Description
Few musicians garner the universal respect of Michael Cleveland. A child prodigy, Michael won the hearts of the entire bluegrass industry in 1993 as a member of the IBMA Youth All-Stars. Since that time, he has gone on to perform and record with nearly everyone in the business, picking up nine IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year awards along the way. He is, without a doubt, one of the premiere fiddle players of his generation, if not in all of bluegrass history.
Michael and his band, Flamekeeper, have one of the busiest tour schedules in bluegrass. Their energetic stage shows always leave the crowd on their feet, and if you’ve ever seen them at a bluegrass festival, you’ll know he has more fun than anyone else there.
Flamekeeper’s latest album On Down The Line is the band’s first in over three years, and it was worth the wait.
As to be expected when one of the world’s best fiddle players is the frontman, the album is quite fiddle-centric. The first single, Fiddlin’ Joe is a fun little song, written by Mark “Brink” Brinkman. The song seems somewhat biographical to Michael, the tale of “a music man” who “had the fire in his bow hand,” and is the life of every square dance in the holler!
