BARRY TROTT
Barry Trott began his musical life learning guitar in 1980, and playing Appalachian dance music while at the College of William and Mary in Virginia. In the early 1980s he began researching and performing the popular music of the 18th century for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation on mandolin and Baroque guitar. He was a founding member of the early music group the Virginia Company in 1990, and still performs occasionally with that ensemble. Trott is also a founding member of the Runaway String Band, playing old- time and swing music on guitar and mandolin around southeastern Virginia. He has recorded three CDs with the Virginia Company-Nine Points of Roguery (1990), Vintage Virginia (1994), and Smash the Windows (1996)-and two CDs with the Runaway String Band-Leaving Home (2006) and Down the River I Go (2010). Additionally, in collaboration with his wife Lynn, a viola da gambist, Trott performs music of the 16th and 17th centuries on cittern and lute. Trott also writes contemporary music for mandolin, and his composition "Palo Duro Blossoms" for mandolin orchestra was premiered by the Austin Mandolin Orchestra in their 15 Minutes of Fame concert in 2015. In addition to performing, he has researched and written about early mandolin and the music of Colonial America for Mandolin Quarterly and other journals. Trott lives in Toano, Virginia, where he also works as a public librarian and writer.