Album Notes

The corn and soybean belt of Southern Minnesota is certainly not the first place that comes to mind when one thinks of bluegrass music. However, lying beneath this seemingly benign rural facade is a society of devoted fans who may not have been born in Appalachia but live there in spirit, rebels with no other cause than to further the misunderstood music they love so well.
It was into just such a family that Becky Buller was born.

For a long time, Emory and Linda Buller had a local group called Prairie Grass that performed throughout the surrounding area as a four-piece. Becky, who really only wanted to sing but was told she had to play an instrument to join, felt they needed a fiddler and that she could fill that void. It took a year to convince them and their caution is understandable when one considers how much they eventually had to shell out in the way of lessons!

By age 13, Becky was playing regularly with the group as well as entering local competitions. In 1996 she became the Minnesota Junior Fiddling Champion in Cotton, Minn. She was also selected to participate in the Minnesota All-State Orchestra that same year as well as the previous, an honor that she did enjoy. "However," she says, "they just couldn't chunk." She mentions Southern Minnesota fiddlers Matt Thompson and Brian Wicklund among her many influences, which also include Eddie Stubbs, Kenny Baker and Stuart Duncan. Becky began trying her hand at songwriting while still in high school. She cites writing and arranging her senior class song for the choir as being one of her greatest honors. In 1996, she won first place in the Hank Williams Songwriting Contest held in Avoca, Ia. Several of her compositions can also be heard on "This Lonesome Song" by the Minnesota-based group Becky Schlegel and True Blue as well as on "The Tracks We Leave" by Appalachian Trail of Bristol, Va. In 1998, Becky was thrilled to be a part of the International Bluegrass Music Association's songwriter showcase during their World of Bluegrass Week in Louisville, Ky. Most recently, Becky was awarded the first-place prize in the bluegrass category of the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at the 2001 MerleFest in Wilksboro, N.C. For more information regarding the contest, log on to the Merlefest website, http://www.merlefest.org.

Becky was also honored this year when her songs were featured on the most recent albums by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver; David Parmley and Continental Divide; and the Mark Newton Band. In May of 2001, Becky graduated from East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn., with a degree in public relations. Throughout her fours years at ETSU, she was an active member of the Bluegrass and Country Music Program. For more information about the program and Becky’s involvement in it, log on to The ETSU Website. She currently performs with Bell Buckle Records/Rebel Records recording artist Valerie Smith and Liberty Pike and teaches fiddle to any unsuspecting soul who is willing to sign up. She hates washing dishes and mowing the lawn, but enjoys quilting whenever her busy schedule allows.