Fred Cockerham was a fiddle

Fiddle

The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...

 and banjo

Banjo

In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...

 player of American folk music

American folk music

American folk music is a musical term that encompasses numerous genres, many of which are known as traditional music or roots music. Roots music is a broad category of music including bluegrass, country music, gospel, old time music, jug bands, Appalachian folk, blues, Cajun and Native American...

.

Cockerham was one of the seven children of Elias and Betty Jane Cockerham in North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. 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

Tommy Jarrell

Tommy Jarrell was an American fiddler, banjo player, and singer from the Mount Airy region of North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains.-Biography:...

. 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.

Discography

Year	Title	Label	Number	Notes
1965	Clawhammer Banjo: Old Time Banjo and Fiddle Tunes	County County Records County Records also expanded into the bluegrass music genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.-Related businesses:Freeman...	701	reissued on County CD 2716, Clawhammer Banjo Vol 1 (2002)
1968	Down to the Cider Mill	County County Records County Records also expanded into the bluegrass music genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.-Related businesses:Freeman...	713	with Tommy Jarrell and Oscar Jenkins, reissued on County CD 2734 (2004)
1970	Back Home in the Blue Ridge	County County Records County Records also expanded into the bluegrass music genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.-Related businesses:Freeman...	723	with Tommy Jarrell and Oscar Jenkins, reissued on County CD 2734 and 2735
1973	Stay All Night and Don't Go Home	County County Records County Records also expanded into the bluegrass music genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.-Related businesses:Freeman...	741	with Tommy Jarrell and Oscar Jenkins, recorded 1967-71, reissued on County CD 2735 (2004)
1975	High Atmosphere: Ballads and Banjo Tunes from Virginia and North Carolina High Atmosphere High Atmosphere: Ballads and Banjo Tunes from Virginia and North Carolina is a 1975 compilation album released by Rounder Records. The album is composed of Appalachian folk music recordings gathered by musicologist John Cohen in North Carolina and Virginia.The album was originally released in 1975...	Rounder Rounder Records Rounder Records, originally of Cambridge, Massachusetts, but now based in Burlington, Massachusetts, is a record label founded in 1970 by Ken Irwin, Bill Nowlin and Marian Leighton-Levy, while all three were still university students...	0028	recorded by John Cohen in 1965, reissued on Rounder CD 028 (1995) with 11 additional tracks
1978	Under the Double Eagle	Snowflake	103
1992	Best Fiddle-Banjo Duets	County County Records County Records also expanded into the bluegrass music genre, although Freeman preferred those artists who stayed the closest to their old-time roots. The label's first bluegrass release was 1965's Blue Ridge Bluegrass featuring Larry Richardson and the Blue Ridge Boys.-Related businesses:Freeman...	CD 2702	with Tommy Jarrell, duets from County CD 2734 and 2735 plus additional tracks
2004	Fred Cockerham	Field Recorders Collective	FRC 101	recorded by Ray Alden
2008	Round Peak Volume 1	Field Recorders Collective	FRC 109	recorded by Ray Alden
2008	Round Peak Volume 2	Field Recorders Collective	FRC 110	recorded by Ray Alden