Michael Cleveland Named NEA National Heritage Fellow

Virtuosic, Grammy Award-winning fiddler Michael Cleveland is among the recipients of 2022 NEA National Heritage Fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts. Created in 1982, the one-time only fellowships are presented annually to nine-13 individuals (“national living treasures”) in recognition of lifetime achievement, artistic excellence and contributions to the United States’ cultural heritage. The fellowships are the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

“In their artistic practices, the NEA National Heritage Fellows tell their own stories on their own terms. They pass their skills and knowledge to others through mentorship and teaching,” said NEA Chair Maria Rosario Jackson, PhD. “These honorees are not only sustaining the cultural history of their art form and of their community, they are also enriching our nation as a whole.”

Michael Cleveland has been recognized 12 times as the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Fiddler of the Year and six times for Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year, while Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper has been hailed as its Instrumental Group of the Year seven times. The southern Indiana-based musician won a Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album of the Year in 2019 for Tall Fiddler on Compass Records, while his previous recording, Fiddler’s Dream, was among the nominees in that category in 2018. Cleveland is also a 2018 National Fiddler Hall of Fame inductee and the subject of a 2019 biographical documentary film, Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story. The Louisville (Kentucky) Federation of Musicians named him as its 2020 Musician of the Year. Cleveland and his group have also received awards from the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America (SPBGMA).

A sought-after musician, Cleveland, 41, has also performed with such noted artists as Vince Gill, J.D. Crowe and the New South, The Kruger Brothers, Tim O’Brien, Andy Statman, and Marty Stuart, among others. “He plays fearless and it’s intoxicating to play with him because he makes you play fearless,” says Gill. “He takes no prisoners but he plays with a restraint and a soul. He plays without abandon. It’s wicked to see how much he pulls out of a bow. He’s untouchable.”

Here’s a link to a recording of Michael Cleveland performing “Tall Fiddler”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zcwx6AifG7Q.

A film celebrating the National Endowment for the Arts 2022 class of artists and tradition bearers premieres this fall on arts.gov, where more information on the NEA National Heritage Fellowship and a complete list of recipients can also be found.