Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper at the Blue Ridge Music Center

Michael Cleveland heard old-time and bluegrass music at local jams and festivals, inspiring him to take up the fiddle at age four. Playing professionally since he graduated from high school, he always dreamed of leading his own band. In 2006, he formed Flamekeeper, a group that has won the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Instrumental Group of the Year award seven times.

The Crooked Road Ramblers old-time band from Southwest Virginia kick off the evening. Steeped in the traditional music of the Blue Ridge Mountains, they perform a mixture of instrumental dance music, old ballads, traditional country, and bluegrass at notable venues across the region.

This concert is sponsored by the National Council for Traditional Arts as part of its series National Treasures: A Tour of Culture Bearers in National Parks, showcasing recipients of the National Endowment for the Arts’ prestigious National Heritage Fellowship, the nation’s highest honor awarded to folk and traditional artists. Cleveland was awarded this honor in 2022.

Tickets are $30 for adults, children 12 and younger free of charge.