Born in Salina, Kansas and raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Brent Watkins has studied piano since the age of eight.

Trained in the classics, as a young teenager, Brent fell in love with ragtime piano in the early 70’s, when music from the motion picture “The Sting” was played on a local radio station.

He began his piano career by performing at the 2nd Annual Sedalia Ragtime Festival in 1975 while only 13. At age 15, he studied at the University of Missouri Conservatory of Music in Kansas City. He has also studied with renowned novelty pianist Bill Krenz. 

Brent has been a featured performer in coffee houses and concert halls throughout his home state of Iowa and the Midwest.

Author and Ragtime expert Ed Berlin describes Brent’s playing style as follows,

“Watkins plays with a great sense of the ragtime and stride styles, as we understand them. He tends to play his rags on the lively side, with a light, bouncy bass. He makes his rags happy, and they rollick with glee…”

Through his presentation “The Heroes of Parlor Town,” Brent combines film, oral history and spirited piano performances with a historical focus on African American composers of ragtime and the early jazz era.

In 2006, The Heroes of Parlor Town received a major media grant from Humanities Iowa and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Through this grant, Brent completed the production of a short film documenting the role African Americans played in the ascendancy of American popular music during the early 20th century.

Brent is also a rostered Iowa artist and grant recipient from the Iowa Arts Council.

Additionally, Brent has been a featured radio and television performer on programs like National Public Radio's “All Songs Considered,” KCCK 88.3 FM and KSUI’s “Talk of Iowa.”

PBS in association with KQED has included Brent's performance of Scott Joplin's waltz "Bethena" in their two hour special commemorating the 75th anniversary of the San Francisco Ballet. The track serves as background music for a prologue discussing the 1915 World's Fair and will be aired as a part of the celebrated PBS series "Great Performances" - San Francisco Ballet's performance of "Nutcracker".

When Brent is not performing, he serves as an Associate Pastor at River of Life Ministries and is an aspiring independent film producer through his studio, RiverMedia. You can also read more about his current projects and interests at www.brentwatkins.info.