Fiddler's Dream

It's not hard to see why so many are in awe of blind bluegrass fiddler Michael Cleveland. One listen to the jaw-dropping speed-fiddle playing of ‘Northeast Seaboard Blues’ is enough to assure anyone that he is a master of his instrument. A child prodigy, he accompanied Alison Krauss at the Grand Ole Opry when he was just 13.

Fiddler's Dream provides abundant evidence of the incredible bluegrass prowess of Cleveland and his band. ‘Blues for Bill’, as its title suggests, hears his fiddle try out some satisfyingly elastic-sounding bluesy riffs, and guest Jerry Douglas, on dobro guitar, plays a couple of inspired solos. ‘Where is Your Heart Tonight?’ is an enjoyably old-fashioned country song, one of a few tracks featuring a guest vocalist – in this case the manly baritone of Jason Carter, who plays fiddle for the Del McCoury band. Carter also contributes his fiddle to the lightning-fast ‘Tall Timber’; part of that track's incendiary power comes from the astonishing interplay between the two instruments. The problem, however, is that most of it is just too straight. It's a very good bluegrass album, and the moments in which Cleveland unashamedly shows off are breathtaking; there just aren't enough surprises across its 13 tracks.