After a 33-year absence, Banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck is returning to the stage at Winfield’s Walnut Valley Festival. The festival is celebrating 50 years this September.
Fleck was last at the festival with New Grass Revival in 1989.
Festival organizers previously announced that Rhonda Vincent and The Rage would appear at the festival. It’s her first time performing in Winfield.
Fleck, 2022 Grammy winner for Best Bluegrass Album with “Béla Fleck My Bluegrass Heart,” will bring the album to life at Winfield, assisted by a multi-generational band of top bluegrass players that includes Billy Contreras, Sierra Hull, Justin Moses, Shaun Richardson and Mark Schatz.
“It’s great to be lucky enough to be able to score on someone as hot as (Bela) and his band are right now,” festival organizer said via e-mail Wednesday afternoon. We’re a happy group in the office and feeling like we’ve got a really good lineup this year! It’s been hard to not tell everyone we knew about the pending hire of a bunch of the artists this year.”
Fleck, 63, has won 16 Grammys and been nominated over 30 times.
The festival runs Sept. 14-18 at the Winfield Fairgrounds.
This year’s lineup features multiple returning favorites and includes Dan Crary, whose name is the only one to appear on the 1st and 50th festival poster.
For more information and a full list of entertainers, visit the festival website.