Luke Bulla has been singing and playing music most of his life. He started touring and singing with his family band at the age of four and took up the fiddle at seven. Over the next few years, he won the National Fiddle Contest in Weiser, Idaho, six times in his respective age categories, with a seventh win in the Grand Champion division at age sixteen – the youngest ever to have earned the title at the time. Luke was also the youngest to make the top ten at the Grand Masters fiddle contest in Nashville, Tennessee, at the age of ten. In the spring of 1999, Luke moved to Nashville and began working as a full time musician. His first couple of years were spent as a member of Ricky Skaggs’ band, Kentucky Thunder. After that, he joined the John Cowan Band. Recently, Luke has performed and/or recorded with Jim Lauderdale, Darrell Scott, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Sean Watkins, Tony Rice, Kevin Costner and Modern West, Sara Watkins, John Paul Jones, Glen Phillips, Earl Scruggs, Rodney Crowell, Bruce Hornsby...... Luke is also a regular instructor at Mark O’Connor’s fiddle camps. Luke and long-time friend, Casey Driessen, started the band Wisechild, which toured briefly with John Mayer and Counting Crows. Luke also plays guitar, sings and writes songs and is currently working on material for a solo project. Luke is the most recent full-time member of the Jerry Douglas Band.
photography by J. Michael Krouskop
Luke at Merlefest with Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Byron House, and Bryan Sutton.
