The double bass is six feet tall, heavy, and historically built to hide at the back of the orchestra. Edgar Meyer, born in 1960, dragged it to the front of the stage in both tuxedo-clad concert halls and dusty progressive bluegrass festivals. This episode explores how mastering the strict rules of one discipline became the key to breaking boundaries in another, starting with his first teacher, his father Edgar Meyer Sr., who directed the string orchestra program for the Oak Ridge, Tennessee public schools, and continuing through classical study with Stuart Sankey at Indiana University and a Bachelor of Music in 1984.

Instead of disappearing into a symphony section, Meyer joined the Telluride Bluegrass Festival house band alongside Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, and Bryan Sutton, bringing classical bowing into high-speed ...