Bluegrass Heritage Foundation presents
Bluegrass Star Award® to Michael Cleveland
October 19, 2024
GRAMMY-winning bluegrass fiddler and bandleader Michael Cleveland was honored with the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation’s Bluegrass Star Award® on Saturday, October 19, 2024 at the Bloomin’ Bluegrass Festival in the Farmers Branch Historical Park in Farmers Branch, Texas. Cleveland was joined by Rhonda Vincent, Dan Tyminski, and Del McCoury, each of whom have received the Bluegrass Star Award (in 2010, 2021, and 2015, respectively).
Alan W. Tompkins, President and founder of the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation, began the presentation by explaining that the Foundation created the Bluegrass Star Award in 2010 as a way to honor artists who respected the traditions of bluegrass music and preserved its character while doing an exemplary job of bringing the music to new audiences. Previous Bluegrass Star Awards have been presented to Rhonda Vincent, J. D. Crowe, Peter Rowan, Sierra Hull, Ricky Skaggs, Del McCoury, Jerry Douglas, Bobby Osborne, and Dan Tyminski.
Tompkins gave the crowd a short summary of Michael’s incredible achievements as a bluegrass musician and bandleader, noting that he has (so far) been recognized twelve times as the Fiddle Player of the Year by the International Bluegrass Music Association and, in 2018, was inducted into the National Fiddlers Hall of Fame. His 2018 album Fiddler’s Dream was nominated for a GRAMMY award, and he won the GRAMMY the next year for his album Tall Fiddler.
Also in 2019, Cleveland’s amazing life of adversity and achievement was the subject of a documentary film entitled Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story. In 2022, Michael received the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship. More recently, Michael toured with Bela Fleck and an all-star lineup of musicians on the My Bluegrass Heart tour.
“Michael’s incredible talents have brought bluegrass music to many thousands of new listeners over the course of his career, and he is a worthy recipient of the Bluegrass Heritage Foundation Bluegrass Star Award®.” For information about Michael Cleveland, visit his website or the Michael Cleveland page on Wikipedia.com. Photos courtesy of Randy Watkins.
