Cody Criswell-Badillo (b. 1988) is a composer, percussionist, and guitarist. His music is informed by his experiences growing up in rural southwestern Oklahoma, the ten years he spent roughnecking in the oilfields of Texas and the Midwest, and the collision of his self-taught musical beginnings with his conservatory education. All of his music deals with the American Southwest, the working class, rural poverty, and his complicated attitude toward his Texas cowboy, Tejano, and indigenous Mexican heritage.
He has collaborated with Alarm Will Sound, the OMNIBUS Ensemble, the Baltimore Guitar Duo, and Duo Avanzando. Recent projects include commissions for the Applied Physicals Laboratory (APL) of Johns Hopkins University and the National Music Teachers Association.
Criswell is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University and the University of Oklahoma. His primary composition teachers were Michael Hersch, Kevin Puts, Sean Shepherd, Ricardo Coelho de Souza, and Marvin Lamb. He studied percussion with Ricardo Coelho de Souza, Lance Drege, and Nathan Daughtrey. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland with his wife and children where he coaches high school track and field.