Over and over again, for the past three months, I’ve listened to Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, in conversation with Krista Tippett on On Being. First time around, I started off with the edited show, but the one I keep on coming back to is the unedited conversation.
If I am in the mood for a good laugh, this is the show I put on.
If I despair, or long for proof of human connection across borders, languages and culture, I listen to this one.
If I want a dose of marital humor, I turn to this episode. Really, it’s an episode for basically any state of (my) mind.
It makes me laugh, at witnessing the loving banter between the spouses.
It makes my heart wrench, from hearing the story of the little Chinese girl who lost her mother in the earthquake of 2008.
It makes me think of a dear friend, who has the same type of earthy laughter as Béla does.
It makes me want to cry when learning of the origin of the banjo, how it came to America, and why.
And I am absolutely astonished at Abigails ability to speak Chinese – wow! That’s one hard language to learn, that much I’ve understood, and here she is, speaking like a native (at least to my ears…). Amazing!
The podcast also opened my heart up to bluegrass, a type of music I’ve never really listened to before. Béla and Abigail invites me into their world, and with me accepting their invitation, my world expanded. Who knew, I would find such richness in a podcast named Truth, Beauty, Banjo?
In 2015 I ran a series on herothecoach.com with Sunday postings of podcasts to my liking. In 2017 I will be re-posting some of those blog posts, mixing them up with new podcast recommendations, such as this one.
