Darrell Webb on stage during the 2008 Franklin Music Festival in Franklin, KY.

Multi-instrumentalist Darrell Webb is departing his spot on guitar with the highly traveled Rhonda Vincent and The Rage to join Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper.

The announcement was made Wednesday through East Public Relations, which handles Cleveland’s publicity.

Webb will assume lead vocal and guitar duties with Flamekeeper, two-time winner of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s (IBMA) Instrumental Group of the Year. Cleveland has won IBMA’s Fiddle Player of the Year multiple times.

Webb had been a member of Vincent’s group for about a year. He joined that band to fill Josh William’s spot on guitar and harmony vocals.

In recent weeks, Webb released his third solo CD, Live at Bellamy’s, ironically, featuring The Rage — including Vincent on mandolin — as his supporting cast for the live album.

A West Virginia native, Webb began playing mandolin at age 8 and later picked up the guitar, banjo, and other bluegrass instruments during frequent jam sessions hosted by his father.

His professional career started at age 19, when Webb took the mandolin position in the Lonesome River Band upon the the departure of Dan Tyminski, who left to join Alison Krauss & Union Station.

Two years lataer, he joined bluegrass veteran J. D. Crowe and the New South. He was also one of the founding members of Wildfire.

Webb’s unique voice and musicianship caught the attention of Dolly Parton who invited him to record with her on “Halos and Horns”; where he played mandolin and sang harmony for the entire project. He appeared with Parton again on her patriotic project, For God And Country.

“I’m very excited about this,” Webb said. “Me and Michael [Cleveland] have been jamming together for years and we never dreamed we’d be able to play in a band together.”

Cleveland reciprocated with his own enthusiasm

“We had the opportunity to play together again at a recent event and things just fell into place,” Cleveland said. “He is a great talent and we are thrilled to have him in the band.”

Flamekeeper also consists of Jesse Brock on mandolin, Marshall Wilborn on bass and Jessie Baker on banjo.

Darrell Webb will make his debut with the band on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry on Friday, Dec. 26.