James David Van Cleve is an American fiddle player, songwriter, session musician, and producer. He is a founding member of the popular band Mountain Heart, and a Grammy winning session musician and Grammy nominated solo artist.

Early life

Jim Van Cleve was born October 12, 1978, in Sarasota, Florida. He won many fiddle contests as a youth. While still in high school, Van Cleve became a member of Ric-o-chet and Lou Reid and Carolina, prominent bands in the national bluegrass scene at the time. In 1997, bluegrass and gospel legend Doyle Lawson invited Van Cleve to join his group, Quicksilver. Van Cleve left college (UNC-Greensboro) to become the band's new fiddle player.

Mountain Heart

In 1998, banjo player Barry Abernathy, singer/guitarist Steve Gulley, and Grammy-winning mandolinist (formerly of Alison Krauss and Union Station) Adam Steffey began plans to form a band. Van Cleve came on board and the band Mountain Heart was formed. Van Cleve has played a major role in the success and popularity of the band, as well as a driving force in creating more complex musical arrangements. He left the band in April 2014.

Discography

With Mountain Heart

Solo

Producer

Jim has become highly regarded and much sought after both as a session musician and as a record producer in the worlds of Country and Americana music. Van Cleve has quickly built a broad-ranging and artistically acclaimed body of production work. Besides producing Mountain Heart's That Just Happened and his solo album, he has produced work by Cindy G, Carrie Hassler And Hard Rain, and Clay Jones

Other work

In 2008, Van Cleve was recruited to write and record a new Awards Show Theme Song by the IBMA (an honor previously held by the 12-time Grammy winner, Jerry Douglas, and Nashville recording legend, Mark O'Connor before him). The new theme song, "Road From Rosine" was debuted at the 2007 IBMA Awards Show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. Jim was recruited to write an instrumental track for a studio project by Sierra Hull. Ron Block (of Alison Krauss and Union Station), and Sierra produced her debut solo project and commissioned Jim to write the song, which eventually was entitled "Smashville".

Awards

International Bluegrass Music Association