2025 Winter/Spring Concert Series
Join us at the indoor theater at Roanoke Island Festival Park for a great night of music!
Doors open at 6:30PM and the shows start at 7:00PM.
Beer, wine, and refreshments available for purchase.
ONLY 250 SEATS PER SHOW!
Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper
Saturday, January 25, 2025
$55.00
The tension between tradition and innovation defines bluegrass music, with Michael Cleveland's fiddle playing embodying this balance. Inspired by a local fiddler’s version of "Orange Blossom Special," Cleveland’s improvisations elevate the piece’s train-like rhythm and percussive bowing. His deep knowledge of melodies and instinct for improvisation fuse tradition with creative flair.
Cleveland grew up in Henryville, Indiana, immersed in bluegrass through local jams and his grandparents' gatherings. He began playing fiddle at age four and attended the Kentucky School for the Blind, where he learned the Suzuki method. At nine, he played with Bill Monroe at his Bluegrass Festival. At 12, music historian Dave Samuelson introduced him to bluegrass through Braille-labeled tapes. By 1993, he performed at the IBMA awards with the Bluegrass Youth All-Stars.
After high school, Cleveland played with Jeff White, Dale Ann Bradley, and Rhonda Vincent before forming his own band, Flamekeeper, in 2006. Flamekeeper has won IBMA’s “Instrumental Group of the Year” seven times. Cleveland, also a fixture in his local Southern Indiana community, has performed with bluegrass legends while staying grounded at home.
Regarded as the leading bluegrass fiddler of his generation, Cleveland has won 12 IBMA “Fiddler of the Year” awards and was inducted into the National Fiddler’s Hall of Fame in 2018. His 2018 album Fiddler’s Dream was Grammy-nominated, and he won a Grammy in 2019 for Tall Fiddler. That year, his story was featured in the documentary Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story. Named a National Heritage Fellow in 2022, Cleveland’s latest album, The Lovin’ of the Game, is a 2024 Grammy nominee.