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Brad Leftwich (born 1953) is a prominent American old-time fiddle and banjo player and teacher. His professional musical career extends from his days playing with the Plank Road String Band in the mid-1970s to the present. Originally from Stillwater, Oklahoma, he currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and musical partner, Linda Higginbotham.

Leftwich was a founding member of the Plank Road String Band in the mid-1970s. He has recorded for the Rounder, County, Copper Creek, and Marimac labels.

He has written a book on the Round Peak clawhammer banjo style that is published by Mel Bay, and has released two old-time fiddle instructional videos.

Family and Learning to Play
Brad grew up in a musical family. His father played guitar and sang old-time songs while his mother played piano and sang in church choirs. Probably the greatest musical influence in his family, though, were his grandfather Rush Leftwich who played old-time banjo and his great uncle George Leftwich on fiddle. Though Rush and George died before Brad could learn from them directly, they had already shaped Brad's desire to learn to play old time music.

Brad asked for his first banjo when he was 15, and by the time he left to study anthropology and sociology at Oberlin College, he had developed some proficiency in bluegrass banjo, as well as some clawhammer banjo and a bit of fiddle.

While in college, Brad traveled during summer breaks to old-time fiddle conventions to learn more about the musical style. It was during one of these summer breaks that Brad and his friend XXXXX first visited noted old-time fiddler Tommy Jarrell at his home in the Mount Airy region of North Carolina. Tommy took a liking to Brad that was enhanced by the discovery that Brad and Jarrell's wife were distant relatives.

Tommy Jarrell became Brad's main old-time music mentor, alerting Brad to a traditional style of playing that used deliberate bowing patterns. This style is characterized by beginning phrases on the down-bow, among other features.

Musical Career
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Teacher of Traditional Style
For many years, Brad has been noted not just as a major old-time musician, but as a tradition-bearer and teacher of local musical styles. Brad is knowledgeable of unique styles from Round Peak, Galax, but also from fiddlers and musicians in Arkansas, Oklahoma, and elsewhere.

Brad continues to teach today in his home of Bloomington, Indiana. His students range in all ages, and he notably does not teach for money, as his old-time music mentors never charged him either.

Recordings

 * XXXX - Lost Child. Brad Leftwich & Linda Higginbotham. CD Baby
 * XXXX - Rascal Fair. Brad Leftwich and the Hogwire Stringband. CD Baby
 * XXXX - The Humdingers. Label?
 * XXXX - Plank Road Stringband. Field Recorders Collective
 * XXXX - Say Old Man. County
 * XXXX - Carve That Possum. Tom, Brad, and Alice. Copper Creek Records
 * XXXX - Die in the Pigpen Fighting. Tom, Brad and Alice. Copper Creek Records
 * XXXX - Holly Ding. Tom, Brad and Alice. Copper Creek Records
 * XXXX - Been There Still. Tom, Brad and Alice. Copper Creek Records

Books and DVDs

 * 1999 - Round Peak Style Clawhammer Banjo. Mel Bay Publications
 * 2011 - Old-Time Fiddle Round Peak Style. Mel Bay Publications
 * XXXX - Learn to Play Old-Time Fiddle Volume 1 & 2. Homespun Tapes