DOC STOCK III
In partnership with the Ramkat

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper + Zoe & Cloyd
Friday, February 28, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
The Ramkat, 170 W 9th St, Winston-Salem, NC
Tickets$37-$55

his event is part of DocStock III, our annual birthday celebration honoring Doc Watson!

From an early age, Michael Cleveland heard old-time and bluegrass music at local jams and festivals near his hometown of Henryville, Indiana. His grandparents hosted regular bluegrass gatherings at the American Legion, and at age four, he began playing the fiddle. He attended the Kentucky School for the Blind in Louisville, where he learned the Suzuki method of violin. While he practiced the violin at school, he played fiddle at home. Traveling with his grandparents to area bluegrass festivals, he heard many legendary players perform at Bill Monroe’s Bluegrass Festival in Bean Blossom, Indiana. At the age of nine, Cleveland got to play with Monroe—himself a recipient of the National Heritage Fellowship in the inaugural class of 1982—at the festival.

Cleveland began playing professionally after he graduated from high school, first with Jeff White, later with Dale Ann Bradley and Rhonda Vincent. However, Cleveland had always dreamed of leading his own band and in 2006, he formed Flamekeeper, seven-time recipients of the IBMA’s “Instrumental Group of the Year” award, including Josh Richards, Nathan Livers, Jasiah Shrode, and Chris Douglas.

In addition to touring with his band, Cleveland has performed with a legendary list of bluegrass greats: Bela Fleck, Tommy Emmanuel, Billy Strings, Vince Gill, and more. Widely considered the bluegrass fiddler of his generation, Cleveland has been recognized 12 times as the IBMA’s Fiddle Player of the Year and in 2018 was inducted into the National Fiddlers Hall of Fame. His recording Fiddler’s Dream was nominated in 2018 for a GRAMMY for Best Bluegrass Album, and in 2019, he won a GRAMMY for his album Tall Fiddler. The same year, Cleveland’s amazing life of adversity and achievement was featured in the documentary film Flamekeeper: The Michael Cleveland Story. And in 2022, he was awarded the National Endowment for the Arts Heritage Fellowship.

Michael has partnered with fellow IBMA Fiddler of the Year Award Winner Jason Cater (long-time, founding member of the Del McCoury Band) on a soon-to-be released album of which they have released two preview singles “Give it Away” & “Outrun the Rain.” Michael was also featured on the recent Musicians Tribute to Chet Atkins We Still Can’t Say Goodbye, playing with guitar wizard Tommy Emmanuel on the track “Mr. Guitar.” He was also a featured band member of Bela Fleck’s recent “Rhapsody in Bluegrass” project.

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Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper

Opening the show is Zoe & Cloyd. The innovative “klezgrass” music of Zoe & Cloyd springs from the rich traditions and complementary styles of fiddler/vocalist Natalya Zoe Weinstein and multi-instrumentalist/vocalist John Cloyd Miller.

Descending from a lineage of klezmer and jazz musicians, Natalya trained classically in her home state of Massachusetts before moving south in 2004.

John, a twelfth generation North Carolinian and grandson of pioneering bluegrass fiddler, Jim Shumate, is a 1st place winner of the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest and the Hazel Dickens Songwriting Contest.

Based in Asheville, NC, Zoe & Cloyd delight audiences with soaring harmonies and heartfelt songwriting, seamlessly combining original bluegrass, klezmer, old-time and folk with sincerity and zeal.

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Zoe & Cloyd

About The Ramkat

The Ramkat is a two-level, 11,670- square-foot, 1,000-person-capacity live music venue, handicap-accessible, and serviced by three bars serving a wide variety of beer, wine, spirits and non-alcoholic beverages. The Ramkat continues to build on the long legacy of live music in Winston-Salem that borrows from the best of our musical heritage and other great rooms around the world, while at the same time harkening back to the basic philosophy of the Sixth Room…without the temperance talks.

The Ramkat is located at 170 W. 9th St., Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

About The Gas Hill Drinking Room

Gas Hill is an intimate craft cocktail lounge, drinking room and gathering space with a mix of deep-seated couches, comfortable bar stools and community tables. Connected to the balcony level of the venue, Gas Hill is located at the northernmost end of Trade Street across the intersection at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.

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