Speakers Abigail Washburn: Clawhammer banjo player

Abigail Washburn

Abigail Washburn pairs venerable folk elements with far-flung sounds, creating results that feel both strangely familiar and unlike anything anybody's ever heard before.

Why you should listen to her:

If American old-time music is about adopting earlier, simpler ways of life and music-making, Abigail has proven herself a bracing challenge to that tradition. A singing, songwriting, Chinese-speaking, Illinois-born, Nashville-based, clawhammer banjo player, Abigail is every bit as interested in the present and the future as she is in the past, and every bit as attuned to the global as she is to the local. From the recovery zones of earthquake-shaken Sichuan to the hollers of Tennessee, she pairs venerable folk elements with far-flung sounds, and the results feel both strangely familiar and unlike anything anybody’s ever heard before. To put it another way, she changes what seems possible.

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Quotes by Abigail Washburn

  • “In that moment, we weren't our American selves, we weren't our Chinese selves; we were just mortals, sitting together in that light that keeps us here.”

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  • “U.S.-China relations doesn't need another lawyer.”

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  • “I see the power of music to connect cultures. I see it when I stand on a stage at a bluegrass festival … and I bust out into a song in Chinese, and everybody's eyes just pop wide open.”

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  • “Outside your door, the world is waiting. Inside your heart, a voice is calling. The four corners of the world are watching. So travel, daughter, travel. Go get it, girl.”

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More TEDQuotes…

Abigail Washburn: Building US-China relations ... by banjo

Abigail Washburn on the Web

Related Speakers

Conferences

  • TED2012