The Cox Family

Originating from Cotton Valley, Louisiana, the Cox Family unites father Willard with son Sidney and daughters Evelyn and Suzanne through a sound that merges country, bluegrass, and gospel traditions. The group launched its joint performances in 1976 and quickly became a regular attraction at fairs and festivals. Momentum increased in the early 1990s after an introduction to Alison Krauss, who connected the family with Rounder Records. Additional visibility came in 1994 when Adam Duritz, frontman of the multi-platinum-selling Counting Crows, heard the Cox Family and asked them to serve as openers on the band’s North American tour. Krauss produced every release except the first, Quiet Storm on Wilcox Records, and placed several Sidney compositions on her Grammy-winning albums, among them the title track of I’ve Got That Old Feeling. Rounder issued the family’s own albums Everybody’s Reaching Out for Someone in 1993 and Beyond the City in 1995; the latter earned a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album. A collaboration with Krauss, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, received the 1994 Grammy for Best Country/Gospel/Bluegrass Album, and the Cox Family also shared a Grammy for its contribution to the various-artists collection Amazing Grace: A Country Salute to Gospel. Asylum Records released the major-label debut Just When We’re Thinking It’s Over in 1996. Although the album drew strong reviews, sales stayed modest by major-label standards. Work began on a second Asylum project in 1998, yet the label ended the arrangement before completion. In 2000 the family recorded several songs for the film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, and the soundtrack album rose unexpectedly to number one on the pop, country, bluegrass, and soundtrack charts in 2001. That achievement was eclipsed by tragedy when Willard Cox suffered severe injuries in a 2000 automobile accident that left him paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. The group entered a recording hiatus and limited most live appearances to local events. In 2014 the unfinished 1998 tapes resurfaced, allowing Krauss and the Cox Family to return to the studio and finish the project. Rounder released the completed album, Gone Like the Cotton, in October 2015.