Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien

Tim O'Brien is an American musician working in bluegrass, old-time and Celtic styles. He is from the United States and is associated with folk, country and Americana as well as bluegrass.

Early life and career

He is born in Wheeling, West Virginia, and moves to Boulder, Colorado in the 1970s, where he becomes part of the local music scene. He later lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Instruments and performance

O'Brien plays guitar, fiddle, mandolin, bouzouki and mandocello, and he is also an accomplished vocalist.

Hot Rize and related work

In 1978, he founds the bluegrass group Hot Rize. The band also has an offshoot, Red Knuckles & the Trailblazers, in which the musicians leave the stage, change clothes and return as a different act with its own songs.

Recordings and awards

Most of O'Brien's recordings appear on Sugar Hill Records. He wins a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album for Fiddler's Green in 2005. He also receives the International Bluegrass Music Association's Male Vocalist of the Year award in 1993 and 2006.