Brad Leftwich

Known for the purity of his sound and his devotion to tradition, Brad Leftwich has been sharing his love of old-time music with audiences for some 30 years. His virtuoso fiddling has been acclaimed by critics in such journals as Billboard, Fiddler Magazine, Bluegrass Unlimited, and The Old-Time Herald. He is also an accomplished banjo player and singer.

Brad grew up in Oklahoma, in a family with musical and cultural roots in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and his music reflects the traditions of both those areas. In addition to carrying on his family’s music, he spent years seeking out and learning from older-generation musicians in the southern Appalachians and in Oklahoma and the Ozarks.

Brad was a founding member of the Plank Road String Band in the mid-seventies and toured with his wife Linda as Leftwich & Higginbotham throughout the 1980s and ’90s. Today Brad is among the foremost old-time musicians of his generation. Recordings of his music appear on respected independent labels such as Rounder, County, Copper Creek, and Marimac.

Brad has won the prestigious fiddle contest at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia. His bands have won at Clifftop, placed at the fiddlers convention in Galax, Virginia, performed at venues from the White House to the Philadelphia Folk Festival, and toured both in the U.S. and abroad.

Brad is especially regarded for his teaching of traditional fiddle and banjo style. He is a frequent staff member at the major workshops and teaching camps throughout the country. He has a book on Round Peak style clawhammer banjo published by Mel Bay, and two old-time fiddle teaching videos released by Homespun Tapes.