Michael Cleveland

With the sweet and good things in life, there always comes darkness. This is a lesson that GRAMMY-winning fiddler, MICHAEL CLEVELAND, knows all too well. In 2021, two of his dearest and oldest friends passed away. Bill Wolfe and Eddie Wells were two of the best local bluegrass musicians in his hometown in southern Indiana—they were two of the people who had inspired him to pick up the fiddle at just four years old, so their passing hit hard. “More than ever, losing both of them made me realize that life is short and is also what you make it,” says Cleveland. “It made me really stop and think of all the people in my life who have influenced me in life and music, and to not take anything for granted.”

With his sixth solo studio release, LOVIN’ OF THE GAME, veteran fiddle virtuoso Michael Cleveland seizes his opportunity at this one wonderful life and swings for the rafters. The album positively hums with energy. Not beholden to one specific genre or pigeonholed label, it showcases Cleveland’s inclusive musical nature—placing value in the process over the output. It is in this release of control that we find something truly sublime: the sound of artists working together in the act of creation without regard for any preconceived notion of what “should” be. The sound of genuine musicianship.