluegrass Happening at the Adler Theatre -- June 22.
Wednesday, June 22, 7 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
Embarking on his first national bluegrass tour in 24 years, legendary musician Béla Fleck and his My Bluegrass Heart ensemble bring the Bluegrass Happening celebration to Davenport's Adler Theatre on June 22, treating fans to a night of talents that – adding tour performers Sam Bush and the Jerry Douglas Band – have netted an astounding 70-plus Grammy nominations and more than 30 wins.
After graduating from high school, the 63-year-old Fleck moved to Boston and became a member of the group Tasty Licks, with whom he recorded two albums. He released his solo debut Crossing the Tracks in 1979, a recording that was named Best Overall Album by Frets magazine, and in 1981, he formed the band Spectrum alongside guitarist Glen Lawson and mandolinist Jimmy Gaudreau. That same year, Sam Bush asked Fleck to join New Grass Revival, which whom he would play for nine years. In 1987 Fleck recorded another solo album, Drive, which was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1988 for Best Bluegrass Album, and during the remainder of the '80s, Fleck and Bush also performed live with Doc Watson and Merle Watson in bluegrass festivals, most notably the annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival.
An acclaimed virtuoso, Fleck is an innovative and technically proficient pioneer and ambassador of the banjo, bringing the instrument from its bluegrass roots to jazz, classical, rock and various world music genres. Over the course of his decades-long career, has won 15 Grammy Awards and been nominated 33 times, making Fleck nominated in more diverse categories than any other musician in history. In 2020, he was also inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival, and as the subject of the 2008 documentary Throw Down Your Heart, a film crew follows Fleck on his travels to Africa, where he collaborates with some of the continent's finest musicians and researches the African origins of the banjo. For the Bluegrass Happening celebration at the Adler Theatre, Fleck will be accompanied by his talented My Bluegrass Heart musicians: fiddler Michael Cleveland, mandolinist Sierra Hull, multi-instrumentalist Justin Moses, bassist/multi-instrumentalist Mark Schatz, and guitarist Bryan Sutton.
A mandolin player who is considered an originator of progressive bluegrass music, Sam Bush was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame as a member of New Grass Revival alongside Fleck in 2020. One of the founding members of that music outfit, Bush was named Mandolin Player of the Year by the Bluegrass Music Association four times, and in 2009, he received the Lifetime Achievement citation for Instrumentalist award at the 8th Annual Americana Honors & Awards ceremony. With Bush sharing an Album of the Year Grammy Award for the Coen brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? Soundtrack, the artist was also awarded Grammys for Best Country Performance by a Duo with Vocal (with Emmylou Harris and Nash Ramblers) in 1992 and Best Pop Instrumental Performance (with Bela Fleck and the Flecktones) in 1996. Like Fleck, Bush is also the subject of a documentary: 2015's Revival: The Sam Bush Story, which features commentary from talents including Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris, David Grisman, Ricky Skaggs, the Avett Brothers, and, of course, Béla Fleck.
A gifted Dobro and lap-steel guitar player and record producer, the leader of the Jerry Douglas Band has been nominated for 32 Grammy Awards, winning 14. Additionally, Douglas has received the Country Music Association's Musician of the Year award three times (in 2002, 2005, and 2007), and the artist is a 10-time recipient of the International Bluegrass Music Association Dobro Player of the Year Award. In 2004, the National Endowment for the Arts awarded Douglas a National Heritage Fellowship, which is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts, and four years later, he was named Artist in Residence for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. At the 36th annual Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Douglas was celebrated for his 25th consecutive year of playing, and in 2016, the musician received the Bluegrass Star Award, an honor bestowed upon bluegrass artists who do an exemplary job of advancing traditional bluegrass music and bringing it to new audiences while preserving its character and heritage.
The Bluegrass Happening featuring Béla Fleck and My Bluegrass Heart, Sam Bush, and the Jerry Douglas Band comes to Davenport on June 22, admission to the 7 p.m. concert event is $44-79, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting AdlerTheatre.com.
