Vickie Vaughn
Musician · Paducah, Kentucky
Best known for
Bass
Lead Vocals
Vickie Vaughn is a bassist and singer from western Kentucky whose three straight IBMA Bass Player of the Year awards (2023–2025) rank her among the most honored bassists of her generation. A founding member of the traditionalist band High Fidelity, she has held the bass chair in the Grammy-nominated string band Della Mae since 2020.
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- Raised near Paducah, Kentucky, she was hired at age nine as a full-time backing vocalist at the Kentucky Opry, the country revue in nearby Benton, and performed there for nine years; she took up the upright bass at thirteen.
- Moved to Nashville at seventeen to study vocal performance at Belmont University, graduating in 2015.
- Co-founded High Fidelity, the Nashville outfit devoted to 1950s-style traditional bluegrass, appearing on four of the band’s albums before departing in 2024.
- Fronted her own Vickie Vaughn Band, whose self-titled 2015 EP — produced by Ronnie McCoury — featured Justin Hiltner on banjo, Casey Campbell on mandolin, Maggie Estes White on fiddle, and Zach White on guitar.
- Her side credits span country and bluegrass alike, including Patty Loveless, Jesse McReynolds, Kelsey Waldon, Luke Bulla, and Billy Gilman.
- Named IBMA Bass Player of the Year three consecutive years (2023–2025) and commissioned a Kentucky Colonel in 2023.
- Signed with Mountain Home Music Company and released her debut solo album Travel On (2025), produced by Sister Sadie fiddler Deanie Richardson; its co-writes include “Mama Took Her Ring Off Yesterday,” written with Richardson after her father’s death.
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High FidelityPlayed on recordings with High Fidelity
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Della MaePlayed on recording with Della Mae
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Jim LauderdalePlayed on recording with Jim Lauderdale
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Rachel BaimanPlayed on recording with Rachel Baiman
