Seven Days: Vermont's Independent Voice

Seeking Refuge

Abigail Washburn has a curious soul. Her insatiable wanderlust has led her around the globe, from the hills of Vermont to China and innumerable stops in between. Wherever the banjo picking songwriter goes, she absorbs cultural bits and pieces that inevitably find their way into her music. The latest example is her critically acclaimed new record, City of Refuge, on which Washburn blends the Chinese and Appalachian archetypes she has long explored into a musical melting pot simmering with adventurous folk-pop as grandly ambitious as it is charmingly humble. This Thursday, November 3, Washburn’s travels land her at Club Metronome with local bluegrass favorites the Cleary Brothers.