Album Notes

Number One CD on the world music charts!

Voted by international radio hosts as the Best Acoustic Instrumental Album of 2008.

Bill Leslie is an Emmy Award-winning journalist and world music artist whose albums have been among the best-selling on the New Age Reporter charts. A native of North Carolina, Leslie's CD, I Am a River, hit number two on the charts in 2006.

Famed cellist Yo-Yo Ma praised Leslie as “one of the greats in modern Celtic music.” Critics call Leslie’s music “tranquil yet exhilarating, stunningly beautiful, and full of joy and peace.” Compositions have a highly melodic folk and Celtic core taking listeners on a powerful emotional journey.

Leslie has produced six albums this decade. His 2004 release, Peaceful Journey, hit number one on the New Age Reporter's world music charts in December 2004, while his Christmas in Carolina peaked at number two. Leslie, who plays guitar, Celtic whistle and piano, was named "Best New Artist" worldwide by the NAR in 2005. His Christmas in Carolina album was named 2005 "Best Holiday Album."

Leslie’s latest release Blue Ridge Reunion is a CD and companion book featuring his father’s mountain watercolors. Bill visited the landscapes that inspired his dad's art work and composed music based on this new inspiration. Blue Ridge Reunion includes eleven instrumentals and three vocals.

Leslie also co-founded the Celtic fusion group Bragh Adair and helped produce the group's two albums Grace in Stone and The Hunt. He currently tours with Lorica, another Celtic fusion group. In addition, Leslie works as an environmental journalist and morning anchor for television station WRAL in Raleigh, NC.

A graduate of University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, he has won more than 70 major news awards including two Peabody Awards and five Emmys. He lives in Cary, N.C. with his wife Cindy, daughter Lauren and son Will.