Charlie Cushman Joins Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper!

Banjo Master Cushman will take on full-time banjo duties with the IBMA's 4-time Instrumental Group of the Year effective immediately.

When speaking of the cream of the crop banjo players in present day, Charlie Cushman is a household name among the most elite.  Raised on the 5-string banjo from a very early age, Cushman cut his teeth on the music of Don Reno and Earl Scruggs and over the years has become one of the most respected musicians of his time.  At age 14 he was a regular performer on The Carl Tipton Show, where he also learned guitar and upright bass. 


In the early 1980's, Cushman received his first real taste of life on the road as a full-time musician while working with James Monroe and the Midnight Ramblers, Jimmy Martin and the Sunny Mountain Boys and country music icon Mel Tillis and the Statesiders.  He then stayed closer to home while working full-time for Nashville's music-themed park, Opryland USA the last half of that decade.  The last few years have found him staying very busy as an in-demand session player having recorded on projects for prominent artists such as Marty Stuart, Merle Haggard, Rhonda Vincent, Tim O'Brien and Vince Gill, a relationship that eventually led to an unprecedented tour with Gill in support of his Grammy winning project These Days. 

The admiration between these two artists is heartwarming.  

"I first met Charlie in 1999 when we played with Jeff White at the Station Inn," states Cleveland.  "I knew after that gig that I'd played with one of the best. To have Charlie join the band is a dream come true."  Charlie Cushman is equally excited. "I’m so proud and honored to finally get to work with Michael and his band and I’m glad that this opportunity has finally lined up for us."  Cushman continues, "We have a spark with each other musically and I’m more excited about this than anything else I've done in quite a while."

Over the years, Michael Cleveland and 

Charlie Cushman have shared the stage 

many times.  Cushman was Cleveland's 

banjo player of choice for his solo 

project Let'er Go Boys. 

This musical pairing will have definitely come full circle when this new configuration of Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper offers their first public performance on the very stage the two first performed together, the world famous Station Inn in Nashville, TN on Friday, February 18th.  The multi-award winning group will be performing some new music from the band's upcoming Rounder Records CD, Fired Up, due for release in early spring.   Michael Cleveland sums it up best, "It is going to be a blast to play and learn from one of the true professionals in the business!  I feel like everything is finally coming together the way I've always hoped."

For more information on Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, please visitwww.FlamekeeperBand.com.