People in the classical-music world are always griping about the death of serious music, but Joshua Bell is actually doing something about it. The violinist has delved into unconventional new projects--by composers who are actually breathing. His stunning virtuoso power made its film debut in The Red Violin, and he teams up with two bluegrass musicians and composer Edgar Meyer for Short Trip Home (out Sept. 7; the tour begins Sept. 17). It's a rousing, genre-defying album that showcases Bell's formidable skills of improvisation. When I do Mendelssohn or Tchaikovsky, there are already 100 recordings on the shelf, says Bell, 31. This is completely new. As a 2-year-old, Bell stretched rubber bands across the knobs on his dresser and plucked his first string instrument; at 14, he burst onto the music scene as an all-American, golden-haired prodigy from Bloomington, Ind. Few prodigies make it into musical maturity, but Bell has evolved from a technical whiz to a true artist and intellectual whose music feeds both your brain and your heart. His playing can be at turns profound and ecstatic. There's nothing stuffy about classical music, he says. As one of America's premier homegrown violinists, Bell's in an ideal position to prove that to new audiences.