Bruce Molsky Biography

Bruce Molsky (b. Manhattan, New York, 1955) is an American fiddler, banjo player, guitarist, and singer. He primarily performs old-time music of the Appalachian region.

He was born in 1955 at New York Infirmary in Manhattan, and grew up near St. James Park in The Bronx. His father, Milton, a mechanical engineer, was a first-generation American descendant of Jewish immigrants from Poland.

As a young man, Bruce first became interested in blues music, but eventually became absorbed in old-time music while studying engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York beginning in 1972. His playing was influenced by the fiddling of Tommy Jarrell, whom Molsky visited in North Carolina in 1976.

He has released a number of solo recordings and also plays with the band Fiddlers 4. He lives in the Hudson Valley of Upstate New York with his wife Audrey.