Next week, on Thursday, the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival will return to Michigan's Eaton County Fairgrounds. One of the featured bands will be Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper.
Michael Cleveland's a spectacularly good fiddler; perhaps the best in bluegrass music--he's technically excellent and the music he selects is also fine. He heads a band of similar caliber. They're definitely worth hearing.
This photo was taken at the 2016 edition of the festival. The Charlotte festival's celebrating its fifty-first anniversary this summer, and I've been there most years. There are good reasons I keep returning, and this band is one of those.
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Michigan's own Full Cord will be closing out the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival on Saturday, June 24. This band's been developing a national reputation--they won the band contest at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival last June--and we locals, who've been watching them develop for several years, have been cheering them on.
And I've got a story for Brian Oberlin, the mandolin player. Can't wait to tell him.
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This central Ohio band will be opening the afternoon and evening sets next Saturday--a week from today--at the Charlotte, Michigan, Bluegrass Festival. Brad (guitar) and Lori (bass) Lambert are the heart of this band; they're very good, and well worth a listen.
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The Kody Norris Show will make three appearances on the Charlotte stage this weekend. They'll close out the program on Friday evening, then they'll appear twice on Saturday. They put on quite a show.
Here's Kody with his wife, Mary Rachel Nallely-Norris. Miss Mary Rachel, as Kody tends to introduce her, has twice won the Fiddler of the Year award from Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music.
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Here's this year's Host Band for the Charlotte Bluegrass Festival. I'm not real sure what a Host Band's responsibilities include, but these folks will be having fun all weekend.
This band was born in northern Ohio, but is now mostly a Michigan band. (I'm not sure where mando player Lynn Fox lives.) You can't knock its talent: Bass player Jennifer Strickland Zapolnik's a successful songwriter who's been on this stage with Special Consensus and Rhonda Vincent. Banjoist Dana Cupp used to tour with Bill Monroe. The others lack these credentials, but have matching talents. Especially fiddler Isaac Smith, who is a wonder.
Anyway: This band's worth seeing. And they're fun to interact with. Come see 'em.
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