Banjo | Riley Baugus | Advanced | Period 3 | Week 3 (July 20-25, 2025)
This class will focus on advanced techniques in southern Appalachian Clawhammer styles. We will work on Round Peak style, southwestern Virginia styles and some West Virginia style playing. All these styles use similar techniques, and we’ll learn how to recognize, define and use them to improve our playing and feel comfortable in many musical situations. If you’re an intermediate or advanced player, this is the class for you!
About the Instructor
Riley Baugus worked as a welder and blacksmith for 18 years before becoming a professional musician. He has performed throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, Ireland, Scotland, and England. He has played with several old-time string bands, including The Farmer’s Daughters, The Konnarock Critters, The Red Hots, Backstep, and the Old Hollow Stringband. He tours regularly with Dirk Powell and Tim O’Brien, and frequently performs and tours with dancer Ira Bernstein, with the duo show Appalachian Roots.
He often performs as a guest musician with the Dirk Powell Band and the North Carolina folk band Polecat Creek. He sang on the soundtrack to the 2003 film Cold Mountain. He has recorded with Robert Plant, Alison Krauss, Willie Nelson, Dirk Powell, and Martha Scanlan. He taught banjo at the Augusta Heritage Center’s Old Time Week in Elkins, West Virginia and at the Midwest Banjo Camp in Olivet, Michigan.