# Riley Baugus

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

## Early life

Baugus grew up in the Regular Baptist tradition, which gave him a solid foundation in unaccompanied singing. 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.

## 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, and Martha Scanlan. He taught banjo at the Augusta Heritage Center's Old Time Week in Elkins, West Virginia and at the Midwest Banjo Camp, in Olivet, Michigan.
Baugus released his first album, Life of Riley, in 2001. A second album, Long Steel Rail, was released in 2006.
He lives in Walkertown, North Carolina.

## Discography
### Albums

| 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) |

### Collaborations

| Year | Album |
| 2002 | Appalachian Roots with Ira Bernstein (Yodel Ay Hee) |
| 2004 | Going Home Shoes with The Lonesome Sisters (Tin Halo Music) |
| 2010 | Long Time Piedmont Pals with Kirk Sutphin (Old Blue Records) |
| 2012 | Lonesome Scenes with The Lonesome Sisters (Tin Halo Music) |
| 2015 | Tomorrow Morn with Dirk Powell (Wood and Steel Records) |

### Other appearances

| Year | Album |
| 1986 | Old Time Music From North Carolina by The Old Hollow String Band (Flyin' Cloud) |
| 1992 | Ready To Roll by The Red Hots (Fire Ant Music) |
| 1993 | Impeached by The Red Hots (Bobville Productions / Hasty Records) |
| 2001 | Salt Sea Bound by Polecat Creek (Yodel Ay Hee) |
| 2002 | Grandpa's Favorites by Kirk Sutphin (Old 97 Wrecords) |
| 2003 | Rare Rags & Stringband Blues by Adam Tanner & The Dirty Rag Mob (Old 97 Wrecords) |
| 2003 | Cold Mountain: Music from the Miramax Motion Picture (Sony Music Entertainment) |
| 2004 | Time Again by Dirk Powell (Rounder Records) |
| 2005 | Come to the Mountain: Old Time Music for Modern Times (Rounder Records) |
| 2005 | Leaving Eden by Polecat Creek (Yodel Ay Hee) |
| 2005 | Elkhorn Riders feat. The Lonesome Sisters by Rench (Gangstagrass) (Rench Audio) |
| 2006 | The West Was Burning by Martha Scanlan (Sugar Hill Records) |
| 2005 | Ordinary Seasons by Polecat Creek (Yodel Ay Hee) |
| 2007 | Raising Sand by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant (Rounder Records) |
| 2009 | Frolic in Round Peak by Kevin Fore (Round Peak Banjos) |
| 2010 | Country Music by Willie Nelson (Rounder Records) |
| 2010 | Live & Lively by the New North Carolina Ramblers (Old Blue Records) |
| 2011 | That's How We Run by April Verch (Slab Town Records) |
| 2012 | The Mountain Music Project by Tara Linhardt, Danny Knicely (Mountain Music Project) |
| 2017 | Playing Favorites by Lillian Chase |
| 2019 | Just Around The Bend: Survival & Revival in Southern Banjo Sounds by Mike Seeger (Smithsonian Folkways) |