Watch Béla Fleck Join Chris Thile for a Gregg Allman Birthday Tribute

December 11, 2017

This weekend, Punch Brothers’ Chris Thile hosted the second of three tapings of The Show with Chris Thile (which recently changed its name from A Prairie Home Companion) at New York’s Town Hall, and the mandolinist welcomed Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon and banjo power couple Béla Fleck & Abigail Washburn for the show. 

Along with offerings from each other artists, which included tracks from their respective recent albums, Bon Iver’s 22, A Million and Fleck & Washburn’s Echo in the Valley, Thile led another round of Musician Birthdays, a medley of several tunes from musicians that celebrated their birthdays in the past week. Along with a band featuring Aoife O’Donovan, Rich Dworsky, Mike Elizondo, Alex Hargreaves, Julian Lage and Ted Poor, Thile offered a diverse selection of cuts from Sinéad O’Connor, Little Richard, Jim Hall, Kate Rusby (featuring Washburn) and Olivier Messiaen, along with a finale of “Midnight Rider” for Gregg Allman, for which Fleck joined with his banjo. 

Watch a video of the collaboration below, and listen to the full show here.