Becky
Becky
We Chance to Meet…
Becky Buller is an 8-time International Bluegrass Music Association (IBMA) awards winner who made bluegrass music history in 2016 by becoming the first artist ever to win in both instrumental and vocal categories, as well as the first female to win Fiddle Player Of The Year.
Her songs, recorded by some of the industry’s best, preceded the fiery-haired fiddler’s own prominence as an artist in the acoustic music world. Becky co-wrote “Freedom”, the lead-off track of The Infamous Stringduster’s 2018 Grammy award-winning album, Laws Of Gravity.
Writer
Soul Of A Songwriter
Artists including Ricky Skaggs (“Music To My Ears”), Rhonda Vincent (“Fishers of Men”), Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver (“Be Living”), Josh Williams (“You Love Me Today”), Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out (“My Angeline”, “Rest My Weary Feet”, “Cottontown”) and Special Consensus (“She Took The Tennessee River”, “Scratch Gravel Road”) have cut Becky’s songs.
Now, as the leader of her own band, Becky’s audiences are connecting the composer with her compositions … to the tune of seven IBMA awards in the last four years, most recently the 2018 IBMA Gospel Recorded Performance Of The Year for her song “Speakin’ To That Mountain”, co-written with Jeff Hyde of the Eric Church Band, featured on her 2018 album, Crêpe Paper Heart.
Fiddler
Sawin’ On A Fiddle Tune
2019 finds Becky nominated in three categories at the Society For The Preservation Of Bluegrass Music In America’s (SPBGMA) awards: female vocalist, fiddler, and songwriter. Her songwriting is featured on two of the 2019 Bluegrass Grammy award-nominated albums: “The Shaker”, co-written with Alan Bartram, on the Travelin’ McCoury’s self-titled release; and “She Took The Tennessee River”, co-written with Jon Weisberger, from Special Consensus’ Rivers And Roads album. (Becky also fiddled on this cut, which features legendary guest vocalist Bobby Osborne.)
In 2018, Becky moonlighted with the all-female bluegrass super-group, The First Ladies Of Bluegrass, which includes all the first women to win in their respective categories at the IBMA awards: Alison Brown (banjo, 1991); Becky (fiddle, 2016); Sierra Hull (mandolin, 2016); Missy Raines (bass, 1998); Molly Tuttle (guitar, 2017). This configuration took home the 2018 IBMA Recorded Event Of The Year award for their work on “Swept Away”, written by Laurie Lewis and recorded by the First Ladies on Missy Raines’ new solo album, Royal Traveller. Look for more exciting things from this incredible band in 2019 and beyond.
Singer
Sings Just Like A Songbird
Crêpe Paper Heart, Becky’s fourth solo album and second release for the Dark Shadow Recording label, came out on Valentine’s Day 2018 and is enjoying much success on the Bluegrass airplay charts. The album features Becky’s immensely talented road band, along with award-winning guests Rhonda Vincent, The Fairfield Four, Sam Bush, Frank Solivan, Claire Lynch, Rob Ickes, Stephen and Jana Mougin, and Erin Youngberg (FY5). The album topped several year-end lists in 2018.
Becky’s third solo album, ‘Tween Earth And Sky, was released in October 2014 on Dark Shadow Recording. It was the #1 album on the Bluegrass Unlimited National Airplay Chart in both March and April of 2015. The singles “Nothin’ To You” and “Southern Flavor” both reached #4 and each stayed on the chart 13 months. Her 2015 Christmas single, “Gingerbread House,” topped the Bluegrass Today airplay chart both Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
Becky’s cover of Bill Monroe’s “Southern Flavor” (including new lyrics by DeWayne Mize and Guy Stevenson and featuring members of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys) garnered the 2015 IBMA Recorded Event Of The Year award. She penned the title cut of Special Consensus’ album Scratch Gravel Road, which was nominated for the 2013 Best Bluegrass Album Grammy.
From late 2012 through 2014, Becky toured and recorded with the Darin & Brooke Aldridge band. She can be heard on their 2013 album, Flying (Organic Records) and the 2015 album, Snapshots (Mountain Home Music).
Becky’s own recordings include: Little Bird (2004) and Rest My Weary Feet (2000). She also released a duet album with Valerie Smith: Here’s A Little Song (2007). Her journey as a professional musician included a ten-year stint with Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike. She is featured on several of that group’s recordings, wrote for the group and toured internationally with them as well. She produced several of Val’s more recent records. Becky was also a prominent part of three albums with the award-winning Daughters of Bluegrass: Pickin’ Like A Girl (2013), Bluegrass Bouquet (2008), and Back To The Well (2006), which won the 2006 IBMA Recorded Event Of The Year award.
Artist
Do Believe I’ll Play
While studying public relations at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, TN, Becky performed with several different bluegrass ensembles, including the school’s prestigious Bluegrass Pride Band, with whom she performed in throughout France and at the Kennedy Center. She can be heard on the school’s ETSU Bluegrass Pride album (2001). At the same time, Becky also toured regionally with Appalachian Trail.
Becky was featured on the cover of Fiddler Magazine (2012) and Bluegrass Unlimited (2015). She was a 2016 SPBGMA Songwriter Of The Year nominee and was chosen as 1st Runner Up for the 2016 IAMA Country/Bluegrass Song of Year for her composition “Nothin’ To You.”
Growing up in Minnesota, Becky played fiddle with her parents and Gordy and Roxy Shultz in the group Prairie Grass. She studied classical violin with both Patti Tryhus and Charles Gray and participated in the Mankato Area Youth Symphony and the Minnesota All-State Orchestra while in high school. Becky’s heart, however, has always been that of a fiddler. She won the junior division of the 1996 Minnesota State Old Time Fiddle Championship in Cotton, MN.
She graduated in 2001 with a public relations degree from East Tennessee State University (ETSU), where she took part in the renowned Bluegrass, Old-Time and Country Music program. That same year, Becky’s songwriting nabbed a first-place finish in the bluegrass category of the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest in Wilksboro, NC.
With over 20 years experience as a music educator, Becky is very passionate about passing the music on, teaching at several camps and workshops throughout the year, in addition to her busy performance schedule.
Becky is also very active in the bluegrass music business community, currently serving on the IBMA Foundation board. She was on the IBMA Board of Directors from 2013-17 and did a three-year term as chair of the IBMA Songwriter Committee from 2013-16. She is a Leadership Bluegrass alumna, class of 2003.
Gear
The Best For The Best
Becky uses Fishman electronics: an Aura Ellipse pickup in her LaPlant Guitar, a Classic Series banjo pickup in her DP Hopkins signature model clawhammer banjo, and a V-300 Concert Series pickup on The Old Man (her fiddle). In addition to Fishman and DP Hopkins Banjos, the Becky Buller Band is grateful for the partnership of the following amazing companies: BlueChip Picks and D’Addario Strings.
Contact
Get in touch, Stay in touch
General Inquiries
Label Publicity
Jana Mougin
Dark Shadow Recording
pr@darkshadowrecording.com
Publishing
Goodnight Sparky Music, BMI
(admin by Missing Link Music)
Ph: (201) 418-0948
Fax: (201) 418-9012
Publicity
Claire Ratliff
Laughing Penguin Publicity
PO Box 140396
Nashville, TN
37214-0396