WAMU’s Bluegrass Country has posted a video from Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper’s recent visit to their Washington studio. The guys run through a number of songs live in the studio, and chat with Bluegrass Country host Katy Daley.

If you’ve not heard the band since Tom Adams joined up, here’s your chance.

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper will be featured on this morning’s (9/24) edition of Katy Daley’s show on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country.

The guys stopped by the WAMU studios in Washington DC on their way to perform at the Gettysburg Bluegrass Festival this past Thursday. Katy says they recorded an hour’s worth of live music and conversation, which will be broadcast this morning a 9:00 a.m.

“We talked about IBMA nominations and Jesse Baker’s solo project Yessir! on Patuxent. Everybody had a chance to shine so there were songs from Marshall Wilborn and Tom Adams, too.  Of course, Michael and Jesse Brock stunned the studio audience with their (instrumental performance of the year) nominated Jerusalem Ridge.”

Listen in at 9:00 to hear their visit on WAMU’s Bluegrass Country. It can be heard worldwide on www.bluegrasscountry.org and in the Washington area on HD Radio WAMU-88.5 Channel Two, and on 105FiveFM.

Here are three chances to catch some live bluegrass – and a live interview – via online radio Saturday (8/15).

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper will be featured in a special Saturday afternoon edition of Blue Plate Special on WDVX. This is a live performance program which typically airs Monday-Friday at noon from either the WDVX studio or the Square Room in Knoxville. This show, however, is a live remote from The Olde Mill Square in Pigeon Forge, TN.

Van Eaton & Friends will also appear, starting at noon. You can catch WDVX over the air at 102.9 FM in and around Knoxville, and online at wdvx.com.

WBRF in Galax, VA will have an interview with Lou Reid & Carolina during the 8:00 p.m. hour of their Blue Ridge Backroads show. Host Judith Burnette will have Lou and the band on hand to discuss their new CD, My Own Set Of Rules.

The station broadcasts at 98.1 in Galax and online at blueridgecountry98.com.

The Grand Ole Opry also has a number of bluegrass acts on the bill for Saturday night. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band will be on the show, along with The Infamous Stringdusters and Jesse McReynolds & The Virginia Boys.

Look for The Dirt band to highlight material from their upcoming CD, Speed Of Life.

The Saturday Opry runs from 8:00-10:00 p.m., broadcast on WSM AM 650 from Nashville, and online at wsmonline.com.

All times indicated are EDT.

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper have announced that Tom Adams will be their newest member, playing guitar and singing lead vocals.

Tom and Michael have a long musical association going back to Adams’ time as a crackerjack, award-winning banjo player. The two of them worked together with Rhonda Vincent & The Rage in 2000, and with Dale Ann Bradley in 2002. They also released a live duet album of banjo/fiddle duets (Live at the Ragged Edge) in 2004.

That project was recorded in 2002, just before Tom began to experience the frustrating symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as focal dystonia, a neurological disorder that left him unable to reliably perform on the banjo to his high standards of excellence. Tom had started his musical life as a guitarist, and starting in 2008, returned to working in bluegrass, but now on guitar where the dystonia had no effect on his right hand movement. He had been playing of late with Bill Emerson & Sweet Dixie.

Adams has a great respect for Cleveland and is delighted to be joining Flamekeeper…

“Mike is absolutely one of the most amazing people I’ve ever met — what an incredible musician! I thoroughly enjoyed playing with Mike in the past, and I’m very excited about working with him again. He’s got a terrific band and I am glad to become a part of it.”

This move also reunites Tom with Marshall Wilborn, with whom he worked in The Johnson Mountain Boys and the Lynn Morris Band. The current Flamekeeper lineup features Cleveland on fiddle, Adams on guitar, Wilborn on bass, Jesse Brock on mandolin and Jessie Baker on banjo.

Tom will join the band starting with their August 7 show at Bluegrass In The Park in Henderson, KY.  You can find their complete tour schedule online.

UPDATE 7/24: When we first published this story, we mentioned that Tom would be playing guitar with Flamekeeper, but didn’t note that he will also be the new lead singer as well.