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Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys had a number of great fiddlers.  Chubby Wise, part of the so-called "classic" 1940's band with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs was one.  Later came Gordon Terry, Vassar Clements, Bobby Hicks, Richard Greene (yes, the Richard Greene of Seatrain fame and various acclaimed fiddle albums) and Buddy Spicher. But Bill Monroe himself always considered Kenny Baker the greatest he ever employed. Baker, who worked with Monroe in 50's, 60's 70's and 80's, died Friday in Gallatin, Tennessee, not far from Nashville, of a stroke he suffered earlier in the week. He was 85. 

Each of Monroe's fiddlers brought a distinctive voice to the Blue Grass Boys. But Baker's smoother "long bow" style, which drew from his admiration of Texas-style breakdown fiddling, western swing, honky tonk and even jazz violin, satisfied Monroe the most, the likely reason he spent more time holding down the Blue Grass Boys' fiddle spot than anyone else.

A native of Jenkins, Kentucky and the son of a fiddler, Baker, who worked as a miner early on, started as a western swing and honky tonk fiddler.  In the 50's he worked with country singer Don Gibson's band, but found he admired 50's Monroe fiddle numbers like "Roanoke." He joined Monroe for the first time in 1957 and was in and out of the band (and music) over the next three decades. Monroe's admiration for Baker's playing was such that he featured Baker on the 1972 album Bill Monroe's Uncle Pen, a collection of the fiddle tunes Monroe learned as a boy from his fiddling uncle, Pendleton Vandiver (immortalized by the Monroe tune "Uncle Pen").

This is Baker with Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys from the 60's playing "Train 45." The second fiddler is Buddy Spicher, a native of Dubois in Clearfield County and later a master Nashville studio musician.  Note: If your idea of bluegrass is Nickel Creek or Allison Krauss, this is the music in its original, elemental form. Be forewarned: it sounds a lot different.

Baker with Monroe, again in the 60's, performing "Rawhide."

 

Baker and Monroe had their problems, some due to their mutually volatile personalities, and the fiddler's 1984 departure from the band was acrimonious (as was were the departures of other Blue Grass Boys, including Flatt and Scruggs). Baker reconciled with him at Monroe's annual festival in Bean Blossom, Indiana in 1994. A year later, a stroke ended Monroe's career.

Baker made his own records and in later years, worked with former Flatt and Scruggs Dobroist Josh Graves until Graves died in 2006.  In 1999, in honor of his achievements and musical influence, he was voted into the International Bluegrass Museum's Hall of Honor, the equivalent of induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame.  He largely withdrew from performing in the past few years.  This is Baker post-Monroe performing "Dance with Me."

One thing's for certain: Kenny Baker's musical influence among fiddlers of all styles was enormous during his lifetime. Regardless of what paths bluegrass take in the future, that is unlikely to change.

Update: Services for Baker are being held today (July 12)  in his hometown of Jenkins, Kentucky.

 

 

 

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