Boyd Calvin Tinsley (born May 16, 1964, Charlottesville, Virginia) is an American violinist and mandolinist who performs as a member of the Dave Matthews Band. Within the band, Tinsley has collaborated in writing songs, harmonizing, and singing backing vocals. He attended the University of Virginia, where he became a member of the Sigma Nu fraternity.[1] While there, he started participating in regular musical jam sessions. In the early 1990s, he formed the Boyd Tinsley Trio, which lasted only a couple of years. In 1991 Dave Matthews asked him to play violin on the song "Tripping Billies" with his band for their demo tape. Tinsley eventually joined the band, abandoning the Boyd Tinsley Trio, and has remained with them to date. Tinsley has a small side career of endorsing products including Twix, JanSport, and Tommy Hilfiger. In 2000, Tinsley made a guest appearance on The Getaway People's second album, Turnpike Diaries. In 2003, Tinsley released a solo album, True Reflections, featuring the title track he had written over a decade earlier. On March 20, 2009, Tinsley appeared with former U.S. poet laureate Rita Dove at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville when she launched her poetry book Sonata Mulattica, about 19th-century violin virtuoso George Bridgetower; Tinsley is mentioned in the first poem in the book, "The Bridgetower". He composed and performed a musical piece for the event, read a poem from the book and discussed his musical life in particular and the role of classically trained African-American musicians in general with Dove. Boyd Tinsley also was a writer for the short film Faces in the Mirror which was first shown at the Woodstock Film Festival on October 13, 2012. Faces in the Mirror is only available for purchase electronically. Boyd Tinsely continues to support and put on pop-up events nation wide for those interested in seeing the film.