Fred Cockerham
title: "Fred Cockerham" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1905-births", "1980-deaths", "old-time-musicians", "appalachian-old-time-fiddlers", "american-banjoists", "people-from-surry-county,-north-carolina", "20th-century-american-musicians"] topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Cockerham" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox musical artist"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Fred Cockerham |
| landscape | |
| background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| birth_date | |
| origin | North Carolina, United States |
| death_date | |
| genre | American folk |
| instrument | Fiddle, banjo |
| years_active | |
| website | |
| :: |
| name = Fred Cockerham | image = | image_size = | landscape = | alt = | caption = | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_name = | alias = | birth_date = | birth_place = | origin = North Carolina, United States | death_date = | death_place = | genre = American folk | occupation = | instrument = Fiddle, banjo | years_active = | label = | associated_acts = | website = Fred Cockerham (3 November 1905 - July 8, 1980) was an American fiddle and banjo player of American folk music.
Cockerham was one of the seven children of Elias and Betty Jane Cockerham in North Carolina. He was one of the most accomplished of all the Round Peak, North Carolina musicians but is most commonly known for being the banjo accompanist to Tommy Jarrell. He played the fiddle in a more modern style than Jarrell, but played the fretless banjo in an old clawhammer style much like that of his old mentor, Charley Lowe.
Discography
::data[format=table]
| Year | Title | Label | Number | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1965 | Clawhammer Banjo: Old Time Banjo and Fiddle Tunes | County | 701 | reissued on County CD 2716, Clawhammer Banjo Vol 1 (2002) with extra tracks |
| 1968 | Down to the Cider Mill | County | 713 | with Tommy Jarrell & Oscar Jenkins. This and the two below LPs were reissued with the exception of several tracks on 2 County CDs - 2734 & 2735 (2004) |
| 1970 | Back Home in the Blue Ridge | County | 723 | |
| 1973 | Stay All Night and Don't Go Home | County | 741 | |
| 1975 | High Atmosphere: Ballads and Banjo Tunes from Virginia and North Carolina | Rounder | 0028 | recorded by John Cohen in 1965, reissued on Rounder CD 028 (1995) with 11 additional tracks |
| 1976 | Music from Round Peak | Heritage | 10 | with Tommy Jarrell, Mac Snow et al. |
| 1978 | Under the Double Eagle | Snowflake | 103 | Fred's solo fiddle album |
| Southern Clawhammer | Kicking Mule | KM 213 | several solo banjo tracks recorded by Ray Alden | |
| 1992 | Best Fiddle-Banjo Duets | County | CD 2702 | with Tommy Jarrell, duets now on the 2 County CDs 2734-2735 plus field recordings from the collection of Ray Alden & Dave Spilkia (out-of-print) |
| 2004 | Fred Cockerham | Field Recorders' Collective | FRC 101 | recorded by Ray Alden |
| 2008 | Round Peak Volume 1 | Field Recorders' Collective | FRC 109 | recorded by Ray Alden |
| Round Peak Volume 2 | Field Recorders' Collective | FRC 110 | recorded by Ray Alden | |
| :: |
References
References
- Ray Alden. "Fred Cockerham". The Field Recorders' Collective.
- own vinyl and CD copies
- own vinyl copy
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