Roscoe Holcomb

Roscoe Holcomb

(Vocals, Banjo)

• Date of Birth: 1911
• Place of Birth: Daisy, Kentucky
• Date of Death: 1981
  

Coal-miner and farmer, Roscoe Holcomb was ‘discovered’ by folklorist John Cohen in 1959. Twelve of the recordings made at the session were released as “Mountain Music of Kentucky” on the Smithsonian Folkways label. Subsequent recordings were taken in 1961, 1964 and 1974. Roscoe performed at many festivals during the Folk music revival of the early 1960’s such as the University of Chicago Festival in 1961, the 1962 berkeley Folk Festival, the 1963 UCLA Folk Festival as well as touring Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and England with Ralph Stanley, Cousin Emmy, and the New Lost City Ramblers. He last performed in public on May 7, 1978. Sick with asthma and emphysema, he passed away in 1981 at age 70. Bob Dylan once described Roscoe as "having an untamed sense of control" -- the title of a CD of Roscoe's music released in 2004 on Smithsonian Folkways.