Raised on a farm in the small town of Bath, North Carolina, cellist and teacher Brent Selby spent his childhood assuming he would end up farming crops like his father. It wasn't until he saw Yo-Yo Ma perform on PBS at age eleven that he found an interest in music, specifically in learning to play the cello. Luckily a retired violin teacher from New Jersey, Doris Hamilton, had recently moved to the area and agreed to teach him until she could find him a cello teacher.

Selby eventually went on to study with Wendy Bissinger at thirteen, and Emanuel Gruber at seventeen. He earned his bachelor's degree from the New England Conservatory studying under Natasha Brofsky, then went on to bookend his studies with yet another violinist, Mela Tenenbaum. 

In 2018, Selby joined the Rhode Island Philharmonic's cello section, and in 2021 he was appointed assistant principal cellist of the Portland Symphony Orchestra. In 2022, he was appointed principal cellist of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and in 2024 he was appointed principal cellist of both the Boston Lyric Opera and the Portland Symphony.