Tommy Bryan Ledford is a stay-at-home dad and pre-school music teacher by day, and a seasoned, southern mash-up musician by night. At age 44, Ledford’s musical influences include backwoods Baptist churches, traditional bluegrass, neo-jug bands, electric catfish music and deep-fried rock ‘n’ roll.
Versatile and varied, Ledford sings like a true frontman, harmonizing fluidly while playing guitar, banjo or mandolin.
“I’ve been playing music for about as long as I can remember,” Ledford says. “I started playing gigs when I was in college.”
Play, in all its forms and tenses, is a dominant word in his vernacular. As a music teacher at Meadowbrook Pre-School, Ledford gets to play to his heart’s content.
“I take my guitar and all the instruments I own, including those I’m not that good at. The kids don’t know the difference,” says Ledford, who never expected to become a music teacher. “We make up a lot of songs and dances to keep them active. They’re young; they want to be up and moving.”
Austin Sorey on bass and vocals, Matthew Magee on fiddle and vocals, and Tyler Kemp on accordion help create the four-piece band, T.B. Ledford and Friends, adding a new musical moniker to Ledford’s repertoire.
“I love playing with other people in pretty much any configuration,” Ledford says. “Our last few gigs have been a lot of fun. We’re stretching it out there, playing what we call redneck zydeco.”
T.B Ledford and Friends perform on the Pyron Group Inc. Acoustic Stage from 8:25-9:30 p.m. at Bright Lights, Belhaven Nights Street Festival Aug. 10.
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The Mississippi Free Press produced this story through the MFP Solutions Lab, supported by the Solutions Journalism Network. This series digs into Mississippi’s systemic issues and sheds light on responses to them in other communities. Beyond just reporting on problems, these stories interrogate their causes and inspect potential solutions.