Roy Andrade

He grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, where he learned accordion from his father at age four. He came to old-time music by way of other kinds of folk music, and did not take it up until his early twenties. After living in Nashville and in California, he moved near ETSU in 1999 for the school’s country music program, and in his first week there met future bandmates in the Reeltime Travelers.

By 2002, in its third year, the five-piece string band had gone full-time and released its second CD, Livin’ Reeltime, Thinkin’ Old-Time. Andrade spoke of the band reinterpreting old fiddle tunes and of original songs opening up another side of the music. He and two of his bandmates also carried on folklore fieldwork, building friendships with older musicians, and he described that work as inseparable from the music.

He later played with the New Reeltime Travelers and the Blue Ridge Entertainers. His fieldwork led to several recordings, among them Milestones, the Doc Watson Family box set released in 2013, which he produced. At ETSU, one of the few schools offering a bachelor’s degree in traditional American music, he became an associate professor.