Abigail Washburn and Wu Fei

Now a Grammy®-winning folk ambassador, Abigail Washburn once intended to improve relations between China and the United States by practicing law. As a Chinese prodigy plucking at traditions of the 2,000-year-old guzheng, Wu Fei anticipated a career performing only state-sanctioned work. Both women chose a different path. Washburn traded briefcases for banjos and built bridges with groundbreaking tours of China. Wu’s global explorations led her to pick bluegrass with Washburn, who’s now her Nashville neighbor. In 2020, these simpatico sisters from two misters released an album of impressionistic intercultural folk that spans Appalachian hills to Xinjiang prairies. Wu and Washburn’s brave, intimate, multilingual collaboration offers a compassionate commingling of continents in divisive times—magnifying the beauty and humanity of experiences that transcend traditions or tongues.