Fred Cockerham

Who was Fred Cockerham?

Fred Cockerham was a 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 as 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.