Ashlee Watkins & Andrew Small make music from a time when old-time, bluegrass, and country shared the same stage. Shifting between fiddle, banjo, mandolin, and guitars, they bring enduring classics and original songs to life with close harmony singing that has moved audiences around the world. Their friend and Bluegrass Hall of Fame bassist Marshall Wilborn says, “Ashlee and Andrew have got it — that primal, but elegant approach to their instruments, and their remarkable vocal blend that only comes out of a deep and undeniable love for old time country music.”  

Together, they lead The Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee, a five-piece traditional bluegrass band recently featured in Bluegrass Unlimited, and The New Floyd County Ramblers, an award-winning old-time string band, touring internationally with both projects. 

Based in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Southwest Virginia, they are regulars at the region’s fiddlers’ conventions — earning top prizes in band and individual contests at Galax, Mount Airy, and the Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, WV. In 2025, the New Floyd County Ramblers won first place old-time band and Andrew won first place old-time fiddle at Clifftop. As a songwriter, Andrew was awarded first place in the bluegrass category at the Chris Austin Songwriting Contest at MerleFest in 2021 for his song, Yesterday’s Blues.

Ashlee serves as director of the Floyd County Junior Appalachian Musicians program and is an accomplished luthier, repairing and restoring guitars, fiddles, mandolins, and banjos after training under master luthier Ward Elliott. Andrew served as the inaugural Artist-in-Residence for The Crooked Road, and both Ashlee and Andrew completed Virginia Folklife Apprenticeships under master musicians in SWVA. In 2022, the pair served as content specialists for the Virginia Department of Education’s Southwest Virginia Music and Culture Institute.  

The duo has been featured on the cover of Moon Shiner, Japan’s premier bluegrass journal, and have appeared twice in the IBMA Songwriter Showcase. They also teach regularly on the faculty of traditional music programs including Augusta Heritage Old-Time Week, Voice Works, Nimble Fingers, and the John C. Campbell Folk School. Their music has been featured on the soundtrack of the podcast The Green Tunnel and the PBS documentary Rock Castle Home.  

Ashlee and Andrew released their duet album Dear Companion in 2022, and have recorded two live albums with The Alum Ridge Boys & Ashlee — Live at WPAQ (2023) and Live at WPAQ II (2024), both captured in single takes around a vintage RCA ribbon microphone at the historic WPAQ station in Mount Airy, North Carolina.