World-class banjo virtuosos Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn are touring the U.S., performing for packed houses from coast to coast. Weeks before their Feb. 20 show at Knoxville’s Bijou Theatre, their tour staff reached out to the Joy of Music School to see if we’d like the net proceeds from the lobby merchandise sales of t-shirts, CDs, DVDs, et al. We gladly accepted their kind offer!

Béla, who in 2008 traveled to Africa to trace the banjo’s roots and create the award-winning documentary Throw Down Your Heart, went a step further. To boost merchandise sales (and their donations to our School), he announced from the stage that every merch buyer would get a raffle ticket in a drawing for an autographed banjo. It worked. At intermission, the audience lined up 30-deep in the Bijou lobby! We are honored and ever grateful to Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn, whose generosity netted the School nearly $2,200!