Sunday Supper: Now and Then

What do we learn from artists who lean in multiple directions? Béla Fleck is a great example for me — he has won 19 Grammy awards in about nine genres, including bluegrass, country, pop, jazz, classical, folk, and spoken word, as well as his accomplishments as a composer, producer, and arranger.

Another such well-traveled musician is Renée Fleming, who is known for her incredible career in opera, but she’s also performed with the likes of Joe Jackson, Elton John, and Wayne Shorter. She has had non-classical releases in all genres: jazz (with Fred Hersch), rock (the songs of Peter Gabriel and Tears for Fears, among others), and Christmas releases (featuring Wynton Marsalis and Rufus Wainwright). Fleming also played the role of Nettie Fowler in the 2018 Broadway revival of Carousel. Until she resigned last year, Fleming was an artistic advisor at large for the Kennedy Center for the Arts in Washington D.C., and she is now an artist development advisor for the Wolf Trap Center.

Both Fleming and Fleck have come together for a new release, The Fiddle and the Drum, released in May on the Thirty Tigers label and recorded in Nashville with Fleck producing.

Renée grew up in rural Pennsylvania, with a grandfather who played fiddle and drums; she played piano and guitar on songs by Janis Ian and Jim Croce. As the gifted soprano dug deeper into musical history, she explored the nuances of traditional American folk and Appalachian performance. For The Fiddle and the Drum, Renée reached out to Dolly Parton for a cover of the traditional folk song “In the Pines," which became the album's first single (and one of Parton's last releases before her death in August). Fleming had previously performed "In the Pines" on Elvis Costello’s 2010 "Spectacle" television show on the Sundance channel.

In addition to Parton, other guests on this new album include Vince Gill, Jerry Douglas, Aoife O’Donovan, Sierra Hull and Sarah Jarosz. Fleming teamed up with Fleck and his top-notch band for a Tiny Desk Concert for NPR this summer (along with Hull on mandolin) for a set that included “In the Pines,” “He’s Gone Away,” and “Blackest Crow."  

Fleming and Fleck will perform at Americanafest in Nashville on September 15 and together at New York's Carnegie Hall on December 3.

Also, a happy belated birthday wish to Loudon Wainwright III, who turned 80 on September 5. Loudon is someone I’ve admired enormously, from his self-titled 1970 debut up to his most recent release, 2022's Lifetime Achievement. He’s had his share of hits along the way, but also a slew of songs about his entire family and the tortured state of politics. 

Now he’s calling on family and friends for an sold-out "80th Birthday Jubilee" concert at the Town Hall in New York on September 12 with a lineup that includes his children— Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright and Lucy Wainwright-Roche — his ex-wife Suzzy Roche, and friends like Judd Apatow, Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, Van Dyke Parks, Joe Henry, John Scofield and special guests. 

I was reminded of a full-length video of Loudon in performance, that consummate storyteller, recorded exclusively for Falcon Ridge Folk Festival last summer, with my introduction — a privilege to do so!