Billy Baker
Musician · Pound, Virginia
Best known for
Fiddle
Billy Baker is a Virginia-born fiddler whose multiple stints with Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys in the 1950s and 60s, work with Earl Taylor, Del McCoury, and the Bluegrass Kinsmen, and current Virginia Folklife Program apprenticeship teaching make him a living link between the first generation of bluegrass and contemporary southwest Virginia tradition.
- Born July 5, 1936 in Pound, Virginia, into a musical family — both parents played banjo.
- Began playing banjo at age 4 and fiddle at age 6, performing at local dances with his father.
- Played fiddle with Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys in multiple stints (notably 1953–54, 1961, and 1963–64).
- Recorded and performed with the Bluegrass Kinsmen, Kentucky Grass, Earl Taylor, Del McCoury, and Alex Campbell.
- Worked with Earl Taylor on WBMD radio in Maryland in the early 1960s.
- Third cousin to fiddler Kenny Baker.
- Also worked outside music as a heavy equipment operator.
- Has served as a mentor artist in the Virginia Folklife Program's apprenticeship program, teaching bluegrass fiddle.
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Del McCouryPlayed on recordings with Del McCoury
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Hazel Dickens and Alice GerrardPlayed on recordings with Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard
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Red Allen and Frank WakefieldPlayed on recording with Red Allen and Frank Wakefield