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.

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper will visit the Country Music Hall of Fame on Friday morning (6/5) for a live interview with Bill Cody of WSM. The guys will also perform a couple of tunes, starting at 9:00 a.m.

The event is free and open to the public if you are in Nashville, and the rest of us can listen live online.

In addition to Michael on fiddle, Flamekeeper consists of Jesse Brock on mandolin, Darrell Webb on guitar, Marshall Wilborn on bass and  Jessie Baker on banjo.

The May/June edition of Bluegrass Music Profiles helped to fill the mail box this past Saturday morning.

This latest edition of the glossy bi-monthly magazine has as its main feature a six-page, wide-ranging profile of that prolific bluegrass song writing duo Tom T. and Dixie Hall.

Other bluegrass personalities interviewed by the magazine include current blue-eyed boys Dailey & Vincent; Ernie Thacker, who discusses life after his near-fatal traffic accident; fiddle ace Michael Cleveland; and Ronnie Prevette, who talks about life playing mandolin in Jimmy Martin’s Sunny Mountain Boys.

Audie Blaylock and Mike Andes, of Nothin’ Fancy, talk about their favorites and there are profiles on DJ David Blackney and songwriter Charley Stefl.

Regular features include the BMP Top 30 Hot Singles and Top 10 Albums charts, news and CD reviews.

Details regarding subscription and single issue purchase rates can be found at the magazine’s website.

Here’s a great video of Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper shot during their free concert this past Friday (4/3) at the International Bluegrass Music Museum in Owensboro, KY.

It features the guys tearing it up on a version of the Bill Monroe classic, Big Mon. The lighting isn’t fabulous, but the music is just fine.

Flamekeeper is Michael Cleveland on fiddle, Jesse Brock on mandolin, Darrell Webb on guitar, Marshall Wilborn on bass and Jessie Baker on banjo.