Brett Ratliff is a 7th generation east Kentuckian who teaches and performs traditional mountain music at home and abroad. A native of Van Lear, KY, Ratliff has shared traditional Kentucky banjo styles and repertoire at camps and workshops across the United States, as well as in Canada, Mexico, England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland. He is co-founder and director of Kentucky Old Time Music, Inc., a nonprofit organization that fosters creative spaces dedicated to the preservation and perpetuation of living Appalachian musical traditions in Kentucky. With recordings, presentations and performances to his credit, Ratliff continues to live in his native Kentucky and share the music and stories of his homeland both near and far.

Ratliff 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 albums 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.

He was awarded a 2022 United States Artists Fellowship in Traditional Arts and a 2025 Taproot Fellowship for his ongoing work to engage, present and promote Appalachian cultural arts and community.