SMF In Unison: Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper / Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley

1 Altamaha Street,Savannah GA 31401

24 October, 2021

Description

Enjoy a free bluegrass and acoustic music concert along the Savannah riverfront, presented by the Savannah Music Festival. To celebrate the generosity of SMF In Unison members, Savannah Music Festival will present a free, socially-distanced outdoor bluegrass concert on the river featuring some of the most acclaimed and awarded players in bluegrass and acoustic music. Grammy-winning bluegrass ensemble Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper will make their SMF debut. Cleveland was invited to sit in with the legendary Bill Monroe at the Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival at age 9. Soon after, he brought his virtuosic style to the Grand Ole Opry as a guest of Alison Krauss, and was hand picked for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Bluegrass Youth Allstars before he was 14. His blistering prowess and technical fluency have since marked him as a sought-after musician, leading to performances with Vince Gill, Marty Stuart, Tim O’Brien, J.D. Crowe and the New South, Andy Statman, Béla Fleck and The Kruger Brothers in recent years. Cleveland is the IBMA’s most awarded Fiddle Player of the Year with 12 wins, has won Instrumental Recorded Performance of the Year six times, and fronts their 6-Time Instrumental Group of the Year. Based on a mutual love of bluegrass, country, blues, western swing and string band music of all kinds, Dobro and lap steel specialist Rob Ickes and acoustic/electric guitarist Trey Hensley formed a partnership in 2015 after their debut album, Before The Sun Goes Down, was nominated for a Grammy. Ickes has won 15 IBMA Awards for Dobro Player of the Year. A Tennessee native, Hensley was 11 years old when Marty Stuart brought him onstage to play with him and Earl Scruggs at the Grand Ole Opry. A leading nonprofit performing arts organization, Savannah Music Festival (SMF) is dedicated to presenting world-class celebrations of the musical arts by creating timeless and adventurous productions that stimulate arts education, foster economic growth and unite artists and audiences in Savannah. In addition to year-round music education and broadcast initiatives, SMF has produced one of the most distinctive multi-genre music festivals in the world for more than three decades. Hailed by the Atlanta-Journal Constitution as “one of the gleaming musical treasures of the Southeast” and by the Toronto Star as “one of North America’s most distinctive musical events,” the Savannah Music Festival has featured more than 2,000 artists over the past three decades. On November 18, SMF will announce the lineup for the 2022 festival, which will take place from March 24 through April 9. For more information, visit savannahmusicfestival.org.