Electronic Press Kit
Short Bio
Brett Ratliff is a 2022 United States Artists Fellow in Traditional Arts. Ratliff teaches and performs traditional Appalachian music both at home and abroad, and 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. Also a community arts organizer, he has worked for more than 20 years to establish and strengthen traditional arts infrastructure within Appalachia.
Full Bio
Brett Ratliff is a 2022 United States Artists Fellow in Traditional Arts. He teaches and performs traditional Appalachian music both at home and abroad. His focus is the mountain banjo styles and labor-rights music repertoire of his native East Kentucky coalfields.
Ratliff has been invited to share music and stories of his home at such venues as: The Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, in Port Townsend, WA; Hummingbird Music Cultural Exchange in Pátzcuaro, Mexico; Third Man Records in Nashville, TN; Nimble Fingers Music Festival, in British Columbia, Canada; the Swannanoa Gathering in Swannanoa, NC; Augusta Heritage Old-Time Week in Elkins, WV; and Sore Fingers Week in Oxfordshire, England. He has also performed on more than a dozen recordings, including those for Smithsonian Folkways, 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.
In 2021 Ratliff collaborated with filmmaker Ethan Payne to produce a series of short documentaries featuring living traditional artists of Appalachia. Supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, Berea College, and SouthArts, these films have gone on to receive honors like the Judge’s Award at the Boone Docs Film Festival, Best Short Documentary at Fort Myers Beach International Film Festival, and Official Selections at film festivals like the Miami Independent, Ouray International, Carrboro, Big Ears, Atlanta Docufest, and Summer in the South.
Born and raised in Van Lear, Kentucky, Brett Ratliff has spent his career as a community arts organizer throughout East Kentucky, where in 2006 he became the founding President of Kentucky Old Time Music Inc., a nonprofit supporting infrastructure for the practice of folk and traditional arts in the Commonwealth.
Promo Photos
Click to download high-res versions. Please credit photographer Matt White of Little Rock, AR wherever used.
Featured Press
Featured Videos
Select Past Performances and Teaching
2023
Hummingbird Music Cultural Exchange
Pátzcuaro, Mexico
[Teaching + Performance]
Folk School of Fayetteville
Fayetteville, Arkansas
[Teaching + Performance]
2022
Fresh Grass (Bentonville)
Bentonville, Arkansas
[Teaching + Performance]
Brooklyn Folk Festival
Brooklyn, New York
[Teaching + Performance]
2020
Nimble Fingers Music Festival
British Columbia, Canada
[Teaching + Performance]
Folk & Traditional Arts Apprenticeship
Kentucky Arts Council. Frankfort, KY
[Teaching]
2019
Augusta Heritage Old-Time Week
Davis & Elkins College, Elkins, WV
[Teaching]
Railbird Festival
Lexington, KY
[Performance]
John Jacob Niles Center for American Music
University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY
[Performance]
Re/VERB Podcast
Third Man Records, Nashville, TN
[Interview + Performance]
2018
Louisville Folk School
Louisville, KY
[Teaching + Performance]
The Kentucky School
Lexington, KY
[Teaching]
Kentucky Music Residency
Portland, OR
[Teaching + Performance]
Cowan Creek Mountain Music School
Whitesburg, KY
[Teaching + Performance]
Deep End Sessions
Santa Paula, CA
[Performance]
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
[Panel + Performance]
2017
Big Ears Festival
Knoxville, TN
[Performance]
Passing the Pick and Bow
Hindman Settlement School
Hindman, KY
[Teaching]
Artists Thrive Summit
Berea College
Berea, KY
[Performance]
Cowan Creek Mountain Music School
Whitesburg, KY
[Teaching + Performance]
2016
WDVX’s The Blue Plate Special
Knoxville, TN
[Performance]
Birthplace of Country Music Museum
Bristol, VA
[Performance]
Oxford American Concert Series
South on Main
Little Rock, AR
[Performance]
Cowan Creek Mountain Music School
Whitesburg, KY
[Teaching + Performance]
Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion
Bristol, TN/VA
[Performance]
2013
Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival
Manchester, TN
[Performance]
Bristol Rhythm & Roots Reunion
Bristol, TN/VA
[Performance]
Passing the Pick and Bow
Appalshop
Whitesburg, KY
[Teaching]
2012
Brooklyn Folk Festival
Brooklyn, NY
[Performance]
Passing the Pick and Bow
Appalshop
Whitesburg, KY
[Teaching]
2010
Swannanoa Gathering
Warren Wilson College
Swannanoa, NC
[Teaching + Performance]
2009
Made to be Played Concert
Kentucky Historical Society
Frankfort, KY
[Performance]
MerleFest
Wilkesboro, NC
[Performance]
The Jalopy
Brooklyn, NY
[Performance]
Passing the Pick and Bow
Appalshop
Whitesburg, KY
[Teaching]
Cowan Creek Mountain Music School
Whitesburg, KY
[Teaching + Performance]
2008
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT
[Performance]
Sore Fingers Week
Oxfordshire, England
[Teaching + Performance]
Celtic Connections
Glasgow, Scotland
[Performance]
Passing the Pick and Bow
Appalshop
Whitesburg, KY
[Teaching]
2007
Great Lakes Folk Festival
East Lansing, MI
[Performance]
Cowan Creek Mountain Music School
Whitesburg, KY
[Teaching + Performance]
Old Town School of Folk Music
Chicago, IL
[Teaching + Performance]
Passing the Pick and Bow
Appalshop
Whitesburg, KY
[Teaching]
Festival of American Fiddle Tunes
Port Townsend, WA
[Teaching + Performance]