Skip Cleavinger started playing the Highland pipes over 30 years ago while in junior high school. After a couple of years playing in the high school pipe band, he started playing in piping competitions around the eastern U.S. and Canada. After about 25 years of competing in individual and pipe band competitions and focusing primarily on a traditional Highland bagpipe repertoire, Skip began to develop an interest in traditional Irish music. He began playing the tin whistle and eventually obtained a set of Irish or "uilleann" pipes.Skip is active in the Nashville recording industry, and he tours several weeks each year with Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant. For many years, Skip was the piper in the group, Ceili Rain. The uilleann pipes and tin whistle are very suited to playing with orchestras. In the fall and winter of 2006, Skip performed with 34 symphony orchestras across the U.S. with Amy Grant and Michael W. Smith. For the past 4 years, Skip has been asked to perform in "Siamsa Na Gael," a benefit for St. Patrick's Cathedral in Chicago held at Chicago's Symphony Center. Most recently, Skip was a featured soloist with Alison Krauss and the Nashville Symphony.Skip remains very involved in traditional music circles as well, and he can often be found playing at various sessions in Nashville or at Irish music festivals from St. Louis to Toronto.
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