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Bryan Sutton

Musician · b. 1973 · Asheville, North Carolina · Wikipedia · Also a recording artist
Best known for Guitar

Bryan Sutton is the preeminent bluegrass flatpicking guitarist of his generation — a nine-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year whose playing bridges the traditions of Tony Rice, Clarence White, and Doc Watson with the progressive and Americana currents of 21st-century roots music. His Nashville session work and his tenures with Ricky Skaggs’s Kentucky Thunder and Hot Rize have established him as the first-call acoustic guitarist of the modern era.

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  • Born James Bryan Sutton in Asheville, North Carolina. Grandfather and father were regionally recognized fiddlers; grew up playing in the family band, the Pisgah Pickers. Picked up the guitar at age eight.
  • Early influences included Tony Rice, Clarence White, and Doc Watson (a fellow North Carolinian whose recordings had foundational status in the Sutton household).
  • First professional tour at age 18 with gospel artist Karen Peck and New River (1991). Moved to Nashville in 1993.
  • Joined Ricky Skaggs’s band in 1995, just as Skaggs was transitioning from mainstream country back to bluegrass — becoming lead guitarist in the newly-formed Kentucky Thunder. Played on the Grammy-winning Bluegrass Rules! (1997) and Ancient Tones (1999).
  • Left Kentucky Thunder in 1999 to focus on Nashville session work. Quickly became the most in-demand acoustic guitarist in Nashville. IBMA Guitar Player of the Year 2000 in his first year as a primary session player.
  • Invited to join the reconstituted Hot Rize in 2002, filling the guitar chair of the late Charles Sawtelle alongside Tim O’Brien, Pete Wernick, and Nick Forster. Has been a member ever since — “has only missed one show since they re-formed.”
  • Sessions include Dolly Parton’s The Grass Is Blue, the Dixie Chicks’ Home, Dierks Bentley’s Up on the Ridge, Charlie Haden’s Rambling Boy, and albums by Garth Brooks, Taylor Swift, Blake Shelton, Eric Church, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, and many others.
  • Solo albums include Ready to Go (2000, Sugar Hill), Bluegrass Guitar (2003), Not Too Far from the Tree (2006, a duet album with Doc Watson), Almost Live (2009), Into My Own (2014), and The More I Learn (2016).
  • Won the 2007 Grammy for Best Country Instrumental Performance for “Whiskey Before Breakfast” with Doc Watson — a career high for Sutton, given Watson’s foundational influence on him.
  • Toured and recorded with Chris Thile and the How to Grow a Band (2007–2008), a project that evolved into the Punch Brothers.
  • Launched the Online Bluegrass Guitar School via ArtistWorks in June 2011 — now one of the most influential online resources for flatpicking instruction, with over 270 lessons and students worldwide.
  • Nine-time IBMA Guitar Player of the Year (a record). Frequent collaborator with Béla Fleck, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, and Stuart Duncan — the progressive-bluegrass quintet that has served as a virtual house band at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival for years.
  • Host of the annual Blue Ridge Guitar Camp in Brevard, North Carolina. Active as a producer, notably for Della Mae at Cash Cabin Studio.
  • Recent duets project From Roots to Branches (2025, Mountain Home) and the 2024 live album with Billy Strings continue Sutton’s role in bridging generations of bluegrass guitar.

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