Riley Baugus | |
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 Riley Baugus at MerleFest 2009. | |
| Background information | |
| Origin | Walkertown, NC, USA |
| Genres | Old Time American, Americana, Country |
| Occupation(s) | Old Time Musician Instrument builder |
| Instrument(s) | Banjo, Vocals, Guitar, Fiddle |
| Website | www.rileybaugus.com |
Riley Baugus is an American old-time guitarist, banjo player, fiddler, singer and instrument builder from North Carolina.
Baugus grew up in the Regular Baptist tradition, which gave him a solid foundation in unaccompanied singing. [1] He began playing the fiddle at age 10 and grew up with the fiddler Kirk Sutphin. As a youth, he also had the opportunity to study with old-time musicians from Surry County, North Carolina and Grayson County, Virginia, including Tommy Jarrell, Robert Sykes, Dix Freeman, Verlin Clifton, and Paul Sutphin. He is influenced particularly by the Round Peak style of Surry County, North Carolina. [2]
Baugus worked as a welder and blacksmith for 18 years before becoming a professional musician. [2] He has performed throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Ireland, Scotland, and England. He has played with several old-time string bands, including The Farmer's Daughters, The Konnarock Critters, The Red Hots, Backstep, and the Old Hollow Stringband. He tours regularly with Dirk Powell and Tim O'Brien, and frequently performs and tours with the dancer Ira Bernstein, with the duo show Appalachian Roots. He often performs as a guest musician with the Dirk Powell Band and the North Carolina folk band Polecat Creek. He sang on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Cold Mountain . He has recorded with Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Willie Nelson, Dirk Powell, and Martha Scanlan. He has taught banjo at the Augusta Heritage Center's Old Time Week in Elkins, West Virginia and at the Midwest Banjo Camp, [3] in Olivet, Michigan.
Baugus released his first album, Life of Riley, in 2001. A second album, Long Steel Rail, was released in 2006. [4]
He lives in Walkertown, North Carolina. [2]
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 2001 | Life Of Riley(Yodel Ay Hee) |
| 2006 | Long Steel Rail(Sugar Hill) |
| 2019 | Little Black Train's a Comin'(Old Garden Records) |
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 2002 | Appalachian Rootswith Ira Bernstein (Yodel Ay Hee) |
| 2004 | Going Home Shoeswith The Lonesome Sisters (Tin Halo Music) |
| 2010 | Long Time Piedmont Palswith Kirk Sutphin (Old Blue Records) |
| 2012 | Lonesome Sceneswith The Lonesome Sisters (Tin Halo Music) |
| 2015 | Tomorrow Mornwith Dirk Powell (Wood and Steel Records) |
| Year | Album |
|---|---|
| 1986 | Old Time Music From North Carolinaby The Old Hollow String Band (Flyin' Cloud) |
| 1992 | Ready To Rollby The Red Hots (Fire Ant Music) |
| 1993 | Impeachedby The Red Hots (Bobville Productions / Hasty Records) |
| 2001 | Salt Sea Boundby Polecat Creek (Yodel Ay Hee) |
| 2002 | Grandpa's Favoritesby Kirk Sutphin (Old 97 Wrecords) |
| 2003 | Rare Rags & Stringband Bluesby Adam Tanner & The Dirty Rag Mob (Old 97 Wrecords) |
| 2003 | Cold Mountain: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture (Sony Music Entertainment) |
| 2004 | Time Againby Dirk Powell (Rounder Records) |
| 2005 | Come to the Mountain: Old Time Music for Modern Times(Rounder Records) |
| 2005 | Leaving Edenby Polecat Creek (Yodel Ay Hee) |
| 2005 | Elkhorn Riders feat. The Lonesome Sistersby Rench (Gangstagrass) (Rench Audio) |
| 2006 | The West Was Burningby Martha Scanlan (Sugar Hill Records) |
| 2005 | Ordinary Seasonsby Polecat Creek (Yodel Ay Hee) |
| 2007 | Raising Sand by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant (Rounder Records) |
| 2009 | Frolic in Round Peakby Kevin Fore (Round Peak Banjos) |
| 2010 | Country Music by Willie Nelson (Rounder Records) |
| 2010 | Live & Livelyby the New North Carolina Ramblers (Old Blue Records) |
| 2011 | That's How We Runby April Verch (Slab Town Records) |
| 2012 | The Mountain Music Projectby Tara Linhardt, Danny Knicely (Mountain Music Project) |
| 2017 | Playing Favoritesby Lillian Chase |
| 2019 | Just Around The Bend: Survival & Revival in Southern Banjo Soundsby Mike Seeger (Smithsonian Folkways) |
Old-time music is a genre of North American folk music. It developed along with various North American folk dances, such as square dancing, clogging, and buck dancing. It is played on acoustic instruments, generally centering on a combination of fiddle and plucked string instruments, most often the banjo, guitar, and mandolin. The genre is considered a precursor to modern country music.
Thomas Jefferson Jarrell was an American fiddler, banjo player, and singer from the Mount Airy region of North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains.
Appalachian music is the music of the region of Appalachia in the Eastern United States. Traditional Appalachian music is derived from various influences, including the ballads, hymns and fiddle music of the British Isles, the African music and blues of early African Americans, and to a lesser extent the music of Continental Europe.
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Round Peak is an unincorporated community in Surry County, North Carolina, United States, near Mount Airy with an elevation of 1,280 feet. It is located in the southern Appalachian Mountains and gives its name to the Round Peak style of old-time music practiced in the area.
Wade Eckhart Mainer was an American country singer and banjoist. With his band, the Sons of the Mountaineers, he is credited with bridging the gap between old-time mountain music and Bluegrass and is sometimes called the "Grandfather of Bluegrass". In addition, he innovated a two-finger banjo fingerpicking style, which was a precursor to modern three-finger bluegrass styles.
The Carolina Chocolate Drops were an old-time string band from Durham, North Carolina. Their 2010 album, Genuine Negro Jig, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, and was number 9 in fRoots magazine's top 10 albums of 2010.
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James Benton Flippen was an old-time fiddler from Mount Airy, North Carolina. He was one of the last surviving members of a generation of performers born in the early 20th century playing in the Round Peak style centering on Surry County, North Carolina. His contemporaries included Tommy Jarrell, Fred Cockerham, Kyle Creed, and Earnest East.
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Earnest East was a fiddle, guitar, and banjo player. East began his music career as a member of the Camp Creek Boys, and later founded his own instrumental band which he called the Pine Ridge Boys in 1966. In 1969, the Pine Ridge Boys released their first album, titled "Old Time Mountain Music", on the County label. Their second album, "Stringband Music From Mt. Airy" was released in 1981 on the Heritage label.
Carroll Best was an American bluegrass banjo player and music educator. He was briefly a member of The Morris Brothers in the mid 1950s. He was the winner of several regional banjo contests before being awarded the widely recognized Bascom Lamar Lunsford Award in 1990. He is credited for developing an influential melodic three-finger banjo style, which he taught as a member of the faculty at the Tennessee Banjo Institute. This style influenced the work of musicians Tony Trischka and Bela Fleck. His work was featured on radio broadcasts for NPR and The Grand Ole Opry, and on the television program Hee Haw. He released two albums while he was alive, and a third album of his work was released posthumously in 2001. He is listed as a historic artist by the Blue Ridge National Heritage Area, and was given the North Carolina Heritage Award in 1994.
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