Though it goes without saying, there’s nearly endless variety when it comes to musical performances.
If you spend much time listening to the radio, you may be convinced that what’s out there is limited to pop, rock and hip-hop music.
If you’re partial to a record player, maybe you put on old vinyl records of funk and classic rock instead. Although music has become more commercialized over the years, many of our modern genres come from folk traditions of blues and country music.
And in some parts of the United States, those traditions are still alive and well.
More specifically, Tennessee is a state known for making and selling this kind of music on a mass scale.
Although Nashville has the reputation of being “Music City,” the rest of Tennessee is no slouch when it comes to blues, country and bluegrass as well.
By way of example, Chattanooga has plenty of concerts as well in events like the Scenic City Roots. For those who don’t know, Scenic City Roots is a genre-spanning concert, TV series and live radio show that happens periodically with local musicians.
And as it turns out, one YouTube video captured the spirit of the performance perfectly.
The clip we’re talking about today was posted in July 2013.
The group in question is Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, a bluegrass fiddle group that has some truly impressive chops. In this video, the song the group is performing is “Lee Highway Blues,” and it starts off with some impressive fiddle tones almost immediately.
After a few warm-up licks just to show what he’s got, Cleveland sets into an incredibly fast run of notes. A moment later, he stops to take a break.
After that, he makes some jokes with the audience: “That’s the only lick I know!”
Although what happens at the beginning is impressive, Cleveland is still just getting warmed up.
After another minute of rapid-fire playing, Cleveland adds in a few slower licks and the banjo players on-stage match his playing.
Just a moment later, Cleveland calls a count and all the musicians join in playing accompaniment impossibly fast—even faster than Cleveland was playing before! After just a few moments, the whole band has a nice swing going.
Though we all have an idea of what a fiddle looks or sounds like, most people probably aren’t expecting a performance like this one!
There’s the old folk tale that incredible fiddle players must’ve made a deal with the devil—and after seeing this clip, some people may think there’s truth to it.
Though it goes without saying, Cleveland plays his instrument like an absolute madman, tearing through impressive runs and even adding some unique flourishes into the tune.
Towards the end, he even plays a perfect interpolation of “Norwegian Wood” by The Beatles, though it’s not clear if the audience catches the reference or not. Either way, the whole band blazes past it like nothing happened and a few licks later, the song ends.
When it’s all over, the group gets a huge round of applause!
Since the video was posted, it has earned more than a half-million views on YouTube—but it definitely deserves a whole lot more.
Even for those who aren’t big country or bluegrass fans, there’s something truly magical about how well Cleveland plays the fiddle.
Although all the banjo players on stage definitely hold their own, the speed with which Cleveland plays is enough to make anybody a fan of the genre.
Congratulations to Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper on their amazing performance! Be sure to watch the whole thing in the link below:
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