Flame Keeper was released by Rounder Records on February 12, 2002, when Michael Cleveland was 21 and playing in Dale Ann Bradley’s band. Cleveland, who was born blind in 1980 and grew up near Henryville, Indiana, began on fiddle at age four, learned the Suzuki method at the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville, and at nine played with Bill Monroe at Bean Blossom.
He and Jeff White produced the album, which was recorded at Hilltop Recording Studios in Nashville with Tom Adams on banjo, Jesse Brock on mandolin, Audie Blaylock on guitar and Jason Moore on bass. Nine of the fifteen tracks are instrumentals, among them Arthur Smith’s “North Carolina Breakdown,” Charles Flannery’s “Blue Violet Waltz” and Monroe’s “Virginia Darling,” on which Bobby Hicks plays second fiddle. Blaylock sings lead on “Goodbye Old Pal,” “Shenandoah Waltz” and “Will You Be Satisfied That Way”; Jeff White sings tenor with him on Monroe’s “Six Feet Under the Ground,” and on “Prayer Bells of Heaven” Rhonda Vincent adds a high baritone and Jim Cornell the bass part.
The title was suggested by Rounder’s president, and Cleveland later used it as the name of his band, Flamekeeper, formed in 2006 with players from this album. In 2002 the International Bluegrass Music Association named him Fiddle Player of the Year, an award it has given him many times since, and gave Flame Keeper its Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year.
Tracklist
- 1 Dance Around Molly 2:21
- 2 Six Feet Under The Ground 2:23
- 3 North Carolina Breakdown 2:00
- 4 Lost Indian alt version 3:06
- 5 Prayer Bells of Heaven alt version 3:06
- 6 Blue Violet Waltz 3:19
- 7 Rye Straw 1:28
- 8 Too Late To Walk The Floor 2:14
- 9 Virginia Darling 2:36
- 10 Will You Be Satisfied That Way 3:00
- 11 Bear Creek Hop 1:31
- 12 Goodbye Old Pal Source Recording 2:40
- 13 Two O'Clock In The Morning 2:44
- 14 Shenandoah Waltz Source Recording 2:47
- 15 Lee Highway Blues 3:04
