Probably the most life-changing occurrence for Tennessee native Andy Leftwich was when a friend of his father moved away, leaving behind a fiddle.

Oddly enough, the 22-year-old fiddler with Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder band, doesn’t know where that fiddle is today. And he doesn’t even know the name of the man who changed his life.

“I don’t really remember his name because I was only six-years old at the time,” Andy said, while backstage at the Imperial Theatre in Augusta, Georgia, before Kentucky Thunder’s concert. “But I do remember him moving and leaving my dad his fiddle.”

That tiny twist of fate has led to Andy being praised in national bluegrass magazines as a “fiddler phenomenon,” having his debut instrumental album Ride released on Skaggs Family Records, and getting to tour far and wide as part of Ricky Skaggs’ lightning-quick Kentucky Thunder band.

If that’s not enough, Andy has been in recording sessions with the Chieftains, Trick Pony, Pam Tillis, Bering Strait, Travis Tritt, Steve Wariner, and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. He was featured on PBS’ The Three Pickers, where he joined Ricky Skaggs, Earl Scruggs, and Doc Watson and lit the stage afire.

by: Don Rhodes

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