Raised in a household where recordings of old-time music were often played, Riley Baugus developed a love and appreciation for traditional, southern Appalachian music as a young child. He began playing the fiddle in 1976 at age 10, but soon after switched to playing the guitar. In 1979, he and his father built a banjo from scrap wood and he once again began to learn another instrument. Riley began honing his musical skills with close friend and neighbor, fiddler Kirk Sutphin, by visiting elder traditional musicians in and around Grayson County in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and Virginia. He often visited, played with, and learned from fiddlers Tommy Jarrell and Robert Sykes, and banjo player Dix Freeman. During these visits, he also met and learned from many other traditional musicians of the area, including former Camp Creek Boys, Verlin Clifton and Paul Sutphin.

Riley has played with numerous old-time stringbands, including The Red Hots, The Night Ramblers, Backstep, the Old Hollow Stringband, and The Farmer's Daughters. He currently plays with Cuttin' Loose, and Polecat Creek. He has also taught banjo, guitar, and fiddle at music camps throughout the U.S. and has toured Germany and France with The Farmer's Daughters. In 2000, he toured Ireland with Dirk Powell and Tim O'Brien and England with The Konnarock Critters. In 2001, he toured England with Ira Bernstein. Riley makes his home near Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he works as a welder and blacksmith. He is also an accomplished builder of open back, old-time banjos.