Round Peak Style Old Time Fiddle
Brad Leftwich is from Oklahoma, born in 1953 into a family of transplanted old-time musicians from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Carroll County, Va. He learned guitar from his father early on, and took up banjo and fiddle as a teenager, following in the footsteps of his grandfather and great-uncle. In 1973 he met and began learning from the legendary Tommy Jarrell. He also visited and learned from other older musicians in North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, the Ozarks, and Oklahoma. Brad has performed internationally and made numerous recordings since the mid-1970s. He began teaching fiddle in the 1980s, stressing the importance of traditional bowing rhythms, and has developed innovative techniques for passing them along to students. His skill as a fiddler is undisputed, and he easily ranks among the top old-time musicians of his generation. He now lives in Bloomington, Ind., with his wife Linda Higginbotham, where they play with the Hogwire Stringband.