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Riley Baugus is a North Carolina native who began singing and playing music at an early age. Raised in a household where recordings of old-time music were often played, he developed a love and appreciation for traditional, Southern Appalachian music. He and his family attended the Regular Baptist church, where unaccompanied singing was the tradition.
Riley began playing the fiddle at age 10, but soon after switched to playing the guitar. By the time he was 12, he and his father built a banjo from scrap wood and he once again began to learn another instrument.
Riley began honing his musical skills with close friend and neighbor, fiddler Kirk Sutphin, by visiting elder traditional musicians in and around Grayson County, Virginia and Surry County, North Carolina. He often visited, played with, and learned from fiddlers Tommy Jarrell (a National Heritage Award recipient) and Robert Sykes and from banjo player Dix Freeman.
During these visits he also met and learned from many other traditional musicians of the area, including former Camp Creek Boys Verlin Clifton and Paul Sutphin.
Riley has played with numerous old-time stringbands, including The Red Hots, Backstep, and the Old Hollow Stringband, and currently plays with the Dirk Powell Band and Polecat Creek. He teaches banjo, guitar, and fiddle at music camps throughout the US and tours regularly with Dirk Powell and Tim O'Brien and with Ira Bernstein. Recently, Riley worked with the Lonesome Sisters, both as producer and performer, on their CD "Going Home Shoes". His singing is featured on the soundtrack to the recent Academy Award winning film "Cold Mountain".
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