{{Short description|American musician and instrument builder}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Riley Baugus| | image = Musician Riley Baugus plays guitar at the John C. Campbell Folk School in 2025. 03.jpg| | caption = Baugus at John C. Campbell Folk School| | background = solo_singer| | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|11|28}} | birth_place = Walkertown, North Carolina, U.S. | instrument = Banjo, Vocals, Guitar, Fiddle | genre = Old Time American, <br /> Americana, Country| | occupation = Old Time Musician <br /> Instrument builder| | website = [http://www.rileybaugus.com/ www.rileybaugus.com]| }}
'''Riley Baugus''' (born November 28, 1965)<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last1=Seeger |last2=Smith |first1=Mike |first2=Alexia |date=2009 |title=Just Around the Bend, Survival and Revival in Southern Banjo Sounds, Mike Seeger’s Last Documentary |url=https://folkways-media.si.edu/docs/folkways/artwork/SFW40207.pdf |website=Folkways Media}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.rileybaugus.com/bio.html |title=About Riley Baugus |publisher=Rileybaugus.com |date= |accessdate=2009-09-19}}</ref> 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 (from Surry County, North Carolina) had a similar trajectory; and both families brought their culture with them.<ref name=":0" /> He began playing the fiddle at age 10 and began playing the banjo at age 11, and grew up with the fiddler Kirk Sutphin.<ref>{{cite web | title=Riley Baugus – Midwest Banjo Camp | url=https://midwestbanjocamp.com/riley-baugus/ }}</ref> 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.<ref name="npr.org">{{cite web|last=Adams |first=Noah |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14099046 |title=Banjo Master Baugus Looks to Old Times |publisher=NPR |date=2007-09-01 |accessdate=2009-09-19}}</ref>
==Career== {{Moresources | section|date=June 2024}} Baugus worked as a welder and blacksmith for 18 years before pursuing a career as a professional musician.<ref name="npr.org"/> 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,<ref name=":1" /> and Martha Scanlan. He has taught banjo at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, North Carolina;<ref>{{Cite web |title=Beginning Southern Clawhammer Banjo |url=https://folkschool.configio.com/pd/2868/beginning-southern-clawhammer-banjo?st_t=2077&st_ti=2491&cid=2527&returncom=productlist&source=search |access-date=2025-05-29 |website=FolkSchool.org}}</ref> the Augusta Heritage Center's Old Time Week in Elkins, West Virginia; the Midwest Banjo Camp in Olivet, Michigan;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://midwestbanjocamp.com/instructors/ |title=Instructors |website=Midwest Banjo Camp |accessdate=2019-06-22}}</ref> and Banjo Camp North in Massachusetts.<ref name=":1">{{cite web | title=Riley Baugus | url=https://banjonews.com/2012-04/riley_baugus_interview.html |website=Banjo Newsletter|last=Kramer|first=Bradley}}</ref>
Baugus released his first album, ''Life of Riley'', in 2001. A second album, ''Long Steel Rail'', was released in 2006.<ref name="Inc.2006">{{cite magazine|title=Reviews: New and Noteworthy|magazine=Billboard|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lw0EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA76|date=12 August 2006|publisher=Nielsen Business Media, Inc.|pages=76–|issn=0006-2510}}</ref>
On March 22, 2025 he was inducted into the Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame.<ref>{{cite web | title=17th Annual Blue Ridge Music Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony | url=https://www.blueridgemusicnc.com/event/17th-annual-blue-ridge-music-hall-of-fame-induction-ceremony/ }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title=Wilkes Heritage Museum | url=https://wilkesheritagemuseum.com/component/content/article?id=48&Itemid=396 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=O'Donnell |first=Lisa |date=2025-03-21 |title=Walkertown's Riley Baugus to be inducted into music hall of fame |url=https://journalnow.com/news/local/article_260c370c-0336-11f0-962c-2b905d7b3b38.html |archive-url=https://archive.ph/20250321215003/https://journalnow.com/news/local/article_260c370c-0336-11f0-962c-2b905d7b3b38.html#selection-2869.0-2869.64 |archive-date=2025-03-21 |work=Winston-Salem Journal}}</ref>
He lives in Walkertown, North Carolina.<ref name="npr.org"/>
==Discography==
===Albums=== {| class="wikitable" ! Year ! Album |- | 2001 | ''Life Of Riley'' <small>(Yodel Ay Hee)</small> |- | 2006 | ''Long Steel Rail'' <small>(Sugar Hill)</small> |- | 2019 | ''Little Black Train's a Comin''' <small>(Old Garden Records)</small> |}
===Collaborations=== {| class="wikitable" ! Year ! Album |- | 2002 | ''Appalachian Roots'' <small>with Ira Bernstein (Yodel Ay Hee)</small> |- | 2004 | ''Going Home Shoes'' <small>with The Lonesome Sisters (Tin Halo Music)</small> |- | 2010 | ''Long Time Piedmont Pals'' <small>with Kirk Sutphin (Old Blue Records)</small> |- | 2012 | ''Lonesome Scenes'' <small>with The Lonesome Sisters (Tin Halo Music)</small> |- | 2015 | ''Tomorrow Morn'' <small>with Dirk Powell (Wood and Steel Records)</small> |}
===Other appearances=== {| class="wikitable" ! Year ! Album |- | 1986 | ''Old Time Music From North Carolina'' <small>by The Old Hollow String Band (Flyin' Cloud)</small> |- | 1992 | ''Ready To Roll'' <small>by The Red Hots (Fire Ant Music)</small> |- | 1993 | ''Impeached'' <small>by The Red Hots (Bobville Productions / Hasty Records)</small> |- | 2001 | ''Salt Sea Bound'' <small>by Polecat Creek (Yodel Ay Hee)</small> |- | 2002 | ''Grandpa's Favorites'' <small>by Kirk Sutphin (Old 97 Wrecords)</small> |- | 2003 | ''Rare Rags & Stringband Blues'' <small>by Adam Tanner & The Dirty Rag Mob (Old 97 Wrecords)</small> |- | 2003 | ''Cold Mountain: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture'' <small>(Sony Music Entertainment)</small> |- | 2004 | ''Time Again'' <small>by Dirk Powell (Rounder Records)</small> |- | 2005 | ''Come to the Mountain: Old Time Music for Modern Times'' <small>(Rounder Records)</small> |- | 2005 | ''Leaving Eden'' <small>by Polecat Creek (Yodel Ay Hee)</small> |- |- | 2005 | ''Elkhorn Riders feat. The Lonesome Sisters'' <small>by Rench (Gangstagrass) (Rench Audio)</small> |- | 2006 | ''The West Was Burning'' <small>by Martha Scanlan (Sugar Hill Records)</small> |- | 2005 | ''Ordinary Seasons'' <small>by Polecat Creek (Yodel Ay Hee)</small> |- | 2007 | ''Raising Sand'' <small>by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant (Rounder Records)</small> |- | 2009 | ''Frolic in Round Peak'' <small>by Kevin Fore (Round Peak Banjos)</small> |- | 2010 | ''Country Music'' <small>by Willie Nelson (Rounder Records)</small> |- | 2010 | ''Live & Lively'' <small>by the New North Carolina Ramblers (Old Blue Records)</small> |- | 2011 | ''That's How We Run'' <small>by April Verch (Slab Town Records)</small> |- | 2012 | ''The Mountain Music Project'' <small>by Tara Linhardt, Danny Knicely (Mountain Music Project)</small> |- | 2017 | ''Playing Favorites'' <small>by Lillian Chase</small> |- | 2019 | ''Just Around The Bend: Survival & Revival in Southern Banjo Sounds'' <small>by Mike Seeger (Smithsonian Folkways)</small> |}
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.rileybaugus.com/ Riley Baugus official site] *[http://www.tentoepercussion.com/appalachianroots/index.htm Appalachian Roots] *[{{Allmusic|class=artist|id=p593110|pure_url=yes}} Allmusic entry]
===Listening=== *[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14099046 "Banjo Master Baugus Looks to Old Times"], by Noah Adams, from ''Weekend Edition Saturday'', September 1, 2007 *[https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113885667 "Riley Baugus on Mountain Stage"], from ''Mountain Stage'', August, 2009
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Baugus, Riley}} 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