Mike Seeger, along with his wife Alexia Smith and filmmaker Yasha Aginsky, trekked through the Appalachian Mountains in 2009 to produce this extraordinary glimpse of the vigor and diversity of the region's old-time banjo artistry. When Seeger passed away later that same year, the project took on the added importance of paying tribute to this renowned musician, folklorist, and documentarian of the people. Just Around the Bend: Survival and Revival...

Ears of the People is a collection of sublime contemporary recordings of the ekonting, a three-stringed gourd lute played by Jola people in Gambia and the Casamance region of Senegal. The nine tradition-bearers featured on the album share stories of love, heartache, conflict, spirituality, and all that is unique and beautiful in Jola culture over the rolling lilt of the instrument. An important forebear of the American banjo, the ekonting drives lively...

Multiple Grammy-winner Béla Fleck travels to Uganda, Tanzania, the Gambia, and Mali searching for the roots of the banjo and reaching across cultural boundaries with music.