When Jason Carter and Michael Cleveland join forces, audiences are treated to a collaboration between the most decorated fiddlers in modern bluegrass history. With a combined total of 18 IBMA "Fiddle Player of the Year" awards and multiple Grammys, these two virtuosos bridge the gap between the genre's deep traditional roots and its boundary-pushing future.
Michael Cleveland is widely considered the premier bluegrass fiddler of his generation. He holds the record as the most awarded IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year with twelve wins and is a 2018 inductee into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame. A 2019 Grammy winner for his album Tall Fiddler, Cleveland also received the prestigious National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship in 2022. His 2023 release, Lovin’ of the Game, highlights his inclusive musical nature and distinct fusion of tradition and innovation.
Jason Carter is a bluegrass titan. For thirty years, he has been the fiddle player for the Del McCoury Band—the most awarded group in bluegrass history—and a founding member of the Travelin’ McCourys. A three-time Grammy winner and six-time IBMA Fiddle Player of the Year, Carter is honored with a marker on Kentucky’s Country Music Highway. On his solo 2022 release, Lowdown Hoedown, Carter steps into the spotlight as a lead vocalist, showcasing a career shaped by collaborations with legends like Steve Earle, Ricky Skaggs, and Dierks Bentley.
For over thirty years, these two have been acclaimed as the genre's finest. They first met as teenagers—Carter was 19 and Cleveland just 13—and immediately recognized a shared "fiddle fire" in one another. Despite decades of crossing paths at festivals, impromptu stage jams, and a fifteen-year conversation about recording together, the timing was never quite right—until now.
Released on Fiddle Man Records on March 14, 2025, their collaborative album Carter & Cleveland is the long-awaited culmination of a lifelong friendship. The album captures a "telepathic" musical connection that Cleveland likens to a "brother duet," where two fiddles weave together with the tightness of vocal harmonies.The project pairs otherworldly instrumentalism with exceptional songwriting. Carter steps into the spotlight as a lead vocalist, anchoring tracks like the #1 hit "Give It Away," a message of generosity featuring Sam Bush, and the haunting "Outrun the Rain," which features high vocal harmonies from Vince Gill and Jaelee Roberts. True to their roots, the show is packed with reverence for tradition, including instrumental burnups like "Kern County Breakdown" and "Bluegrass in the Backwoods," alongside "Dreams," a touching nod to Carter’s three-decade tenure with the Del McCoury Band.
Together, backed by an all-star core band, Cleveland and Carter offer a performance defined by mutual respect, road-tested mastery, and the sheer joy of the fiddle.