Premiere: Michael Cleveland Recruits Billy Strings on “For Your Love”

Michael Cleveland is offering another look inside his forthcoming album, Lovin’ of the Game, with the 1980s country classic “For Your Love.”

For the album’s third single, the Grammy award-winning, fiddle virtuoso has recruited the song stylings of fellow bluegrass authority, multi-instrumentalist Jeff White, as well as young gun bluegrass guitarist Billy Strings.

For your love I’d walk a tight rope wrestle anacondas / Jump a motorcycle over half-a-dozen Hondas / Carve your initials on a forest of bamboo / Paint the Brooklyn Bridge baby pink with a broom, the song plays against a jamgrass breakdown, spewing wit and charm with every twanging word. I’d take on the press from Tokyo to Praga / Your love ain’t just the hot sauce it’s the whole enchilada.

Listen to “For Your Love” below.

“For Your Love” follows the previously released “Sunny Days (Are Comin’ Once Again)” along with the title track. Lovin’ of the Game is set for a March 3 release.

Collaboration is at the heart of Cleveland’s forthcoming release. Featuring across its 12 tracks are appearances from the likes of Béla Fleck, Charlie Starr, the Travelin’ McCourys, and Vince Gill. Lovin’ of the Game will see a departure from the traditional, and an arrival into something else entirely, a genre-spanning display of true musicianship.

“People know me as a traditional bluegrass fiddle player, which is what I love to do, but this album is more than just the pure tradition,” Cleveland shared of the album in a statement. “It’s a little bit of a departure for me.”

Track List

1. “Thousand Dollar Holler”
2. “Luxury Liner” – feat. The Travelin’ McCourys
3. “Five Points” – feat. Cody Looper and Ronnie McCoury
4. “For Your Love” – feat. Billy Strings and Jeff White
5. “I Wish I Knew Now What I Knew Then” – feat. Vince Gill
6. “Sunny Days (Are Comin’ Once Again)” – feat. Jeff White and Dan Tyminski
7. “Contact” – feat. Bela Fleck, Cody Kilby and Barry Bales
8. “Temperance Reel” – feat. Luke Bulla and Tim O’Brien
9. “Empty Pocket Blues” – with Flamekeeper, feat. Bryan Sutton
10. “Now She’s Gone” – with Flamekeeper, feat. Jerry Douglas
11. “One Horse Town” – with Flamekeeper, feat. Charlie Starr
12. “The Lovin’ Of The Game” – feat. Flamekeeper

Photo: Amy Richmond / Courtesy of Milestone Publicity