Died On This Date (July 8, 2011) Kenny Baker / Bluegrass Fiddler
themusicsover Kenny Baker
June 26, 1926 – July 8, 2011
Kenny Baker was a legendary bluegrass fiddle player who is perhaps best remembered for the 25 years he served in Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. He was called the “Greatest Fiddler in Bluegrass.” Baker learned to play the fiddle at a young age, and after working in the coal mines of Kentucky and serving in U.S. Navy, he decided to make a career out of playing the instrument. He was soon hired on by country great, Don Gibson who took him on the road. Along one of Gibson’s tours, Baker met Monroe who asked him to join his band, with whom he made his first records December of 1957. By the time he left Monroe in 1984, Baker had played with him more than any other musician before or since. He went on to record numerous albums, both his own and as a sideman for many years on such iconic roots labels as County and Rounder. His most recent, Darkness On The Delta, came out in 2004. Kenny Baker passed away on July 8, 2011 as a result of a stroke he suffered earlier that week. He was 85 years old.
What You Should Own
Benton Flippen was an influential fiddle player who was one of the last surviving notable old-timey musicians of his generation. Born into a long line of musically talented Flippens and raised in northeast North Carolina, Flippen first learned to play the banjo as a youngster, but switched to the fiddle after hearing one of his uncles play. His first regional band of note was the Green Valley Boys. During the late ’60s, he joined Camp Creek Boys, and eventually, the Smokey Valley Boys, with whom he played until 1985. The latter earned numerous awards and accolades during Flippen’s tenure. He was also a respected composer, having penned such tunes as “Fiddler’s Reel,” “Benton’s Dream,” and “Smokey Valley Breakdown.” Flippen continued to draw sizable crowds well into his golden years, even as recently as 2008 when he headlined an Old Time music convention at the age of 88. Benton Flippen was 90 when he passed away in hospice care on June 28, 2011.
Hazel Dickens was a popular Appalachian bluegrass and folk singer, songwriter and musician who was revered for her beautiful voice as well as for her socially driven lyrics that tended to touch on feminism and pro-union causes. Born into a poor mining family in West Virginia, Dickens became friends with 
JP Fraley was a bluegrass fiddler who is considered by many to have been the one of the greatest to ever come out of Kentucky. After years working in the local mines, and later as a sales rep for mining equipment, Fraley became a professional musician. He recorded three albums for the revered roots label, Rounder Records – each one included his wife, Annadeene Fraley on guitar. The two spent most of their lives together, having met as children. Fraley spent much of his time teaching young fiddlers and wrote several instruction books. During the ’70s, Fraley began his annual Mountain Music Gathering which started out as a family reunion but quickly grew into one of the biggest old-time music festivals in northeastern Kentucky. JP Fraley was 87 when he passed away on February 17, 2011.