David Austin Tackett

Biography

A graduate of the Traditional Music Studies program, David Austin Tackett brings a practitioner’s perspective shaped by performance, creativity, and active engagement in the traditional music community. His industry experience spans extensive touring and recording, broadcast and television appearances, and the founding of a music festival, a record label, a publishing company, and a podcast spotlighting local artists.

A recognized authority on thumb style guitar, Tackett was named one of five mentor artists to receive a Folk and Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant from the Kentucky Arts Council in 2024. This prestigious recognition further affirmed his role as a cultural torchbearer, enabling him to pass down a deeply rooted musical tradition through direct mentorship and community education.

An accomplished songwriter, he encourages students to develop their own musical voices while drawing on traditional music history, research, and contemporary professional insight. His approach emphasizes artistic identity and the long-term sustainability of traditional music as a living art form.

Tackett’s recorded works include:

Baylee Morgan and David Austin (2023), Hitchhiker’s Thumb (2022), and How I Got Here (2018).

He has also engineered/produced:

Wild Season (2025) - Brady Trent Vice, Fiddle Tunes from Lost Hope Hollow (2024)- John Ryster and Thomas Albert, and O’er The Town Wall (2023) - Dylan Weber-Owens.