OAR, Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn drop by on a frenetic Friday

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Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn

It’s always a treat to have musical guests at the station, and today we had two of them!  First, all five members of OAR managed to squeeze into the LC Studios to chat with Lt. Dan in advance of their show tonight at Marathon Music Works.  You can check out the full interview below to hear the band talk about their hometown of Rockville, Maryland and discuss the writing process behind their June release The Rockville LP, much of which was written and recorded in Nashville.  They also performed a trio of songs from the album live on the air: “Favorite Song,” “Peace,” and “Caroline The Wrecking Ball.”  All three take a nostalgic turn, mixing the best storytelling elements of Nashville-written lyrics with overt nods to OAR’s roots.

Then, after a busy Facebook Friday on Lunch Request Hour, Lt. Dan was visited by hometown heroes Abigail Washburn and Béla Fleck, who will play tomorrow night at the Country Music Hall of Fame.  They talked about their decision to tour together as a banjo duo–motivated by the married couple’s desire to maximize their time with their infant son–and their experiences as the first American musicians to perform in Tibet.  You can listen to the full interview below, which features the two musicians playing a version of “I’ve Been Working On The Railroad” and a murder ballad written from the female perspective.  Washburn and Fleck utilize a variety of banjoes during the performance, ranging from the tiny ukulele banjo to the massive cello banjo.

You can explore our massive archive of in-studio interviews and performances on our Soundcloud page.  Tune into Lightning 100 every day to hear more amazing musical guests chat with our amazing DJs!

–Zach Blumenfeld