Born and raised in Van Lear, Kentucky, Brett Ratliff is co-founder and director of Kentucky Old Time Music, Inc., a nonprofit organization that fosters creative spaces dedicated to the sharing of traditional Appalachian music in Kentucky. With recordings, presentations and performances, both at home and abroad, to his credit, Brett currently lives in his native Kentucky where he continues to play, teach and promote traditional Appalachian musical styles and repertoire.

He has contributed to more than a dozen recordings, including for Smithsonian Folkways, June Appal Recordings, The Kentucky Center for Traditional Music, Old Town School of Folk Music, and The Oxford American. Ratliff’s solo records include Cold Icy Mountain (June Appal Recordings, 2008), Gone Boy (Emperor Records, 2017), and Whitesburg, KY (June Appal Recordings, 2021), receiving critical acclaim from such outlets as No Depression, Maverick Country Music Magazine, and The Museum of Americana.

Brett Ratliff is a 2022 United States Artists Fellow in Traditional Arts and a 2025 Taproot Fellow.