Béla wrote a trio of tunes back in the 1980's for Jerry Douglas' album Changing Channels: Distance, Winter's Edge, and Blue Spruce. Douglas released Distance and Winter's Edge on his album, but Béla ultimately opted to keep Blue Spruce for himself. All 3 tunes were played throughout the late 80's at Acoustic Allstars and Strength in Numbers shows and later anytime Bela shared the stage with Douglas.

In 1992, Bela tried Blue Spruce a few times with the Flecktones. It was untitled at the time although Bela introduced it as "No Mans Land" at one Flecktones show. A few years later, Béla repurposed the same guitar riff in the Flecktones' tune Communication.

Despite the similarities, Béla continued playing both songs, Communication with the Flecktones and Blue Spruce, usually when touring alongside Edgar Meyer. The name "Blue Spruce" finally started showing up in setlists in the 2000s on the Fleck/Meyer duo tours, and it stuck when it was finally released on the 2004 live album, Music for Two, almost 20 years after it was written.