Washington, D.C.–based multi-instrumentalist Robin Bullock fuses inventive flatpicking with deep command of the folk traditions of Scotland, Ireland, and Brittany. While maintaining an active solo presence, he has also performed with the John Whelan Band, the trios Helicon, Greenfire, and Travellers, and the percussive dance group Footworks, demonstrating command of an extensive array of stringed instruments. The Baltimore City Paper described him as "one of those guys who can play just about anything with strings disgustingly well," and Classical Guitar Magazine characterized him as "a musician whose technical skill and stylistic expertise are second to none."
Doc and Merle Watson’s playing prompted Bullock to take up the guitar at age seven. Although he later studied piano and acquired foundational knowledge of music theory and harmony, weak sight-reading ability steered him toward stringed instruments instead. After high school he performed with several bluegrass groups, yet commercial disappointment led him to step away from music and work briefly as a veterinarian assistant. His path shifted decisively in 1986 when, at the Deer Creek Fiddler’s Convention in Westminster, MD, he encountered wooden-flute player Chris Norman and hammered-dulcimer player Ken Kolodner. Impressed by Bullock’s technique and commitment, the pair—who had already issued the Celtic-leaning duo recording Daybreak—invited him to form the trio Helicon.
Bullock’s first solo album, Green Fields, appeared in 1993 and presented traditional Irish and Scottish repertoire performed entirely by the artist himself; the release earned him a major solo-artist grant from the Maryland State Arts Council. His follow-up, Midnight Howl, issued in 1996, received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Album of the Year and brought Bullock a Washington Area Music award (WAMMIE) as Folk/Traditional Instrumentalist of the Year. The 1998 album Between Earth and Sky included guest appearances by All Ireland champions Joanie Madden and John Whelan, dobro player Mike Auldridge, Bruce Hornsby’s reedsman Bobby Read, and West African percussionist Laryea Addy, and it secured Bullock’s second WAMMIE, this time for Folk/Traditional Recording of the Year. A longtime instructor at the Swannanoa Gathering at Warren Wilson College in Asheville, NC, and at Common Ground on the Hill at Western Maryland College in Westminster, MD, Bullock also contributes the column “Celtic and More” to Acoustic Guitar magazine. He continued releasing new music with the early-2001 album Lightning Field.
