Bradley Laird played mandolin with the Georgia bluegrass group, Pony Express, for over 30 years! Brad launched this group during his college years in 1979. He also played mandolin with the Atlanta-based bluegrass group Cedar Hill for 26 years beginning in 1983.
Other bands which Brad has performed with are:
-The Incorrigible String Band (bass)
-The Bluegrass All-Stars (mandolin)
-The Slackey Family Band (mandolin & electric mandolin)
-Whoa Nelly (mandolin)
-Super String Theory (banjo)
-The Rex Mill Ramblers (banjo, pedal steel, guitar)
-The Curtis Jones Band (bass)
-The Mosier Brothers Band (bass)
He presently plays upright bass with The Pluck Tones.
Over 40 years of performing professionally has put Brad on the same bill (at festivals, shows, and as an opening act) with giants in the field including: Bill Monroe, The Earl Scruggs Revue, Hot Rize, The Tony Rice Unit, Doc and Merle Watson, Phish, The Country Gentlemen, The Virginia Squires, Norman Blake, The Osborne Brothers, The Lewis Family, The Ozark Mountain Daredevils, Johnson Mountain Boys, Riders In The Sky, Jim & Jesse, David Grisman Quintet, New Grass Revival... the list goes on and on. As Brad puts it... "been there, done that!"
During his college years he hosted a weekly bluegrass radio program on WABR (Tifton, Georgia) called "Bluegrass, Etc." He has recorded several albums, has been a mandolin, banjo, upright bass and guitar teacher since 1982.
Bradley was a member of the Atlanta Mandolin Society Orchestra for 5 years where he played mandola and mandocello. Brad has built several mandolins and a wall full of old-time fretless banjos over the years.
Brad has written 16 bluegrass instruction books including the popular Mandolin Master Class, The Mandolin Handbook and The Flint Hill Scrolls. He is a songwriter and has composed over 50 bluegrass songs and instrumentals. Brad has written and "starred" in over 70 instructional videos and DVDs.
Bradley was a pioneer in internet music instruction and holds the distinction of uploading the first mandolin instructional video to the then little known website called YouTube within months of the site's launch. (Early 2007)
Today he produces a free bluegrass podcast for "folks who play bluegrass music--or want to" called GrassTalkRadio.
Brad created free websites which have taught zillions of people how to play mandolin, bluegrass banjo, clawhammer banjo, upright bass, bluegrass guitar and dulcimer.
Brad was inducted into the Hall of Honor of the Atlanta Country Music Hall of Fame in 2004. He is a charter member of The Ancient Order of the Mandolin and served as their first M.E.M.
Reknowned for his warped cornball humor, cowboy poetry and railroad conductor-like devotion to clockwork entertainment, Brad is also available to MC your bluegrass festival! He excels at announcing cars with their lights left on, finding lost parents, and plugging the vendors and CD tables. You can't believe everything you read in the paper, but this true. Festival organizers can contact Brad directly.
In an effort to simplify his life, Brad and his family made the decision to relocate to a small farm in South Georgia. In addition to his performing and teaching, is a video editor, author, piano tuner and technician, homebrewer, flintknapper, pecan picker, gardener, donkey herdsman and tends a flock of laying hens. (Hide extended text) ... (Read all)
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