Interview with Michael Cleveland | Sound Authors Radio

December 25, 2008

[Music]

Dr. Kent: That’s a beautiful tune named Troubles Around My Door from Michael Cleveland’s latest album. Michael Cleveland and Flame Keeper Leaving Town. IT was released this last summer and now I’ve got Michael Cleveland on the line; welcome to the show.

Michael Cleveland: Hi sir, how are you?

Dr. Kent: I’m good man. That thing was flying! And the sound of the fiddle in there is just fabulous!

Michael Cleveland: That’s a mandolin there. It’s a mid tempo there; you haven’t even gotten into the fast stuff.

Dr. Kent: Now you’ve played with some amazing groups. You’ve played with of course some of my heroes, Dale Ann Bradley; she was on the show before and you played with Rhonda Vincent whose one of the hottest bands in the world. What does it feel like having this amazing album? You’ve got your second album, or third album this is with this new group. What does it feel like for you?

Michael Cleveland: Well it’s really an honor to get by with so many great musicians every day on stage and I mean this band, I’m really fortunate to be able to play with musicians of the caliber of these guys. It’s an honor to play on stage with them. We’re really excited about this record too.

Dr. Kent: The first time I saw you I watched, I’m a big Doc Watson fan and I was watching Gather at the River, the documentary film and there you were as a kid I think still and you were chatting with Doc and you played a tune with him and it was pretty much on fire. How did it feel for you back in ’93, when you started to get national attention and meeting all these folks?

Michael Cleveland: Well I’ll tell you what, I was 13 at that time and that was my first time that I was thrilled at the idea. That was the first time to ever got an idea made so you can imagine a kid 13 years old just in awe of all these great musicians around. And we just kind of stumbled on the band by accident. They were picking in a great big restroom believe it or not. They were in Owensville at IP&A and I walked in and there was Dan Clary and Doc Watson and Tim O’Brien and a whole slew of them just jamming there.

Dr. Kent: In a restroom?

Michael Cleveland: Yeah! And my dad asked if I could play a couple tunes with them and they said well yeah sure get it out. So it was really an honor to even be a part of that and have part of that documented.

Dr. Kent: What the coolest part of it was I think was you were less amazed than Doc was. Doc was pretty amazed by your sound, that you had the sound of the old time fiddlers and that you had some hot licks too.

Michael Cleveland: Oh well I don’t know about all that; Doc is a great musician and he’s heard a bunch of great musicians that I was just overwhelmed you know? You can imagine a kid in that situation and that really meant a lot to me getting to pick with those guys at that young of an age.

Dr. Kent: So how about being on stage with Rhonda Vincent and all those screaming fans. What did it feel like playing around that mic with a singer like that?

Michael Cleveland: Oh it was great. Ron is a great singer and he knows how to put on a show. He doesn’t let the audience fall asleep. If it looks like some of the audiences heads are nodding you know it’s going to be a fast tune and she just knows everything about the ins and outs of putting on a great show and it was cool to be a part of that. There were some great musicians in that band at that time, Ottie Blaylock, Tom Adams and getting to play with those guys, that was a great experience.

Dr. Kent: How about being on the road. Of course being on stage is an incredible rush and it’s so much fun but how about the wear and tear of the road?

Michael Cleveland: Well it kind of goes with the profession. There’s things that happen, I mean a lot of people that haven’t really been out on the road don’t know. They’re like you all get to ride around to all these different places; you’re like on vacation every weekend! And it is fun you know but you really don’t get to do anything, you probably wont see the place you’re playing and of course that’s what we want to do. I’m not complaining or anything like that but you haven’t lived until you’ve been on a trip where the van breaks down on you and you’re on the shoulder or something like that. Then you learn about the road but I think that it’s a lot of fun for me to get out and play and we need all these different musicians and fans and things that goes with it. I couldn’t live without it.

Dr. Kent: Now you’ve got this album Leaving Town and you’ve won the IBMA’s Fiddle Player of the Year a ton of times now. What have you got left? Do you have any big goals left?

Michael Cleveland: Well this is, we’re getting into the actually this will be let me think, I think it’s the second year of the band and we really just want to see the band thing go as far as it can and we want to reach a lot more people and play wider audiences and we just want to play as much as we can and try to play some good music. And hopefully make a little money here and there.

Dr. Kent: Doc Watson always talks about when he gets home he doesn’t really ever want to look at the guitar; when he’s home, he’s home. Do you ever still sit on the porch and play some fiddle?

Michael Cleveland: When I’m home I should be practicing but I usually don’t. But I tell you what I often do and this is well more times than not. I will jam and play like local shows, even when I’m home I’ve got a bunch of people that I know that I just play with around here. When I got bit I got bit bad. I can’t just sit for two weeks and not play some kind of music and I enjoy that.

A lot of people go I don’t see how you can do that, go out on the road and do it and be gone about a month or so and come back and play but that’s what I wanted to do. I’ve got other little hobbies but music is my main thing that I enjoy doing and I’m lucky enough that it can be a job and a source of income too, but I really love to do it, I love to play just for the sake of playing when I’m home.

Dr. Kent: Where do you live?

Michael Cleveland: I live in Charleston, Indiana. It’s right close to Louisville, Kentucky.

Dr. Kent: I got one last question for you about the sound of this album. Right after we get done talking I’m going to play Jerusalem Ridge. The sound of the album is its not just new amazing bluegrass. Its fast, its cutting edge, but it also has that old sound in it. Tell me about how you keep that old sound in there?

Michael Cleveland: Well, I’ll tell you a lot of it is everybody in the band, all these guys in the Flame Keeper band, we all listen to the same people and that’s the people like Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Jimmy Dempsey and all the great traditional bluegrass bands and we try to not copy what they did but at least have the I don’t know I guess just listening to those people, we’re automatically going to try to play in that way; those people are our idols. So yeah, there’s some newer things and there’s some newer licks on there that those people might not have played but it’s still based on what they do and it’s still a huge part of what we do.

Dr. Kent: It’s been a real honor speaking with Michael Cleveland. I’m going to play Jerusalem Ridge and thanks for being on the show.

Michael Cleveland: Oh thank you sir and I also want to tell you if you want to check out our website online its flamekeeperband.com.

Dr. Kent: Flamekeeperband.com; we’ll check it out and thanks for being on the show. Now here’s Jerusalem Ridge by Michael Cleveland and Flame Keeper Band.

[ Music ]

Dr. Kent: Well that’s an amazing version of Jerusalem Ridge by Michael Cleveland and Flame Keeper, released on Rounder Records on July 29 of this year. Check that out on his website flamekeeperband.com, it’s a great website. Thank you so much for tuning into the show today, have a safe week and enjoy this crisp autumn air. See you next time.

Posted by admin | Filed Under Bluegrass, TRANSCRIPTS, Folk, MUSICIAN INTERVIEW, PODCAST