<p>Fiddler, banjoist, and singer Joseph Decosimo has introduced audiences around the world to the beauty and vitality of traditional music from the Appalachian South. Described as “a marvelous fiddler” by No Depression and praised for his ability to braid “exultation and veneration” (INDY Week), Decosimo draws on years of mentorship, academic study, and community collaboration to create music that is both deeply rooted and refreshingly inventive. His 2025 Dear Life Records solo debut Fiery Gizzard reveals Decosimo as a powerful champion of traditional music – a sponge who soaks up as much as he squeezes out, a responsive artist who makes his genre accessible, and a magnet who can bring musicians of all sorts into his orbit with his same passion. He’s also contributed to recordings by fellow Durham, NC projects Hiss Golden Messenger, Wye Oak, and Jake Xerxes Fussell, who compares Decosimo to “an astute jazz artist, with his perspective substantiated by a fundamental sense of melodic direction and delicate purpose.” Irish fiddle luminary Martin Hayes describes Decosimo’s 2024 trio recording Beehive Cathedral (Dear Life Records) as “grounded, subtle and refined.” </p>