We posted several weeks ago with news about Leavin’ Town, the upcoming CD project from Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, due from Rounder on July 29.

Michael tells us that the band has a new web site that went live this morning, with a new web address to boot. You should look for them online now at www.flamekeeperband.com, where you’ll find online ordering and news updates about the band and the new CD.

There are no audio samples up yet from Leavin’ Town, but Mike says they will be up there soon.

He also shared a few thoughts about the new CD, and the band’s comings and goings this year.

“The album has quite a few original tunes on it, along with some great older tunes that you don’t hear played every day. Some tunes that we are really excited about are Kickin’ Back, I’m Riding This Train and Farewell For A Little While. Kickin’ Back is a blistering mandolin instrumental written by Jesse Brock. Folks this one really moves on down the line. I’m Riding This Train is a vocal number written by Todd Rakestraw. Farewell For A Little While is a song written by Chris Stuart. The inspiration for this song came from the words written on the headstone of Carter Stanley’s grave.

We’re also excited about the 2008 tour schedule. We just got back from an incredible eight day tour of the Yukon and Alaska. We are also looking forward to a trip to Ireland for the Appalachian and Bluegrass Festival on September 5 - 7. The following day, September 8th, we’ll be in Runcorn, Cheshire, UK.

We look forward to seeing our west coast friends at the festival in Plymouth, CA on September 19 - 20.

Thanks everyone, for your support. We hope to see you soon at the shows and festivals.”

With gas prices making festival attendance more doubtful, for many, bluegrass on television perhaps becomes more attractive than hitherto.

Recently, I was alerted to the appearance on Kentucky Educational Television’s Jubilee stage of California’s High Country, one of the West Coast’s premier traditional bluegrass bands. Being partial to their music, I thought I would investigate. I found a series of airings with sufficient interest to enthral fans of a variety of bluegrass persuasions for weeks to come.

Starting on Wednesday (6/25) with Lonesome River Band there’s a different band featured for each week through to the end of August, with each showing being available through to the weekend, Friday excepted in all cases.

A quick scan of the schedule reveals appearances on the programm by the aforesaid Butch Waller and High Country (commencing July 2), Foghorn Stringband (July 9), Berline-Crary-Hickman (July 16), Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper with Audie Blaylock (July 23), The Rascals (July 30), Adrienne Young & Little Sadie and Cadillac Sky (August 6), Danny Paisley & Southern Grass (August 13), The Fairwell Drifters and Blue Moon Rising (August 20) and Timberline Drive paired with Jake Quesenberry & The MacRae Brothers (commencing Thursday, August 28).

Each of these bands were recorded at last year’s River of Music Party in Owensboro, Kentucky.

The Jubilee series is a KET production, distributed to public television stations nationwide. The series is directed by Nick Helton and produced by Duncan Hart. Nancy Carpenter is executive producer.

More information about Jubilee is available online.

More information about KET programming and education services, as well as how to support KET, can be found at www.ket.org.

Some more information has emerged about, Leavin’ Town, the upcoming Rounder CD from Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper.

Rounder had previously announced that the CD would hit on July 29, and though there are no audio samples up yet online, we do have a track listing to share.

• Sold Down the River
• In My Mind to Ramble
• My Blue Eyed Darling
• I’m Feeling For You (But I Can’t Reach You)
• Northern White Clouds
• Troubles ’Round My Door
• Leavin’ Town
• Sunday Morning Christian
• Jerusalem Ridge
• I’m Ridin’ This Train
• Come Spring
• When You Were Mine
• Kickin’ Back
• Farewell for a Little While

Flamekeeper is composed of Michael on fiddle and vocals, Jesse Brock on mandolin and vocals, Todd Rakestraw on guitar and vocals, John Batchelor on banjo, and Marshall Wilborn on bass and vocals.

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper will be performing live today (5/2) at noon on WDVX’s Blue Plate Special.

Presumably, they will include material from their upcoming Rounder release, due out in late July.

Blue Plate Special is broadcast on WDVX-FM 102.9 in Knoxville, TN - and via live streaming online. The audio is not archived, so be sure to listen in online at noon (EDT).

Old time string band The Pea Ridge Ramblers will also be featured on today’s show.

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper will perform live on the air later this morning (12/7) from the studios of WFDU FM 89.1 in New Jersey.

The band will join hosts Carol Beaugard and Steve Lutke on Lonesome Pine RFD from 11:00 a.m. until noon (EST). WFDU’s broadcast signal covers the New York City metro area, and is also available live via audio streaming at www.wfdu.fm.

Carol tells us that this live studio performance with Flamekeeper will also be replayed next week during the Open Mic program on BluegrassCountry.org. The show broadcasts on their 24/7 cyber signal on Mondays at 5:00 a.m., Thursdays at 3:00 a.m., Fridays at 6:00 p.m. and Saturdays at 6:00 a.m. (all times ET).

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper have announced that veteran bass player Marshall Wilborn has joined the band, and will appear with them on stage starting this weekend.

I had been expecting this announcement since last week, as the new band photo (to the right) was on display at the Roe Entertainment booth in the IBMA exhibit hall during the recently-concluded World Of Bluegrass trade show - even though Marshall was not with the band when I saw them perform.

Marshall has an impressive resume, having been a part of several notable bands over the course of his career. These include The Johnson Mountain Boys and The Lynn Morris Band, as well as a stint with Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys. His addition to the Flamekeeper roster will provide another successful notch on his belt.

The unwieldy band name “Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper featuring Audie Blaylock” has become a bit less of a tongue twister for emcees everywhere. Michael announced yesterday (8/25) that Audie has left the group, and that singer/guitarist/songwriter Todd Rakestraw will step in to take his spot.

Rakestraw has been performing with Timberline Drive, and was an original member of Alison Krauss & Union Station, back in the day. Three of his songs (Gentle River, I’m Alone Again, Lord Don’t Forsake Me) were included on her early releases.

No word yet on Audie’s future plans. We’ll post when we hear more.

The debut band CD from Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, featuring Audie Blaylock, is being recorded now in Nashville. Jeff White is producing, and while no official announcement has yet been made, Rounder Records is expected to release the new project early next year.

At this point, the band is laying down some rhythm tracks while they continue to choose and arrange material. We’ll pass along whatever further details we can pick up as the work progresses.

The band is Michael Cleveland on fiddle, Audie Blaylock on guitar and vocals, Jesse Brock on mandolin and vocals, Barry Reed on bass and vocals, and John Mark Batchelor on banjo.

Should be a good’n.

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper featuring Audie Blaylock have a 10 day Canadian tour in the works for next month. Their first show is on April 20 in Ontario, where they will spend the largest part of their time in Canada.

All the Canadian dates are listed on the band’s tour schedule page online.

On another Michael Cleveland note: The April issue of Strings Magazine has a brief feature on Michael. It is the back page Encore column by Robert L. Doerschuk.

The April issue will be on newsstands soon, and the Strings web site will update when the cover date arrives. Many articles from each issue are posted online. The piece they did on Jason Carter in the March issue can now be read online.

Listen now: (IE users click to activate)

This episode of The GrassCast features an interview with Michael Cleveland. Michael was nominated for several awards at the recent IBMA and won two of them. The interview was recorded before the awards show so he didn’t know he was going to win. He did win Fiddle Player of the Year for the fourth time and also won Instrumental Album of the Year for his most recent CD, Let ‘Er Go Boys.

Michael and I discuss the awards nominations, the Flamekeeper band, Michael’s history with the fiddle and learning bluegrass. Michael also engages in a very interesting discussion of learning to play tastefully. It’s great stuff and should be of interest to any aspiring fiddle players or Michael Cleveland fans.

Michael also makes mention of the Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend coming up in November where he’ll be serving as a fiddle instructor.

Direct Download: ep49_michael_cleveland.mp3 (It’s a big one - 18MB)

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Additional links:

mikecleveland.com
audioblaylock.com
myspace.com/audieblaylock

This award is for an outstanding recorded performance by an artist or artists featuring instrumental music, new or old, first commercially released during the eligibility period. An album project is eligible when 50% or more of its songs are instrumental performances. (Award to featured artist(s), producer, and label):

The Instrumental Album Of The Year for 2006 is:

Review past recipients of this award.

The awards for artists who, on recorded and/or in-person performance during the specified time period, have shown an extraordinary mastery of their instruments. The awards go to the artists.

The Fiddle Player Of The Year for 2006 is:

Review past recipients of this award.

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, featuring Audie Blaylock will be featured on The Grand Ole Opry this Saturday, August 19.

They will appear during the 7:30-8:00 and 10:30-11:00 p.m. segments, eastern daylight time. This new group has attracted a great deal of attention in a very short time, including a nomination as Emerging Artist Of The Year from IBMA for 2006.

The Grand Ole Opry Live program on GAC TV is running a repeat this week, but you can hear the Opry program live over the air (650 AM out of Nashville) or via online streaming. The Opry broadcasts between 7:30 p.m. and 1:00 a.m. Saturday evening (EDT).

The International Bluegrass Music Assocaiation has announced the nominees for the 17th Annual International Bluegrass Music Awards.

The nominations are more evenly spread among prominent acts this year, with no one running away with the lead. Repeating as last year’s most nominated artist, Alison Krauss & Union Station leads the pack with 7, followed by Blue Highway with 6. Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver and Rhonda Vincent & The Rage each garnered a total of 5, followed by last year’s surprise Entertainer Of The Year Cherryholmes with 4.

The awards will be presented on Thursday September 28 at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, TN, in an awards show and gala hosted by Marty Stuart. The IBMA is excited about finally being able to hold the awards show in a larger hall this year, and tickets should be far more widely available to the general public than had been the case in years past.

The Bluegrass Blog is providing expanded coverage of the nominations for these awards, with posts that include the names of each nominee, along with links to their web sites, bios and audio, in each of the 17 award categories. We hope that this coverage will aid members of the press who will be reporting on the awards, as well as IBMA members who want to do some research before casting their votes.

The list of nominees for the Special Awards will be posted shortly.

To view the nominees, click on the (more…) link at the end of this sentence, or click on the title of the post. (more…)

Michael Cleveland has been added to the Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend faculty for 2006, taking the place of Kenny Baker, who has found that he will be unable to teach this year.

The RBW staff will make refunds available to any students who had registered especially to study with Kenny, though they expect that serious students of the fiddle will find Michael to be a much more than capable understudy.

Roanoke Bluegrass Weekend will be held from November 10-12, 2006 in Roanoke, Va. Four scholarships are available this year for young pickers aged 13-24.

Find more details about the event by visiting their web site.

There has been a great deal of speculation, and a fair amount of misinformation, concerning the status of Audie Blaylock & Redline. We reported back in April that Michael Cleveland had launched a group of his own called Flamekeeper, when he announced that he would be leaving Dale Ann Bradley, which we also covered in the Spring.

At that time, Michael indicated that Audie would be a part of this new group, leaving many to wonder about Audie’s own band, Redline. I had a chance to speak with Audie about all this yesterday, and he gave me the straight scoop on the two groups, and where his attention would be focused.

At this point, both groups are active, but they will be folded into one starting in January of 2007. Currently, Michael Cleveland is playing mandolin and some fiddle with Redline, along with Patrick McAvinue on fiddle, Barry Reed on bass and Evan Ward on banjo. Both Evan and Patrick will be attending college full time next year, at which time Redline will morph into Flamekeeper.

Audie describes this switch as more of a name change than a new band, which will officially be booked as Michael Cleveland and FlameKeeper featuring Audie Blaylock. One imagines that this will eventually be abbreviated to Flamekeeper, once their identification is solidified in the bluegrass public’s mind.

Flamekeeper will move Michael to fiddle, and bring in Pete Kelly on banjo and Jeff Guersney on mandolin, according to current plans. Barry Reed will stay on bass, and Audie, of course, on guitar and vocals. He hopes that they will be able to start recording a new project as Flamekeeper later this year, though they don’t anticipate a release before late 2007 at the earliest.

He is excited about the possibilities, and the people he has been, and will be appearing with on stage.

“We’ve been having fun for the last several months. It’s been a great time, and it really helps when you have everyone on the same page musically. These guys all enjoy this kind of music, and are committed to working together to create our group sound.”

Audie’s schedule can be viewed on his web site, with shows booked as Michael Cleveland and FlameKeeper featuring Audie Blaylock posted in red for clarity. His expectation is that shows booked after February 2007 as Audie Blaylock & Redline will most probably be performed with Flamekeeper.

He mentioned that Patrick and Evan will be with the band for the ETA Bluegrass Cruise in February 2007, but otherwise, all shows next year will be with the new configuration.

We had told you earlier this year that Michael Cleveland was planning to do some shows in 2006 with his own band, which he had named Flamekeeper. At the time, Mike was the fiddler with Dale Ann Bradley, a role he has recently relinquished after five years in order to pursue his new group full time. Joining Mike in Flamekeeper are two other recent Bradley alums, Pete Kelly on banjo and Jesse Brock on mandolin, along with both Audie Blaylock and Jeff Guernsey on guitars and vocals. They have not yet brought on a full time bass player, but Mike Bub and Marshall Wilborn are filling the slot until a permanent hire can be made.

The various members have some commitments that will complicate their early schedule, as Audie Blaylock has a schedule of dates with his own group, Redline, and Jesse Brock will be in Europe most of the summer, as he is getting married to Bulgarian bluegrass performer, entrepreneur and radio/tv personality Lili Drumeva.

As you might expect, Michael is excited about launching the new venture.

“We’re looking forward to getting this thing up and going and looking forward to seeing everybody out on the road. We’re looking forward to a good first year.”

Booking will be handled by Jim Roe at Roe Entertainment in Nashville.

Fiery fiddler, and three-time IBMA award winner, Michael Cleveland’s new CD, Let ‘Er Go Boys! is out on Rounder Records. It features 17 tracks, with guest artists Vince Gill, Del McCoury, Dan Tyminski, Larry Sparks, Tim O’Brien, Jeff White, Audie Blaylock, Jesse Brock, Jason Moore, Charlie Cushman, Rob Ickes and Jens Kruger listed among the credits. Though not explicitly stated, the track listing and selection of guest performers suggests a mix of fiddle tunes and vocal numbers.

Online ordering is enabled on the Rounder web site, but no audio samples yet. We’ll keep an eye out and let you know when we find them.

Award winning fiddler Michael Cleveland has announced that in addition to his regular gig as a member of Dale Ann Bradley’s band, he will also be doing shows this year with his own group, FlameKeeper. Joining him will be Audie Blaylock on guitar and Bobby Davis on bass (both performing regularly with Audie Blaylock & Redline), Jesse Brock on mandolin and Pete Kelly on banjo (Mike’s DAB band mates), and Jeff Guernsey on guitar and twin fiddle.

Mike took this band on a tour of Scotland in the fall of 2005, and they have decided to accept some dates for 2006 and beyond with this aggregation, within the limitations posed by everyone’s prior commitments. Booking is being handled by Jim Roe of Roe Entertainment. None of the members of Flamekeeper will be leaving their present and primary gigs.

You can find all of Michael’s show dates on his web site, both with Dale Ann and Flamekeeper.

Fans of Mike’s music will recognize that the band name Flame Keeper was the title of his debut CD release on Rounder Records, which was named as the 2002 IBMA Instrumental Album Of The Year. Audio samples from this CD are available on Mike’s web site.