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Distilling the musical legacy of the Grateful Dead into one night is no small feat, and into three hours is an even taller order. But Don Was — longtime president of Blue Note Records, respected multi-instrumentalist and musical director for the Jan. 31 MusiCares Persons of the Year event — was up to the task, curating an inspired lineup of devotees, including Billy Strings, The War on Drugs, Norah Jones, Dwight Yoakam, Maren Morris, Noah Kahan and Wynonna Judd, and longtime collaborators like John Mayer, Bruce Hornsby and Was himself, who’s a touring member of Bob Weir’s Wolf Bros playing his signature upright bass.

As Was tells it, the set list came together organically, with the artists choosing which songs to play in concert with show producer Rac Clark and MusiCares’ Laura Segura. The end result ran the gamut from the popular (“Truckin’,” performed by Yoakam) to the ambitious (“Terrapin Station...

More than 15 Grammy Week events sponsored by the Recording Academy and many other Grammy-related parties were canceled this year due to January’s devastating Los Angeles fires, with the actual Grammy ceremony, which will still take place on Sunday, Feb. 2, pivoting to focus on raising funds for wildfire relief. But Friday’s MusiCares Persons of the Year Gala, honoring 2007 Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award recipients the Grateful Dead, went on as planned. And the annual charitable event actually felt more celebratory than ever, providing much-needed release and escape on the final night of a particularly rough month.

“Their fans are legendary, and their values — community, resilience, generosity — all align with the MusiCares mission,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. said of the beloved psychedelic jam band Friday. “They remind us that music is a force for good. This year, though, honoring them carries extra special community. L.A. is home to an incredible music community,...

India took centre stage at the 66th Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, after Zakir Hussain was named the Best Global Music Performance for his work in ‘Pashto’ alongside Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer, featuring Rakesh Chaurasia.

Shankar Mahadevan took home the award for Best Global Music Album at the Grammys for ‘This Moment’.

Taking to X, Grammys shared the post and wrote: “Congrats Best Global Music Album winner – ‘This Moment’ Shakti. #GRAMMYs.”

In a post on X, Indian music composer Ricky Kej, said that this is a great year for India at the Grammys.

He wrote: “Ustad Zakhir Hussain, the living legend creates history by winning 3 Grammys in one night!!! Rakesh Chaurasia wins 2!! .. and I am blessed to witness it,” he wrote.

Kej added: “Shakti wins a Grammy! Through this album 4 brilliant Indian musicians win Grammys!! Just amazing. India is shining in every direction. Shankar Mahadevan, Selvaganesh Vinayakram, Ganesh Rajagopalan,...

To mark what would have been David Bowie’s 77th birthday today, Wilco have shared their live rendition of the music icon’s “Space Oddity.”

The cover was recorded during the band’s visit to Mountain Stage, NPR Music, and West Virginia Public Broadcasting’s long-running live radio show and features as the opening track on an upcoming compilation highlighting performances from the series.

“As a gratefully, if not begrudgingly, Earth-bound band, it’s always an honor and a challenge to tackle any of David Bowie’s space-soaring arrangements,” Wilco said in a statement.

Monday, January 8th, would’ve been David Bowie’s 77th birthday. To mark the occasion, Wilco has shared their rendition of Bowie’s 1969 hit, “Space Oddity.”

The release hails from Wilco’s 2023 performance on Mountain Stage (a public radio show distributed by NPR Music), and will be included on an upcoming compilation announced today titled Live On Mountain Stage: Outlaws and Outliers, due on April 19th via Oh Boy Records.

Presenting a wonderfully Wilco-esque take on “Space Oddity” — itself named the 43rd best song of all time by Consequence in 2012 — the band settles into an acoustic arrangement, allowing Jeff Tweedy’s vocals to masterfully convey the tune’s enduring appeal for humanity.

Speaking about the performance in a statement, the band said: “As a gratefully, if not begrudgingly, Earth-bound band, it’s always an honor and a challenge to tackle any of David Bowie’s space-soaring arrangements. Striving to reach...

Béla Fleck came away the big winner at Thursday night’s 33rd annual International Bluegrass Music Association awards in Raleigh, North Carolina, winning Album of the Year for My Bluegrass Heart. The banjo virtuoso also won Instrumental Group of the Year, Banjo Player of the Year, and Instrumental Recording of the Year.

“Things grow and they change,” Fleck tells Rolling Stone backstage at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in downtown Raleigh. “You are just part of an evolution, and you just have to do your best to...

The Mountain Goats, Los Lobos, and Rickie Lee Jones are among the acts set to appear at the always intriguing Big Ears Festival, returning to Knoxville, Tennessee, from March 30 through April 2, 2023.

The 2023 festival — which is held at a variety of venues around Knoxville — will also feature performances from Andrew Bird, Iron and Wine, Devendra Banhart, the Weather Station, Kvin Morby, Bonny Light Horseman, and Son Lux. Famed banjo player Béla Fleck will also be on hand, as will jazz artists Charles Lloyd, Christian McBride, and William Parker.

Additionally, Big Ears...

Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, and Dolly Parton were among the names called when the 33rd annual Ibma Bluegrass Music Awards were announced on Tuesday in Nashville. Strings will compete in six categories, Tuttle in five, and Parton in two when the 2022 IBMAs are held Sept. 29 at the Duke Energy Center for the Performing Arts in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Strings and Tuttle compete against each other in four categories: Guitar Player of the Year, Album of the Year, Instrumental Group of the Year, and the top prize of Entertainer of the Year.

The Grammys, unlike the usually more-or-less accurately forecasted Oscars, are always full of surprises, this year hardly being any exception. Jon Batiste receiving a leading five wins? Who saw that coming — except for anyone who saw him coming in with a leading 11 nominations and figured the math might translate?

But that arithmetic did not carry over for the highly nominated Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X, who went home empty-handed, or produce the results quite expected for Olivia Rodrigo and the Tony Bennett/Lady Gaga teaming.

Meanwhile, during the pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony presentation, live-streamed on the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel, there were other kind of surprises including some seemingly honest confusion about given names and gender involving best new artist nominee and pre-telecast presenter Arlo Parks and veteran bluegrass picker (and pre-telecast winner) Bela Fleck. After all, the Grammys are one very, very long day for all involved.

Here...

Brothers Osborne, nine-time nominees, won their first career Grammy award during Sunday’s streaming Grammy Premiere Ceremony. The duo of Tj and John Osborne won Best Country/Duo Group Performance for their introspective song “Younger Me,” written shortly after the duo’s singer Tj Osborne came out as a gay man.

“I never thought I would be able to do music professionally because of my sexuality and I never thought I would be on this stage accepting a Grammy,” Tj said, his voice cracking.

“I want to thank my younger self for pursuing this,...

J.D. Crowe, a pioneering banjo player with his progressive bluegrass group the New South, died Friday morning, according to a post on the musician’s Facebook page. He was 84.

“This morning at around 3 a.m. our dad, Jd Crowe, went home,” Crowe’s family wrote. “Prayers needed for all during this difficult time.”

A seminal figure in the bluegrass world, Crowe was a disciple of Earl Scruggs and played banjo in Scruggs’ three-fingered style. Yet he was also an experimentalist and pushed the genre outside of its traditional, at times constrictive,...

Chris Stapleton and Mickey Guyton were the top nominees in the country music categories when the Grammy Awards announced their nominations on Tuesday. Stapleton and Guyton will compete in the same three categories: Best Country Solo Performance, Best Country Song, and Best Country Album.

Stapleton’s nominations come on the strength of his album Starting Over, which is nominated for Best Country Album. His recording of “You Should Probably Leave” is up for Best Country Solo Performance, while “Cold” competes for Best Country Song. Guyton’s debut LP Remember Her...

Hopping off the tailgate of his Sprinter touring van, Billy Strings readies himself for a rollicking set at the inaugural Railbird festival in Lexington, Kentucky. The six-string virtuoso grabs his guitar and tunes up, running through a few signature licks.

Strings sits back down and observes the other bands and festivalgoers milling about backstage. You can see it in his eyes: he’s engaged in a constant stream of thought as his fingers move up and down the fretboard. But that’s Strings — always watching. He takes those observations and...

As a young man, Che Apalache leader Joe Troop left his native North Carolina and spent time working and playing music in other parts of the world — Spain, Morocco, and Japan, before settling in Argentina. He’s lived the immigrant experience as an American abroad, and that instilled in him a great amount of empathy for anyone attempting to do likewise in the States.

“People will talk about you in front of you, as if you weren’t there,” says Troop. “Being an immigrant takes a lot of courage.”

Troop...

One of the most awarded fiddle players in bluegrass, Michael Cleveland is joined by a staggering group of music legends on the forthcoming LP Tall Fiddler, out August 23rd. With Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Del McCoury, Dan Tyminski, the Travelin’ McCourys, Tim O’Brien, Bela Fleck, guitarist Tommy Emmanuel, and Cleveland’s band Flamekeeper providing incendiary support throughout, the 11-time Ibma Fiddle Player of the Year unleashes a variety of styles, from high-energy instrumental jams to some mischievous Memphis rock and soul, courtesy of the John Hiatt classic “Tennessee Plates.

Nominations for the 2019 International Bluegrass Music Association Awards were announced Wednesday morning. With a total of 24 nominations among them, this year’s nominees for the Ibma Entertainer of the Year are Balsam Range, Sam Bush Band, the Earls of Leicester, Del McCoury Band, and Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers. The winners in this and other categories, including Album of the Year, individual vocal and instrumental exellence, and Song of the Year (with a surprising seven nominees because of a tie) will be revealed at the 2019 International Bluegrass Music Awards on September 26th.

Artists representing traditional, contemporary and boundary-stretching styles are among the list of this year’s nominees for the International Bluegrass Music Awards, announced today at a Nashville press conference. In another banner year for women in bluegrass, the top nominees, with an impressive six nods each, are fiddle-playing singer-songwriter Becky Buller, the first-ever woman named Ibma Fiddle Player of the Year in 2016, and Molly Tuttle, who in 2017 earned an Ibma honor as Guitar Player of the Year, the first female artist to win in that category.

Also recognized among the...

Attendees of the 39th annual Montreal International Jazz Festival likely all had a familiar refrain in mind: the heat is on. The fest, which runs June 28 to July 7, faced summer temperatures well into the 90s this week, but jazz fanatics, party people, families and tourists alike are braving the weather to enjoy a wide range of musical entertainment and outdoor spectacles.

High profile performers like Ry Cooder, Seal, Snarky Puppy and saxophone sensation Kamasi Washington brought their big stage shows to appreciative audiences, along with veteran jazz stalwarts like Archie Shepp and guitarist Al Di Meola. Performing American rockers like George Thorogood, Ben Harper and the jam-friendly Bela Fleck and the Flecktones were all honored with great hospitality and presented with official festival awards.

Singer/guitarist Ry Cooder appeared at the Théâtre Maisonneuve on Friday night, showcasing his unique spin on American roots music and playing the blues with style and grace.

MerleFest, presented by Window World, finished its 31st year on a high note with an unparalleled performance by the Steep Canyon Rangers, special guest Steve Martin, and surprise appearances from Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown, Bryan Sutton, and Jens Kruger of the Kruger Brothers.

Early estimates show that from its start on Thursday, April 26, to its close on Sunday, April 29, participation over the festival’s four days exceeded 75,000 attendees and artists from across the world. MerleFest, held on the campus of Wilkes Community College, is the primary fundraiser for the Wcc Foundation, which funds scholarships, capital projects, and other educational needs.

More than 120 incredible performers contributed to the success of this year’s festival, some as returning artists and some as newcomers. In addition to The Steep Canyon Rangers and Friends with special guest Steve Martin, this year’s lineup included Kris Kristofferson, Jamey Johnson, The Mavericks, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn,...

We have to give Taylor Swift some major props. During Wednesday (Nov. 6) night's 2013 Cma Awards, she performed a lovely acoustic version of her hit song "Red." It was pretty and quiet and super amazing. What made it super amazing? 

Taylor had probably The Ultimate Country Music Backup Band ever.  Ever. And to have the ability to have this kind of band backing her up at her age, and at this early place in her career in Nashville is pretty amazing.  Where does she go from here? Seriously?

Alison Krauss - Lead singer of Alison Krauss and Union Station as well as her albums with rock superstar Robert Plant and half of the "O Brother Where Art Thou?" soundtrack.

Vince Gill - With over 40 charted country singles in 30 years of music-making, Vince Gill has earned 20 Grammy Awards, more than any other male country music artist. He's Vince Gill. Vince. Gill. And...

Raindance have just announced their line-up for their 20th annual film festival. The 2012 festival will, like every year showcase some of the best independent movies that we can expect in the coming year and beyond. Raindance 2012 will take place 26th September to 7th October at the Apollo Cinema, Piccadilly Circus in London. This year we can expect to see 105 features, more than 138 shorts, 64 UK Premieres, 13 International Premieres, 5 European Premieres, 19 World Premieres and 24 Directorial Debuts from 38 countries.

Scroll down to see the full press release as well as all the feature films that will be showing at the festival. To find out more, click here to visit their official site.

Opening the festival on Wednesday 26th September is the International Premiere of Here Comes The Devil a powerful fantasy horror from Mexico. Shot in Tijuana, a married couple lose their children while on a family trip near some caves in Tijuana.

Jill Sprecher's comic thriller, "The Convincer," has lost a lot since it premiered at Sundance seven months ago. The film lost its original title; it's now called "Thin Ice." The film lost its editor, Stephen Mirrione, who won an Oscar for his work on "Traffic." The film lost its composers, Emmy-winner Alex Wurman and Grammy-winner Bela Fleck. And it has lost its filmmakers, writer-director Jill Sprecher and her sister/co-writer Karen ...

The third and fourth dates of Dave Matthew Band Caravan's multi-artist festivals will take place at New York City’s Governors Island, Aug. 26-28, and at the Gorge (Wash.) Amphitheater Sept. 2-4. Guests for the New York City event include The Roots, Gogol Bordello, Josh Ritter, Robert Randolph, Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Dispatch, and Vieux Farka Toure. The Gorge dates will include many of the same acts as well as Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, The Belle Brigade and more. Dave Matthews Band will play a full set every night. Two previous Caravan stops in Atlantic City and Chicago have...

Wiz Khalifa, the Strokes, Mumford & Sons and the Black Keys also set to appear at Bonnaroo.

By James Montgomery

Eminem

Photo: Kevin Mazur/ WireImage

On Tuesday (February 15), organizers announced the lineup for the 2011 Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival, set for June 9-12 in Manchester, Tennessee. And, boy, it's going to be interesting to hear the purists' take on this year's bill.

Browse photos of the 2011 Bonnaroo performers.

Unlike earlier, decidedly crunchy editions of the fest, the 2011 lineup is topped by two of the hugest hip-hop acts in the business — Eminem and Lil Wayne — along with newly crowned Grammy champs Arcade Fire and the Black Keys. Other acts on the bill include Mumford & Sons, the Strokes, the Decemberists, Florence and the Machine, Big Boi, Wiz Khalifa and Robyn.

Of course, there are still some nods to Bonnaroo's roots: Fest vets Widespread Panic return once again, as do My Morning Jacket and the String Cheese Incident.

Parliament-Funkadelic bassist Bootsy Collins has assembled a formidable cast of both musical and non-musical names for his forthcoming album. Tha Funk Capitol of the World features guest spots from ‘70s legends like Bobby Womack, George Clinton and Bootsy’s brother, “Catfish” Collins, and contemporary rappers like Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube and Chuck D. Collins has also pulled performers from myriad genres like Buckethead and Bela Fleck as well as talents of other disciplines like Samuel L. Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton. The voice of Jimi Hendrix can be heard speaking on a track as well....

Abigail Washburn may have married the country’s foremost banjo star in 2009, but don’t call her Mrs. Béla Fleck. Having spent the past half-decade dividing her attention between the Sparrow Quartet and Uncle Earl, she steps out on her own with City of Refuge, her second solo album and finest effort to date. City of Refuge rolls a number of rustic traditions into its eleven tracks, which celebrate the roots of folk and bluegrass without sacrificing Washburn’s crossover appeal. An Illinois native, she approaches Appalachian music from an outsider’s perspective, adopting some of its traditions while also throwing orchestral strings,...

On her last release, Abigail Washburn & The Sparrow Quartet, Washburn joined forces with Béla Fleck, Casey Driessen and Ben Sollee. For her upcoming album, City of Refuge (due Aug. 31 on Foreign Children Records), Washburn is in the spotlight, but some of her more musical friends—including The Decemberists’ Chris Funk and Carl Broemel of My Morning Jacket—contributed to the album, which was produced by Tucker Martine (Sufjan Stevens, Spoon)....

The good folks over at comingsoon.net got to sit down with Neil Jordan to talk about his attraction to fantasy fare & his upcoming projects, one of which is the adaption of Neil Gaiman's 'The Graveyard Book.'

ComingSoon.net: Do you prefer to make fantasy films? Are you more comfortable with fantasy fare?

Neil Jordan: Yeah, I basically am, but I suppose the problem is that I don't do comicstrip things. The fantasy films I do are slightly more complicated than "Spider-Man," or stuff like that. I love making films where the real world and the unreal world intersect, where they clash and intersect and resolve themselves in something slightly unreal.

Cs: So now that you've done werewolves, vampires, and water-nymphs, what fantasy creature would you want to do a film on next?

Jordan: I'd love to invent a mythological creature, but there hasn't been one invented since Dracula,...

Throw Down Your Heart follows American banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck on his journey to Africa to explore the little known fact that the banjo is rooted in African lore, and it didn’t originate in the American south as many believe; and while there, he records an album. The film played at the Silverdocs, Idfa and Vancouver International film festivals, and is currently traveling the country. Click Here to find out where it’ll be screening next. Or you can buy it on DVD, Here; or watch it now, on-demand Here, for just $2.99.

Bach on the organ? Of course. On the piano? Certainly. On the cello? Naturally. On the violin? Sure. But Bach on the banjo? The ukelele? The mandolin? How about the glass harp? Or the clarinet, the guitar, and the double bass. And let's not forget a cappella. You hear them all -- brilliantly filmed and recorded -- courtesy of Bach & friends, a gorgeous two-hour documentary by Michael R. Lawrence. The film, three years in the making, is not a stunt. It delivers musicianship of the highest order on every one of the instruments. We're talking Joshua Bell, Hilary Hahn, Simone Dinerstein, Richard Stoltzman, the Emerson String Quartet, the Swingle Singers, Bobby McFerrin, and Matt Haimowitz. We're also talking Felix Hell (organ), Zuill Bailey (cello), Manuel Barrueco (guitar), Edgar Meyer (double bass), Chris Thile (mandolin), Bela Fleck (banjo), Jake Shimabukuro (ukelele),...

Winners of the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards have all been announced on Sunday, January 31, and Taylor Swift has been unraveled among the multiple winners on the special night. Nominated for eight categories, the 20-year-old has collected four kudos, including Album of the Year for her "Fearless" effort.

"I hope that you know how much this means to me, and all my producers, that we can take this back to Nashville," Swift said upon receiving the trophy. "This is the story that when we're 80 years old and we're telling the same story over and over again - this is the story we're going to be telling. That, in 2010, we won album of the year!"

The country singer overshadowed her two fierce competitors, Beyonce Knowles and Lady GaGa for Album of the Year. Prior receiving the top honor, Swift has grabbed three other Grammys. She won Best Country Album also for "Fearless...

Beyonce took home the most hardware with six wins to her credit, but Taylor Swift took home Album of the Year for "Fearless."

Here's the list of the winners in the major categories:

Record Of The Year

"Halo," Beyonce

"I Gotta Feeling," The Black Eyed Peas

"Use Somebody," Kings of Leon

"Poker Face," Lady Gaga

"You Belong With Me," Taylor Swift

Album Of The Year

"I Am...Sasha Fierce," Beyonce

"The E.N.D.," The Black Eyed Peas

"The Fame," Lady Gaga

"Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King," Dave Matthews Band

"Fearless," Taylor Swift

Song Of The Year

"Poker Face," Lady Gaga & RedOne

"Pretty Wings," Hod David & Musze

"Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)," Thaddis Harrell, Beyonce Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart

"Use Somebody," Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill (Kings of Leon)

"You Belong With Me," Liz Rose & Taylor Swift

Best New Artist

Zac Brown Band...

During the 2007 Austin City Limits Music Festival, I had the pleasure of meeting musician Bela Fleck, star of the 2008 documentary Throw Down Your Heart. He asked me, "Tell me what you like about Austin, and don't say the music -- everyone says that!" Without hesitation, I responded, "The sense of community, whether it's music, film or volunteering."

Several non-profit film-related events of 2009 represented that special quality of Austin, with local theaters and filmmakers showing their support of non-profits in our community. One highlight was the newest event and local non-profit, Lights. Camera. Help.

From July 31 to August 2, Lights. Camera. Help. hosted the first of what it plans to be an annual film festival of non-profit and cause-driven films. Over 140 documentaries, PSAs and short films were submitted, with 20 finalists selected for screening. At the closing party, local filmmaker Layton Blaylock took top honors for his film Art from the Streets. The...

It's always great to see "Twilight" cast members getting along off-screen, and there were a couple of shout-outs bouncing around the Twitter-Wood feed today. Edi Gathegi wished Christian Serratos could be with him on a plane ride, but he had to settle for her advice on candy shenanigans. Elsewhere, Tinsel Korey sought Chaske Spencer's glitter skills in some Advent calendar construction.

In non-"Twilight" tweets "I'm on a Boat" seems to be a popular pick among the Grammy nominations this year, and Seth Meyers was among the first to back it. Michael McKean, meanwhile, will be pulling for Bela Fleck and Loudon Wainwright. Check out those posts after the jump, along with Richard Kelly's new prospective "Donnie Darko 3" premise and Danny DeVito's Thanksgiving Troll Foot costume. It's all in the Twitter-Wood report for December 3, 2009.

Twitter Pic of the Day:

@Danny_DeVito Trollfoot with turkey head orniment NY December http://yfrog.

If you're going to announce the nominees for the 52 Annual Grammy Awards, do it in song. And that's just what CBS did Dec. 2. 

The award show will be broadcast live on Jan. 31.

Here's the complete list of nominees:

Record Of The Year

"Halo," Beyonce

"I Gotta Feeling," The Black Eyed Peas

"Use Somebody," Kings of Leon

"Poker Face," Lady Gaga

"You Belong With Me," Taylor Swift

Album Of The Year

"I Am...Sasha Fierce," Beyonce

"The E.N.D.," The Black Eyed Peas

"The Fame," Lady Gaga

"Big Whiskey and the Groogrux King," Dave Matthews Band

"Fearless," Taylor Swift

Song Of The Year

"Poker Face," Lady Gaga & RedOne

"Pretty Wings," Hod David & Musze

"Single Ladies (Put a Ring On It)," Thaddis Harrell, Beyonce Knowles, Terius Nash & Christopher Stewart

"Use Somebody," Caleb Followill, Jared Followill, Matthew Followill & Nathan Followill (Kings of Leon)

"You Belong With Me," Liz Rose & Taylor Swift

Best...

Indie Roundup is your guide to what's new and cool in the indie film world.

On-Demand / Online Viewing. Love him or find him irritating, he's practically a category unto himself now. Joe Swanberg continues to explore the endlessly fascinating topic of twenty-something romantic relationships in Young American Bodies, a web series now on IFC.com. Season 4 debuted on Monday at IFC.com, and future episodes of the five-part series will premiere on a weekly basis. If you're a Swanberg fan, you'll want to check it out: it expands on his vision of sex and everything that leads up to it and follows afterward: elusive, kinda real, kinda fake, pretty messy.

In honor of Veterans Day, SnagFilms presents a selection of films appropriate for the occasion, covering a national shrine in Arlington: Field of Honor, dangerous missions in Baghdad Bound: Devil Dog Diaries, remembering the Battle for Midway, and so one.

Americana jammers clean up their act

On Assembly of Dust’s second studio album, the band harnesses the energy of its voltaic, raw live performances, and whittles out a vigorous record steeped in Americana. Just like a good-old-fashioned hootenanny, it’s gussied up with collaborations from some of the jamband scene’s finest, including Bela Fleck, Phish’s Mike Gordon and others. Frontman Reid Genauer (formerly of Strangefolk) has refined Assembly of Dust’s rough-and-tumble onstage sound, setting the freewheeling melodies to graceful, often poignant lyrics. Jangling banjos and kinetic electric guitars rouse up the album’s rollicking sound, masking occasional flashes of rueful, bluesy solemnity. Songs like “Light Blue Lover” and “You Lay the Dust” share a Paul Simon-esque wistfulness, while tracks like “Borrowed Feet” shuffle with a ramshackle charm. All the while, Genauer’s country-tinged vocals lead Assembly of Dust into maturity.

Listen to Assembly of Dust on MySpace.

Throw Down Your Heart

Directed by: Sascha Paladino

Cast: Bela Fleck

Running Time: 1 hr 35 mins

Rating: Unrated

Release Date: July 17, 2009

Plot: Musician Bela Fleck tours around Africa with his banjo to make an album. In each country, he seeks out local musicians to collaborate with.

Who’s It For? Fans of Bela Fleck or African music.

Expectations: I’ve heard the name Bela Fleck but I didn’t know who he was, so I wasn’t really expecting much.

Scorecard (0-10)

Actors:

Bela Fleck as himself: Though he’s the central focus of the film and in almost every scene, Fleck does a lot more pickin’ than talking. You could probably fit almost everything he says in the whole film into a paragraph. At one point a singer who has known Fleck for years says that he talks through his fingers, meaning his music, and that seems true. He’s...

"Throw Down Your Heart" follows Grammy-winning banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck on a tour through four nations -- Uganda, Tanzania, Gambia and Mali -- in search of the instrument's African roots.

At each stop, Fleck jams with local musicians, such as a woman who's a whiz on the thumb piano, which sounds like the xylophone.

Fleck fails to provide any personal charisma, although the music is infectious.

The movie is at least 20 minutes too long. By the time Fleck gets to the final stop, Mali, the film, directed by Sascha Paladino (a half-brother of Fleck), has worn out its welcome.

The neatest formal trick in Throw Down Your Heart, Sascha Paladino's somewhat overlong but surprisingly moving document of his brother Bela Fleck's journey to Africa to sort out the roots of the banjo and record an album with native musicians, is the employment of selective translation. Fleck, a celebrity in his bluegrass/jazz Americana niche, is a wide-eyed total outsider in Uganda and Tanzania, where even those who speak English have thick enough accents that their words need to be subtitled. But Paladino only translates African song lyrics and conversations between locals when the content within is essential to understanding a scene. This forces us to really contemplate the imagery and the sound of the music––elements that are so universal they need no translation––to pick up most emotional cues, and for the most part, it works beautifully. F ...

• Many would say that at this year's Academy Awards got the documentary film category "right". The "right" doc film won and even the final nominees were worthy mentions. But all this doesn't make the Cinema Eye Honors mission less "important". Now in their second year and with eleven categories, a quirky film such as Guy Maddin's My Winnipeg receives a little bit more acknowledgement before disappearing on shelves, those who edit and photograph doc films have any evening reserved all to themselves and newbies to docu filmmaking world have a shot at getting some cred and mingle with the right crowd. The ceremonies take place on Sunday, we'll be reporting on who the winners are from the categories below. Make sure to check out their newly designed website. Outstanding Achievement In Production Henry Kaiser - Encounters At The End Of The World Simon Chinn - Man On Wire

...

Former Led Zeppelin star Robert Plant and his new performance partner Alison Krauss were the toast of the 51st Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night after claiming a fistful of honours.The duo picked up awards for Album of The Year, Record of The Year, Best Pop Collaboration, Best Country Collaboration and Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album.

Lil Wayne, who was the most nominated artist at this year's Grammys, took home three prizes and a share of the Best Rap Performance for a Duo or Group for Swagga Like Us with Jay-z, T.I. and Kanye West.

Coldplay were also triple winners, claiming Song of The Year, Best Rock Album and Best Pop Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals.

Double winners included Metallica, Al Green, Daft Punk, gospel star Kirk Franklin, Brad Paisley and Peter Gabriel and composer Thomas Newman, who won honours for their work on the Wall-e soundtrack.

Neil Diamond, the Four Tops, Dean Martin and music mogul Clive Davis were among those honoured with special awards during the ceremony.

The night was a star-studded affair - with more performers than ever before hitting the stage at the Staples Center in Los Angeles for the event.

Highlights included Miley Cyrus and Taylor Swift's duet on the country star's 15, Jennifer Hudson's stirring rendition of Diane Warren's You Pulled Me Through - backed by a gospel choir, the Jonas Brothers' collaboration with Stevie Wonder, Coldplay's performance with rapper Jay-z and Lil Wayne and Robin Thicke's rousing tribute to New Orleans with Terence Blanchard and Allen Toussaint.

Rockers U2 kicked off the 51st Grammys with new song Get on Your Boots and heavily-pregnant M.I.A., who was due to give birth on Sunday, performed Paper Planes/Swagga Like Us with rappers Lil Wayne, Jay-z, T.I. and Kanye West.

Filed under: Documentary

Looking for something to watch this weekend that's not called High School Musical 3 or Saw 5? Then our friends at Cinetic and SnagFilms have a pair of very topical political documentaries you might enjoy...

The first one is called 18 in 08, which is "a nonpartisan documentary film made by 19 year old director, David D. Burstein. It is targeted at today's 17-24 year olds, many of whom will be voting for the first time in a presidential election in 2008. 18 in '08 features interviews with many of the most influential politicians of today, as well as popular culture figures, political activists, media commentators, and student leaders." You can see this film right here.

The second is A Call to Action, which "depicts how voter registration organization HeadCount, and other non-profits, have turned the live music community into a politically influential force. Join Bob Weir, Trey Anastasio, Marc Brownstein, Al Schnier, Bela Fleck...