Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn

This is not Dueling Banjos: The Married Couple Edition. You won't find the careening energy of the mano-a-mano from the Deliverance soundtrack, or of the Flatt and Scruggs classic "Foggy Mountain Breakdown." Outbreaks of dazzling, speed-demon technique are few.

Instead, the first duo recording from Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn — husband-and-wife banjo adventurers with divergent areas of specialty — is notable for its understated, welcoming calm. Across 11 short, carefully arranged slivers of Americana, Fleck and Washburn explore roots music using the tones and coloration options that arise when two banjos join in conversation. Sometimes the focus is on basic timekeeping, via the intricate arpeggios and latticework rhythm patterns associated with scores of banjo classics. Sometimes the two seek out moodier realms, among them the unique, entrancing drones common in rural blues.

1. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – Railroad
2. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – Ride To You
3. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – What’Cha Gonna Do
4. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – Little Birdie
5. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – New South Africa
6. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – Pretty Polly
7. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – Shotgun Blues
8. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – For Children: No. 3 Quasi Adag
9. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – And Am I Born To Die
10. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – Banjo Banjo
11. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – What Are They Doing In Heaven
12. Bla Fleck & Abigail Washburn – Bye Bye Baby Blues