Bryan Wright, of Lynchburg, Virginia, is presently a PhD candidate in historical musicology at the University of Pittsburgh. He is also founder of Rivermont Records, a Grammy-nominated label specializing in ragtime, early jazz, and vintage dance bands. As a radio host, Bryan has produced weekly jazz and ragtime-themed radio programs on Virginia radio stations WLVA, WLQE, and WCWM, and more recently online at BostonPete.com.

Classically trained as a pianist from age 5, Bryan first heard ragtime late in elementary school and soon began studying the rags of Joplin, Lamb, Scott, and others alongside the works of Beethoven, Schumann, and Mozart.

Bryan has performed ragtime as far afield as France and Japan, and at festivals across the U.S. including the JVC Jazz Festival in New York City, the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, Missouri, the Central Pennsylvania Ragtime Festival, the San Antonio Ragtime Festival, the Oklahoma Centennial Ragtime Festival in Tulsa, and others.

His new recording, "Breakin' Notes," is available on both CD and LP and features a mixture of classic and modern rags, piano novelties, and the Bix Beiderbecke suite of modern piano solos. Visit Bryan online at: www.bryanswright.com.