Born to Southern Minnesotan bluegrass picking dry cleaners Emory and Linda Buller, Becky came into the world singing.  (Luckily for her mother, Becky had as yet to take up the fiddle or clawhammer banjo at that point.)  She and her brother Michael were fortunate to grow up in a home overflowing with music.  From the Stanley Brothers to Simon and Garfunkel, Beethoven to ‘70s Jesus People Rocker Larry Norman, there was never a quiet–nor dull–moment in the Buller household.

Emory and Linda, along with Gordy and Roxy Schultz, were longtime members of local bluegrass group Prairie Grass which performed bluegrass and gospel throughout Southern Minnesota and Northern Iowa.  During the summer, the family would take off almost every weekend in their renovated 1970 Ford school bus to bluegrass festivals and pre-1850 rendezvous reenactments.  Becky and Michael would often get up on stage to sing “Slewfoot” with the band, standing on tiptoe to reach Linda’s guitar mic.     

It took Becky about a year to convince her parents, who were already paying for weekly piano lessons, that she really wanted to play the fiddle.  At age 10, she enrolled in Suzuki method violin classes and was soon involved in the Mankato Area Youth Symphony (MAYSO) as well as her own high school band as a percussionist, jazz band as the electric bassist, choir and show choir.  By age 13, Becky was also a permanent member of Prairie Grass and began trying her luck on the fiddle contest circuit.  In 1996 she became the Minnesota Junior Fiddling Champion in Cotton, Minn.  That same year she was selected to participate in the Minnesota All-State Orchestra.  Among her many fiddling influences, Becky is quick to point out Stuart Duncan, Alison Krauss, Eddie Stubbs and Jason Carter.

Becky began trying her hand at songwriting while still in high school, completing her first compositions while bagging clothes at her parents’ shop.   In 1996, she won first place in the Hank Williams Songwriting Contest held in Avoca, Iowa.  Becky was thrilled to be a part of the International Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) Songwriter Showcase during their 1998 World of Bluegrass Week in Louisville, Ky.  In 2001, she was awarded the first-place prize in the bluegrass category of the prestigious Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest in Wilksboro, N.C.  Her songwriting heroes include Gillian Welch, Paul Simon, James Taylor, Darrell Scott and Patty Griffin.    

In May of 2001, Becky graduated from East Tennessee State University (ETSU) in Johnson City, Tenn., with a degree in public relations.  Throughout her four years at ETSU, she was an active member of the Bluegrass and Country Music Program.

Becky is currently in the top 20 nominees for IBMA’s 2004 Fiddler of the Year award.  She is also in the running for Gospel Recorded Performance of the Year for her song “Fishers of Men,” which was recently recorded by Rhonda Vincent and the Rage.

January of 2003 found Becky nominated for the Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music in America’s (SPBGMA) “Songwriter of the Year” award.  Her songs have been covered by IIIrd Tyme Out; Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike; Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver; Rhonda Vincent & the Rage; David Parmley & Continental Divide; the Mark Newton Band; and Fragment, among others.

Compositions of Becky’s that have appeared on current bluegrass releases include: “Fishers of Men,” as recorded by Rhonda Vincent on her current Rounder Records album One Step Ahead. The was on the Bluegrass Now Gospel Chart for nine months, peaking at #2 in August 2004.

“Charlie Lawson’s Still,” the title cut of the Mark Newton Band’s 2002 Rebel Records release which Becky penned with former Appalachian Trail band mate Tommy Austin, spent 8 months on Bluegrass Unlimited Magazine’s “National Bluegrass Survey” chart, reaching #13.  “Be Living,” featured on Gospel Parade by Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver for Sugar Hill Records, spent 6 months on the same chart also peaking at #13.  It reached #1 on Bluegrass Now Magazine’s “Gospel Truths” chart.

Becky current album, Little Bird BBR-015, her debut as a Bell Buckle Records artist, will be available on Oct. 5.  The collaborative effort of Becky and multi-Grammy winning producer/engineer Rich Adler of the renowned SoundWave Studios in Nashville, Tenn., “Little Bird” is a labor of love almost two years in the making which pairs Becky with some of Nashville’s finest, including Ron Block, Adam Steffey, Rob Ickes, Andrea Zonn, Carl Jackson and Wayne Benson.  Ten of the thirteen tracks are written by Buller as well as a co-write each with Grammy winning producer Carl Jackson and known bluegrass artist Valerie Smith.

You can catch Becky on tour all over the world with Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike, of which she has been a proud member since 2001.  She is featured on the group’s latest album No Summer Storm REB-0603.  They are also in the studio working on a new album to be released soon.   The band is online at www.valeriesmithonline.com.