Fred Cockerham
Musician · 1905–1980 · Round Peak, North Carolina
Best known for
Songwriter
Fred Cockerham was a Round Peak, North Carolina old-time fiddler and clawhammer banjoist whose 1960s and 70s recordings with fiddler Tommy Jarrell helped seed the Round Peak revival that runs through every modern claw hammer player from David Holt to the New Lost City Ramblers and Old Crow Medicine Show. His banjo cuts of “Roustabout,” “Cluck Old Hen,” and “Sail Away Ladies” remain teaching pieces in the tradition.
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- Born November 3, 1905, in the Round Peak community of Surry County, North Carolina, the seventh of seven Cockerham siblings.
- Learned banjo from his neighbor Charley Lowe in the old fretless clawhammer style.
- Patterned his fiddle playing on Fiddlin’ Arthur Smith’s long-bow Nashville style and adapted it to Round Peak repertoire.
- Played professionally with the Ruby Tonic Entertainers across western North Carolina contest and dance circuit through the 1930s and 1940s.
- Recorded the influential self-titled 1967 album with the Camp Creek Boys (Kyle Creed, Ernest East, Paul Sutphin, and Verlen Clifton).
- Recorded extensively with Tommy Jarrell for Mountain Records, County Records, and Field Recorders’ Collective releases in the 1970s.
- Mentored a generation of revivalist clawhammer banjoists in his Round Peak home until his death.
- Died July 8, 1980, at age 74.
