Riley Baugus


Riley Baugus is an American old-time guitarist, banjo player, fiddler, singer and instrument builder from North Carolina.

Early life

Baugus was born in Walkertown, North Carolina, near Winston-Salem, and grew up in the Regular Baptist tradition, which gave him a solid foundation in unaccompanied singing. His father had moved from Alleghany County, North Carolina, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, to Winston-Salem in the 1950s, looking for work, and his mother's family had a similar trajectory; and both families brought their culture with them. He began playing the fiddle at age 10 and began playing the banjo at age 11, 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.

Career

Baugus worked as a welder and blacksmith for 18 years before pursuing a career as a professional musician. He has performed throughout the United States and internationally 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 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, April Verch, and Martha Scanlan. He has taught banjo at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina; the Augusta Heritage Center's Old Time Week in Elkins, West Virginia; the Midwest Banjo Camp in Olivet, Michigan; and Banjo Camp North in Massachusetts.
Baugus released his first album, Life of Riley, in 2001. A second album, Long Steel Rail, was released in 2006.
On March 22, 2025 he was inducted into the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame.
He lives in Walkertown, North Carolina.

Discography

Albums

Collaborations

Other appearances

Listening

Category:Singers from North Carolina
Category:Appalachian old-time fiddlers
Category:20th-century American fiddlers
Category:21st-century American fiddlers
Category:American banjoists
Category:American folk singers
Category:American folk guitarists
Category:Old-time musicians
Category:Baptists from North Carolina
Category:1965 births
Category:People from Forsyth County, North Carolina
Category:American acoustic guitarists
Category:American male guitarists
Category:Living people
Category:Guitarists from North Carolina
Category:20th-century American guitarists
Category:21st-century American guitarists
Category:20th-century American male musicians