Born 100 Years Ago Today in Kentucky, the Third-Generation Bluegrass Fiddler Who Spent a Quarter Century as Bill Monroe’s Sideman

Jazz has John Coltrane. Bluegrass has Kenny Baker. Playing alongside the legendary Bill Monroe for 25 years, Baker’s smooth “long-bow” style of fiddling would come to define the genre. Today, we’re celebrating the musical contributions of Kenny Baker, who would have turned 100 years old today.

About Kenny Baker

Born June 26, 1926, in the small coal mining town of Burdine, Kentucky, Kenneth Clayton “Kenny” Baker came from a long line of fiddlers. Initially, he tried to escape his bloodline’s fate by learning the guitar at age seven.

 “My daddy played, my great-grandfather played,” he said. “My grandmother played. I had an aunt that played, and I heard all the old-time fiddle numbers … they burned me out with it, really. I had in mind I didn’t want to play fiddle!”

It wasn’t until serving in the Navy during World War II that Baker began to evaluate his musical choices. While stationed in New Guinea, he fell under the spell of Western swing legend Bob Wills and jazz violinist Stéphane Grappelli.

“There was stuff happening on the fiddle that I’d never known about,” he said, according to his online bio. “That’s when I started liking fiddle.”

Not long afterwards, Baker’s fellow sailors roped him into performing at a beach party. Opportunities continued presenting themselves during his time in the service, and Baker returned home to Kentucky with a renewed zeal for the fiddle.

Bill Monroe Had High Praise

Soon, Kenny Baker met the “Father of Bluegrass”, Bill Monroe, at the Knoxville, Tennessee-based radio station WNOX. On December 15, 1957, he cut his first recordings with Monroe’s band, the Blue Grass Boys.

Baker would perform with Monroe off and on for more than two decades. The bluegrass innovator hand-selected the younger man to record the fiddle tunes passed down from Monroe’s uncle, Pendleton “Pen” Vandiver.

“He told me he was saving them for the right fiddler, the man he thought could do them right,” Baker said, according to the Guardian.

Until Baker’s 1984 departure from the Blue Grass Boys, Monroe frequently introduced him to crowds as “the greatest fiddler in bluegrass.”

[RELATED: On This Day in 1996, We Said Goodbye to the Innovative Singer, Songwriter, and Bandleader Who Gave Birth to Bluegrass]

He went on to record multiple albums for various labels, including County Records, Jasmine, and Ridge Runner Records.

Country music trio the Chicks recorded Baker’s song “Salty” for their 1990 debut album Thank Heavens for Dale Evans.

On July 8, 2011, Kenny Baker died at Sumner Regional Medical Center in Gallatin, Tennessee, due to complications from a stroke. He was 85 years old.

Featured image by Sylvia Pitcher/Redferns/Getty Images

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