Dave Rawlings
Best known for
Guitar
Dave Rawlings is a Rhode Island-born guitarist, singer, and producer whose decades-long partnership with Gillian Welch has made him one of the most distinctive single-line lead guitarists in modern Americana — co-author of two Grammy-winning Best Folk Albums and an Oscar-nominated song.
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- Born David Todd Rawlings on December 30, 1969 in North Smithfield, Rhode Island; began playing guitar at 15.
- Attended Berklee College of Music (guitar performance), where he met Gillian Welch in the school's lone country music ensemble in the early 1990s.
- Followed Welch to Nashville in 1992 and has been her musical partner ever since — guitar, harmony vocals, and co-arranger on every record released under her name.
- Plays a 1935 Epiphone Olympic archtop he scavenged from a friend's garage; his single-line lead style is one of the most distinctive sounds in modern Americana.
- Leads his own project Dave Rawlings Machine, releasing "A Friend of a Friend" (2009), "Nashville Obsolete" (2015), and "Poor David's Almanack" (2017).
- Prolific producer; credits include Old Crow Medicine Show ("Wagon Wheel"), Bright Eyes, Dawes, Robyn Hitchcock, and Willie Watson.
- Won the 2021 Grammy for Best Folk Album for "All the Good Times" (with Welch); won again in 2025 for "Woodland," making them the only duo to win the award twice.
- Oscar-nominated at the 91st Academy Awards for co-writing "When a Cowboy Trades His Spurs for Wings" from "The Ballad of Buster Scruggs."
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Gillian WelchPlayed on recordings with Gillian Welch
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Ralph Stanley and FriendsPlayed on recording with Ralph Stanley and Friends
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Sara WatkinsPlayed on recording with Sara Watkins
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The Punch Brothers with Gillian Welch and Dave RawlingsPlayed on recording with The Punch Brothers with Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings
