casey driessen

While he is indeed one of the fastest-rising sidemen on the bluegrass circuit, Casey Driessen is a restless explorer, a bold boundary crosser who listens for inspiration from Tennessee to Tibet. There's no solace in safety for this remarkable 29-year-old, and with his debut album 3D, a worldly instrumentalist and composer is able to show off a little, not merely as a fast and inventive fiddler, but as a visionary who translates his passion for tradition and improvisation into important new American music. The track “Jerusalem Ridge” from 3D was Grammy Nominated in 2007 in the Country Instrumental category. The New York Times called the song a “tour de force.”Driessen most recently embarked on the first-ever US-sponsored cultural mission to Tibet with The Sparrow Quartet (Abigail Washburn, Béla Fleck and Ben Sollee). The group also gave several performances along China's eastern seaboard, where they brought America's oldest and most original music form to, arguably, the world's oldest civilization through a special grant from the US State Department applied for by the Beijing branch of the US Bureau of Culture and Education. Driessen will continue to tour the United States in 2008 in support of 3D and in support of an upcoming release by the Sparrow Quartet.