Buller is a Minnesota native, now based in Tennessee, has won 10 International Bluegrass Music Association (IMBA) awards and has contributed songs to Grammy winning albums from Molly Tuttle, the Infamous Stringdusters and the Travelin' McCourys. Her songs have also been recorded by the likes of Ricky Scaggs and Rhonda Vincent. Although she's most known for her award-winning fiddle playing, she is a multi-instrumentalist who also plays clawhammer banjo.
Luberecki is originally from Baltimore but now lives in Nashville and performs in Becky's band among other projects. He won the 2018 IMBA Banjo Player of the Year award and hosts a Sirius XM show on their Bluegrass channel.
The pair joined us in the studio on June 15th, 2023 to share some tunes and chat with us. We talked with Buller about getting her start performing with her family and heading to Tennessee at a young age to study bluegrass at East Tennessee State University. She and Luberecki played a song from her most recent album Distance and Time, "The Barber's Fiddle," and told the story of the barber who inspired it. Luberecki shared how at a young age he was inspired by comedian and banjo player Steve Martin to pick up the instrument, and as an adult had the chance to meet and interview the actor and musician. He also talked about how he got started giving regular banjo lessons over the radio.
Mike Monson and Kim Curtis-Monson of Duluth band the Fish Heads were also in the studio and shared stories of performing with Buller when she was young and being amazed at her talent.
