You hear a lot of talk nowadays about the rise of China as the next global superpower. In that case, Abigail Washburn is perfectly situated. She plays old-time music on the banjo and sings in Mandarin Chinese -- a combination you could call "O Comrade, Where Art Thou?"

Thus we have "Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet" (Nettwerk Records), a fascinatingly weird album that will have you reaching for descriptors such as "exotic," "otherworldly" and "wow." It is, Washburn acknowledges, a very odd combination. She'll bring it to UNC-Chapel Hill's Memorial Hall on Thursday.

"It's not like people thought right away that this was an ingenious idea, to play old-time banjo and sing in Chinese," Washburn says, calling from her hometown of Nashville. "'Oh yeah, big bucks here!' But I've had so many doors open because of the uniqueness of what I do, so many opportunities to work with special people. It's a really organic, authentic way to appreciate and integrate the two cultures. To me, it's not a gimmick, and heartfelt will always have its place."

Washburn's Eastern odyssey began a dozen years ago, when she studied Chinese at Colorado College. A few years later, she started playing banjo and learning old-time music. The connection might not seem immediately obvious, but it was to her.

"All of a sudden everything fell into place," Washburn says. "I had a clear purpose in life and it's amazing how it's all come around."

Washburn hadn't been playing banjo long when she went to the International Bluegrass Music Association convention in Kentucky. Someone from then-Durham-based Sugar Hill Records heard her singing in a hallway, which led to her going to Nashville to record a demo.

That deal didn't pan out, but Washburn kept recording while working as a Chinese translator for a biotech company. And she joined Uncle Earl, an all-female band that plays more-or-less traditional bluegrass (although Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones produced the quartet's latest album).

Washburn also began recording her own bluegrass/Chinese mash-ups on the side, starting with 2005's "Song of the Traveling Daughter." For her latest album, she assembled the Sparrow Quartet, featuring "Song of the Traveling Daughter" producer Bela Fleck. Cellist Ben Sollee and violinist Casey Driessen fill out the quartet.

"Sparrow Quartet" traverses time as well as distance, with old folk songs as well as originals. The album has three songs in Chinese, but even the English songs have a hint of the Orient. "Banjo Pickin' Girl," a song that dates back to the 1930s, finds Washburn declaring, "Goin' to North Carolina, and from there on to China."

"It's like that was set up just for me," Washburn says with a laugh. "Sparrow Quartet is an embodiment of everything I care about with this concept. There's a lot of love and kindred musicality. So I see it continuing for a long time, though probably not on a full-time basis. I'm already working off and on with some Chinese artists, thinking about literally integrating a group. Ideas for a folk opera are swirling around my head. At the right time, it will unfold. I don't always know what I'm doing."

Meantime, China still beckons. Washburn declares herself "fully committed" to pursuing a career in China as well as America, which will be an ongoing experiment in the possibilities (and limitations) of globalism.

Washburn's most recent tour of China was during the Beijing Olympics, although the trip was a mixed success. Most of her shows were canceled because, Washburn says, the authoritarian Chinese government was concerned that protests would break out at open-air events in Beijing. So Washburn and Sparrow Quartet played some private parties instead, and also traveled to remote factory towns in Southeastern China.

"These third-party promoters would basically call 500 people to come to the show in each town," she says. "They'd call universities, conservatories, retired musicians, school band teachers. People weren't forced to attend, exactly. But they were called and told, 'You must come.' There's definitely a different way of relating to government over there. Here, we're individual consumers. There, it's all about duty and faith and people you answer to. It's a different world."

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