Roscoe Holcomb

Roscoe Holcomb, a banjoist and vocalist counted among the leading figures in Appalachian old-time music, passed the bulk of his years in the modest community of Daisy, Kentucky, where he stood out as one of the truest carriers of American mountain folk traditions. He held no early desire for a professional path, yet stepped into the role of recording artist and folk-revival performer once he was first documented in the closing years of the 1950s. His delivery stayed austere, embodying the piercing and sometimes anguished vocal manner long tied to Appalachian song, while his selections drew from generations-old traditional pieces that circulated within communities and from occasional numbers he may have absorbed via vintage country discs. Folk musician and archivist John Cohen originated the phrase “high lonesome sound” to characterize Holcomb’s work, an expression that later gained broad currency as a label for bluegrass and Appalachian music in general. Across the 1960s and 1970s he released several albums on Folkways and appeared at scattered college and festival engagements, closing his performing career with a final show in 1978.