NEW RELEASE
BIO
Based in New York City for the past 18 years and originally from Upstate New York, Hilary has been captivating audiences with her original music, performing alongside acclaimed guitarist Ross Martin and rising fiddler Camie Howes. In July 2025, she released her latest album, Lift Up This Old World—an 11-track collection rooted in bluegrass and old-time traditions.
In 2024, Hilary debuted her first instrumental album, Lilygild, a collaboration with guitarist Reed Stutz (Molsky’s Mountain Drifters). That same year, she also composed a full-length neo-classical album, Open the Doors, with pianist and synthesist duo Ola & Claude Aldous. “I decided I wasn’t going to try to fit into a box,” Hilary says, “but to bring the music I hear inside my head and fingers into the world.”
Hilary continues to perform her original work at festivals and venues across the country, and is also a member of The Brigideens, a cross-genre Irish-Americana band led by renowned fiddler Eileen Ivers.
She currently serves as Instructor in Music Performance for Columbia University’s Bluegrass Ensemble and arranged the banjo music for the 2023 Tony-nominated Broadway production The Sign in Sidney Brustein’s Window, starring Oscar Isaac.
Hilary was the original banjoist for the Tony Award-winning revival of Oklahoma! on Broadway and has performed in numerous other major productions, including Steve Martin’s Bright Star, Swept Away by The Avett Brothers, and Sufjan Stevens’ Illinoise.
In addition to performing and composing, Hilary is the producer, engineer, and host of Banjo Chat, a fast-growing podcast that highlights innovative, high-level banjo players who are pushing creative boundaries and writing original music.
She has graced stages at renowned festivals and venues such as the Grey Fox Bluegrass Festival, Dubai World Expo, Austin City Limits, Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, Philadelphia Folk Festival, Stagecoach Festival, and has appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, as well as performances for the Folk Music Society of New York.
ALBUMS
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“Hilary is reintroducing the roots of folk to new generations while developing new standards with her original material”.
-No Depression
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"Embracing a worldly view of folk music, Hilary draws from, as well as expands upon, the traditional tunes of the northwest Appalachian region."
—The Bluegrass Situation
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“Her music is entirely irony-free, joyously authentic, and refreshingly marked with her own creative chops."
— The New Yorker
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"Extraordinary banjo playing gifts and a wondrous voice that seem to lift old lyrics and bring an often overwhelming feminism to the old timey genre."
— Americana UK