"Abigail Washburn stomped and skipped through fiery Appalachian takes on the local songs of Sichuan. Her bilingualism's no gimmick,” hailed the L.A. Times in a review of The Sparrow Quartet’s performance at Coachella.  “She nails the dips and peaks of pitch while leading her band in scorching variations on simple, repetitive traditional melodies...she ended one Chinese song about the pan-ethnic subject of baby-making by saying "That's some hot stuff from the Sichuan province there."

May 2008 marks the release of Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet, the follow-up to Abigail’s acclaimed Nettwerk debut, Song of the Traveling Daughter.  In the fall of 2006, the Sparrow Quartet – which features world renowned banjoist, composer Bela Fleck (also the album’s producer), Grammy-nominated fiddler Casey Driessen and roots/classical cellist Ben Sollee - became the first artists to tour Tibet and China on a US government sponsored cultural mission.  The new album is an intimate exploration of crossing global and cultural lines brought to life by the borderless sounds of two banjos, fiddle and cello.  The music is raw and highly composed, equally hopeful and acutely aware of the struggle of life.  Music for the global citizen.  Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet will begin their first major touring of the US and abroad in the spring of 2008.