Rickie Simpkins

Recording Artist · Active 1997–present · Also a musician
Contemporary Bluegrass

Rickie Simpkins is a Virginia fiddler and mandolinist with one of the longest in-demand careers among modern bluegrass sidemen — a forty-year run that includes the Tony Rice Unit, the Lonesome River Band, the Seldom Scene, and Emmylou Harris's Red Dirt Boys.

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  • Born Rickie Hal Simpkins on March 10, 1955 in Montgomery County, Virginia; raised in Christiansburg. Started fiddle at age 6 and played onstage with Flatt & Scruggs at age 9.
  • Played with brother Ronnie Simpkins (bass) in the family group Upland Express, recording an album on Leather Records in 1979.
  • Spent the early 1980s with the McPeak Brothers (alongside a young Jerry Douglas) before joining Heights of Grass / the Virginia Squires (with Sammy Shelor and Mark Newton); the Squires recorded five Rebel albums between 1984 and 1988.
  • Joined the Tony Rice Unit in 1983 with Jimmy Gaudreau, Wyatt Rice, and brother Ronnie on bass; recorded across the Unit's late catalog including Tony Rice Sings Gordon Lightfoot (1996) and Unit of Measure (2000).
  • Joined the Lonesome River Band in 2000 (recording Talkin' to Myself) and gospel act the Isaacs in 2001; began touring with Emmylou Harris and the Red Dirt Boys in 2007.
  • Joined the Seldom Scene in January 2016 replacing Ben Eldridge; left in 2017, replaced by Ron Stewart. Brother Ronnie has been the Scene's bassist continuously since 1995.
  • Released the solo records Dancing on the Fingerboard (Pinecastle, 1997 — IBMA Instrumental Recording of the Year nominee) and Don't Fret It (Doobie Shea, 2002).
  • Inducted with brother Ronnie into the Virginia Folk Music Hall of Fame in 2008.

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