Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper - The Road to Columbus [Live at WAMU's Bluegrass Country]

Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper perform "The Road to Columbus" on the Katy Daley Show at WAMU's Bluegrass Country in Washington, D.C.
Listen live at BluegrassCountry.org
Video by Peter Swinburne
Audio by Jerad Walker

[@chucktaylor4330]

You gotta love that glancing look and smile Michael gave to Charlie after the down walk down in his banjo break.. Sweet, Good Job!

[@UncleCaptainMidnight]

I'm gonna cry - thank you , Michael, for keeping Kenny's music alive.

[@BenSlover1]

The depth of Michael's genius is the fact that he can come up with countless variations off the top of his head on every tune he plays. It simply adds up to him never playing any tune the same way twice, to say the least. I don't know of another fiddler in history that has that depth. He'll play every tune pretty straight the first time around, and then all bets are off and he unleashes his unmatched creativity with his genius variations. He's just brilliant.

[@mattvernon239]

And most importantly, he always leaves the melody intact! Even in his variations you can always tell what tune he's playing.

[@michaelconfoy2862]

WAMU 88.9 still keeps bluegrass alive 24x7x365 on HD2

[@GodsFavoriteBassPlyr]

Monsters! Would love to pick with Michael some day. (just one song!)

[@alpenjon]

Fiddle, banjo and mandoline are blowing my mind!

[@robertobruzzese943]

Great Michel and all the band! I love you!

[@RonnieMinh]

Sweet!

[@troutboy26]

listen to katy daleys morning show every day.

[@bobsink6236]

amazing and the guitar player is good also

[@jf6608]

Mandolina je rozladěná!!!!! :-)

[@mattross6902]

Ashby is killer on the old 8!

[@mrsockmonkey1969]

The importance of tuning A strings made apparent at 1:08 lol. Wow

[@TheFoofding]

Man was it impressive to see him adapt and avoid that A string, especially open A, for the remainder of the song! What a professional!

[@ogpicker]

OR, he could have tuned up before starting the recording...

[@zuperduperboi]

@@ogpicker He most probably did. Instruments act sometimes, could easily happen if they just moved from a different room with another temperature.

[@joshuatate5671]

@@zuperduperboi Yep, very easy to come out of tune

[@mattross6902]

@@TheFoofding ashbys the man

[@joshuatate5671]

2:32

[@emiliodibenedetto4654]

Beautiful tune, fellas. Say, does anyone know the history of this tune and/ or what its name refers to?

[@nashvillebanjo]

Bill Monroe made up the tune and was playing it on the bus. Roland White was driving the bus and Bill was sitting up front playing the tune, when apparently he decided to name it. He asked Roland what city they were coming into and Roland told him, "Columbus". So he named it "Road to Columbus". No great significance, it's just where they were at the time, according to Roland.

[@2ndMounier]

Don't forget Kenny Baker. This is a Monroe/Baker song.

[@peterzabriskie8624]

I'm curious as to the identity of the mando player in this vid?

[@Bascomblodge]

Charlie Cushman on the banjo. Should have been one of the great banjo fiddle teams of all time but they stayed together only a very short time. Sad.

[@mattvernon239]

Anyone know why it always seems to be the mandolin player who just can't seem to stick to the melody?

[@Thebanjoberk]

Yes, because they don't want to play the exact same notes as the fiddle player and want to adapt the song to their instrument.

[@mattross6902]

Because ashby is that good.

[@mattvernon239]

@@mattross6902 If we were all "that good" songs wouldn't have names. When someone calls a fiddle tune in a jam, you know what tune to expect because of the melody. If someone calls Soldier's Joy and then starts playing St. Anne's Reel (or worse just throws their own melody together based on the notes in a key), the technical term for such a person is "idiot." I mean idiot in the old meaning of the word, in an etymological sense. I don't intend that as an insult, although I'm sure it will sound like one.

[@mattross6902]

@@mattvernon239 I've played in bluegrass bands for 42 years. The typical practice is the first time through the tune you stay close to the melody, which Mike does, after that depending on skill level it's open for improvisation, which, as you can see and hear in this fine example, is what makes it fun for the players and sometimes wows the listeners/viewers. These guys are skilled enough to play their own interpretation of the tune very well. I personally find it much more enjoyable this way. Bill Monroe created the music based heavily on improv.

[@mattross6902]

@@mattvernon239 Creating melody variations and improvising is a skill required for playing any folk music including bluegrass at a medium to high skill level. Being able to improvise not only helps you express yourself but allows you to cover up mistakes and communicate with other musicians at a jam or show. It's also gratifying to create music on the fly. For some, this skill comes easy but for others a bit of practice is required.

[@Paulpoission]

Aye, I’ve been that out of tune mando player many times

[@Paulpoission]

Second break was awesome