Barnett, Michael (Mike)

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MICHAEL BARNETT

  • From Nashville, Tennessee.
  • Learned to play violin at age 4.
  • At age 15, joined Jesse McReynolds and the Virginia Boys, playing fiddle. That same year, became the youngest instructor ever to teach at the Fiddle School at Vanderbilt University.
  • Moved to Massachusetts where he enrolled in the Berklee School of Music and worked with Northern Lights, Jonathan Edwards, Mike Gordon (of the rock band Phish), the David Grisman Sextet and Tony Trischka.
  • 2011, formed (with Greg Liszt) the Deadly Gentlemen.
  • 2014, released solo project One Song Romance on Compass Records.
  • 2016, toured with the Bryan Sutton Band.
  • 2017, joined Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder (replacing Andy Leftwich).
  • 2017, released Portraits in Fiddles album (Compass).
  • 2021, released +1 album (Compass).
  • 2021, suffered a brain aneurism which has rendered him unable to play his fiddle.