Master Fiddle Man Kenny Baker Suffers Stroke

[grassrootphilosopher]

A question for the crowd:

I read somewhere he started with Monroe in 1957, then left in 1984. Who replaced him? I know Tater Tate, Jimmy Campbell fiddled in the band. Anybody else? I imagine Bill always longed for that Kenny Baker sound after he was gone.

Been messing with Grassy Fiddle Blues, Twinkle Little Star, Bluegrass In The Backwoods and a cool little number The Other Side Of Baker, from Sam Bush.

Kenny left a legacy.

Kenny Baker had two tenures with the Blue Grass Boys. One was a couple of years in the fifties. Fiddlers who followed were Richard Greene for example. Then came the long stretch in the late 60ies (?) until the early/mid 80ies when he left. One of the fiddlers that followed was Glen Duncan. Jimmy Campbel who followed Tater Tate on fiddle was in the 90ies (and died in a trailer fire).

Rest in peace Kenny Baker

[doc holiday]

Fiddlers that followed Kenny Baker:

Baker, Kenny 1957-1958
Meadows, Joe 1957
Smith, Charlie 1958-1960
Taylor, Merle "Red" 1958
Hicks, Bobby 9/1958-1959
Martin, Benny 1959
Potter, Dale 1959-1960
Baker, Billy 1961
Clements, Vassar 1961-1962
Lester, Bobby Joe 1961
Spicher, Buddy 1961
Baker, Kenny 1962-6/1963
Pendleton, Buddy 1962
Stanley, Harold "Red" 1962
Williams, Benny 1962
Baker, Billy 6/1963-8/1963
Stuart, Joe 8/1963-11/1963
Baker, Billy 12/1963-2/1964
Spicher, Buddy 1964-1965
Williams, Benny 1964-1965
Lowinger, Gene 6/5/1965-2/1966
Greene, Richard 2/1966-3/5/1967
Clements, Vassar 1967
Berline, Byron 3/1967-9/1967
Williams, Benny 9/1967-1967
Baker, Kenny 3/23/1968-7/1977
Stuart, Joe 6/1970-9/1970
Stuart, Joe 6/1971-8/1971
Spicher, Buddy 1977
Baker, Kenny 9/1977-10/12/1984
Stamper, Art 1984
Franks, Randall "Randy" 10/30/1984-11/23/1984
Duncan, Glen 1985-1986
Morris, Dale 1/1985-1985
Tate, Clarence "Tater" 1986
Squires, Mark 9/1986-11/1986
Foster, Billy Joe 12/1986-1988
Feagan, Mike 1987-1988
Spicher, Buddy 1987-1988
Tate, Clarence "Tater" 1988-1990
Jerrolds, Wayne 12/1988-3/1989
Campbell, Jimmy 1990-1993
Bowlin, Robert 1/1993-1996

[AlanN]

Omg! Shoulda known, thanks

[Scotti Adams]

BAKER, Kenneth "Kenny" Age 85 of Cottontown, TN. Died Friday, July 8, 2011. He was born to the late Thaddeus and Myrtle Baker on June 26, 1926 in Burdine, KY. He attended school in Burdine, but left early to serve in the U.S. Navy during World War II. He married Audrey Sizemore in 1946. They resided together in Jenkins, KY until 1968. Kenny began his musical career by touring with the USO in the South Pacific. He later played with several small groups, then spent some time with Don Gibson. He went on to play for Bill Monroe longer than any other Bluegrass Boy. After his time with Bill Monroe, he toured many years with Josh Graves. Kenny was known for his smooth "long-bow" style and was considered one of the most influential fiddlers in Bluegrass music. He received the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment For The Arts in 1993 and was named to the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1999. Kenny was proudest of the many original "numbers" he recorded and the friendship given him from his fellow musicians and the way other fiddlers admired and followed his style. Kenny is survived by Audrey; two sons, Kenneth Jr. (Holly) and Johnny Lee (Debbie) Baker; brother, Tom (Betty); sisters, Gloria and Margaret; four grandchildren, Allisa Feazel, Kenny Bill, Jesse and Brian Baker; plus many great grandchildren. He is also survived by Joan Shagan of Cottontown. Services will be held 2 p.m., Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at the Burdine Freewill Baptist Church in Burdine, KY. Visitation will be Monday from 6-9 p.m. at the church. The family would like to acknowledge three special people that helped them through this difficult time. Thank you to Raymond Huffmaster, Ron Eldridge and Michelle Putnam. Arrangements by CARTY, POLLY & CRAFT FUNERAL HOME, (606) 832-2191

[Pete Martin]

Has anyone found an accurate, complete Baker discography? I've been looking on the web for the past few days, but haven't found a complete one, just ones of stuff currently in print.

[Pete Martin]

Got this from Dave Freeman of County Records:

Dear Mr. Martin:

Thank you for the suggestion--we agree that there should be a complete Kenny Baker CD set (maybe box set?) Very likely that we will start working on that in the near future. Thanks again for your comments. Sincerely, Dave Freeman

If folks would email him or County Sales (www.countysales.com) maybe we could get this going sooner??

[Pete Martin]

Doc, thanks for the list, very cool to see. Interesting how some names, like Buddy Spicher and Vassar reappear every once in a while. Also how some younger players very much had a strong Baker influence (Bowlin, Jimmy Campbell) while others had very little.

[mandolirius]

Got this from Dave Freeman of County Records:

Dear Mr. Martin:

Thank you for the suggestion--we agree that there should be a complete Kenny Baker CD set (maybe box set?) Very likely that we will start working on that in the near future. Thanks again for your comments. Sincerely, Dave Freeman

If folks would email him or County Sales (www.countysales.com) maybe we could get this going sooner??

Man, how often do you get that kind of response from a company? I'll send an email and add my voice.

[Fretbear]

Isn't it telling of the times we live in, how such an important titan of American vernacular music like this passes on and doesn't even get a mention in the main news, which is full of so much other irrelevant drivel?

[mrmando]

Yeah, I checked the websites for both the Nashville Tennessean and the Lousville Courier-Journal. Not a whisper on either one, at least not on Friday. In addition to their local obits, they both appear to subscribe to the same syndication service for national obits. Betty Ford, of course, was the top syndicated obit for that date. But Cuban guitarist Manuel Galban, who died on the same day, also got a syndicated obit, while Kenny just didn't make the cut. I don't know everything, but I'd bet Baker was as important to bluegrass as Galban was to Cuban music.

There is now a brief Baker obit on the Tennessean and Courier-Journal websites. It didn't run in either paper until yesterday. Doesn't seem to be more of a writeup than your average Joe Schmo would get.

Variety has published a decent obit:

Bluegrass great Kenny Baker dies
Fiddler was a mainstay in Bill Monroe's genre-defining band
By Christopher Morris

The influential bluegrass fiddler Kenny Baker, a mainstay of Bill Monroe's Blue Grass Boys for 23 years, died July 8 in Gallatin, Tenn., after suffering a stroke. He was 85.

No musician enjoyed a longer tenure in Monroe's groundbreaking bluegrass ensemble. Baker debuted behind the vocalist-mandolinist in December 1957, and did four tours of duty with the Blue Grass Boys.

As Monroe's biographer Richard D. Smith wrote, "Baker had considerable western swing influences, but it was his knowledge of old-time fiddling and his advancement of it to a near-classical form that enraptured Monroe." The bandleader invariably introduced Baker onstage as "the greatest fiddler in bluegrass music."

Born near Jenkins, Kentucky, Baker was the son of an old-time fiddler, but he counted swing musicians Tommy Dorsey and Glenn Miller and hot jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli among his influences. He played semi-professionally in eastern Kentucky during the '40s, but made his living primarily as a coal miner and farmer. He joined Monroe's unit after breaking in with country singer Don Gibson on Knoxville radio station WNOX.

The dour Baker brought great virtuosity and a smooth, jazzy sensibility to Monroe's music. He was featured prominently on the bandleader's dream project, an album of fiddle tunes played by Monroe's uncle Pendleton Vandiver; recorded over a three-year period and released in 1972, "Bill Monroe's Uncle Pen" is considered a classic of the genre and one of Monroe's finest works.

Baker - who chafed at the low wages paid by Monroe and left the Blue Grass Boys three times to return to mining - exited the group abruptly, after 16 consecutive years in the band, when he walked offstage in the middle of a concert in Jemison, Ala., in 1984. The two musicians reconciled in 1994, when Baker appeared at Monroe's Bean Blossom Bluegrass Festival. (Monroe died in 1996.)

Already established as a leader via a series of albums for David Freeman's County Records, Baker soon began a decade-long partnership with dobro player Uncle Josh Graves in 1984.

He received a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship in 1993, and was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 1999. In the new millennium, he recorded for the OMS label.

[mandolirius]

<I don't know everything, but I'd bet Baker was as important to bluegrass as Galban was to Cuban music.>

Without qestion he was just as important, if not more so. I guess the lack of recognition shows that Cuban music is bigger than Bluegrass in North America.

[mrmando]

I'm not sure that's true about Cuban music ... it's just that Sr. Galban was associated with the Buena Vista Social Club, which did a project with Ry Cooder and was the subject of an award-winning film a few years back.

Speaking of film, has anyone heard anything about progress on the Bill Monroe biopic? Hypothetically, let's suppose Kenny had lived a bit longer, and that the film spends a few minutes on his relationship with Monroe, and the film is well received and wins an Oscar or something. Would that be enough to raise Kenny's "cred" so that his death would get as much notice as that of a musician from another country?

[Fretbear]

It really does say something about how real musical talent is valued. I was talking to my brother one time, years ago, and we were both huge fans of some of the recordings of The Stanley Brothers and Keith Whitley. I said to him, even if we could pick and sing like that, right now, no one would care to listen to it or even hire us for a gig, as it is just too hard-core and in your face, and yet there is this great pride and emphasis placed on "edginess" in music.

[mrmando]

Yeah, but thanks to O Brother Where Ya At, Ralph Stanley will get a nice big obituary in the Tennessean and the New York Times when it's his turn to go. (I love me some Dr. Ralph, and I hope he is with us for a few more years at least.) I would not say he is more talented than Baker, but somehow having his voice dubbed into a movie (over the image of a Klansman[!]) makes people think he is worthy of more notice.

[AlanN]

Niles (I think) interviewed KB in one of the old rags and included a transcription of the Baker tune Sushi, in A chord. Does anyone know if Kenny ever recorded that number and on what alum. Thanks.

[farmerjones]

Alan,
i know Sushi is on his instructional video. Can't recall the key.

[AlanN]

Thanks farmer. Is this video still available, do you know?

[mandolirius]

I'm not sure that's true about Cuban music ... it's just that Sr. Galban was associated with the Buena Vista Social Club, which did a project with Ry Cooder and was the subject of an award-winning film a few years back.

Which also did several world tours, played to sell-out crowds etc, etc. I think the kind of crowds that went out to see BVSC would be a fair bit larger than a show by a top bluegrass band. Perhaps someone like Alison Krauss could draw similar numbers, but then comes the question of whether Union Station is even a bluegrass band anymore. Don't get me wrong, I love bluegrass and also saw BVSC and thought it was a great show. I'm just commenting on what seems more popular. But that's just from my perspective way out here on the Canadian west coast. Maybe it would be different if I lived in the American southeast.

[mrmando]

Maybe it would be different if I lived in the American southeast.

There are lots of Cuban immigrants in the American southeast, so it wouldn't necessarily be different. Sort of getting off topic here, but those BVSC tours and sold-out shows wouldn't have been possible without the film, methinks. Interest in BVSC was ginned up by the film, and I think that accounts for the fact that Sr. Galban gets an obit in the NYT. (I could be wrong, of course.) I recall that there was a series or two of "Down from the Mountain" concerts that drew pretty well in the months following O Brother. Not everyone who went to those concerts was a dyed-in-the-wool bluegrass fan; again, interest was ginned up by the film. But anyhow, Kenny Baker wasn't involved with the film or with those shows. John Hartford, who was involved and died the following year, got the NYT obit.

[Raymond E.]

I've heard Kenny play Mandolin several times. Just as good as he was on the fiddle..a style of his own.I miss him a bunch....Here he's playing my Randy Wood......Loafer

[JMOSS99]

Kenny used to play electric mandolin, tenor to the electric guitar, in his country band days. I think that was what Bob Wills had in his band too. Baker told me that he had an offer to go with Wills at one point, but that he didn't take it. I wonder how much his backup on fiddle was influenced by his work with the electric mandolin?

Jim Moss

[JMOSS99]

Here is a great collection of photos. Doc Hamilton has posted many
photos to his gallery page and invites folks to have a look and remember
the good times.

See if you can identify the people in the photos.

http://gallery.me.com/docham#100827&...r=black&sel=34

Jim Moss

[Marty Henrickson]

Thanks for sharing the photo and memory, Mr. Huffmaster.

[re simmers]

There's been mention of Kenny in his country days. Are there any recordings of him playing country? I know he played with Don Gibson, but what recordings?

Thanks
Bob

[Scotti Adams]

Touching to say the least

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vg1Wh...&feature=share

Mr. Huffmaster...I know you frequent these pages. Thanks so much for this.