With a career that stretches back decades, Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Tim O’Brien is one of the most respected names in acoustic music. He was part of the pioneering progressive bluegrass group Hot Rize before he struck out on his own nearly forty years ago, making a series of records that have explored both folk and bluegrass. The Wheeling, West Virginia native and current Nashville resident, who got his first guitar when he was 12, has also played in Steve Earle’s bluegrass band, The Bluegrass Dukes, and the traditional bluegrass revival project The Earls of Leicester, and collaborated with noted singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Darrell Scott.

In 2025, Tim released an instrumental jazz album, Life Lessons, made with Bill Frisell and Dale Burning. That was just one of two records he put out last year, the other being a set of duets, Paper Flowers, with his musical and life partner, Jan Fabricius, who accompanied him in his recent appearance at The Barns at Wolf Trap, where he treated the audience to two two sets of original songs and well-chosen covers.