Louis Ledford was born in Richmond, Virginia of parents whose lineage reaches back to rural Southwestern Virginia and the Smokey Mountains in North Carolina. His musical education began with a few chords taught to him on a guitar by his country music loving stepfather and has continued as a life long fascination of matching words to those chords, plus a few others. His forthright, Southern tales match the songwriting craftsmanship of a Kris Kristofferson with the rolling Piedmont fingerpicking style exemplified by Etta Baker.