Born 108 Years Ago Today in West Virginia, the Star Fiddle Who Helped Old-Time Music Evolve Into Country Alongside His Wife

On this day (October 16) in 1918, Dale Troy “Stoney” Cooper was born in Harman, West Virginia. Alongside wife Wilma Lee Cooper, he formed one of country music’s most successful acts from the 1940s through the 1960s. Playing fiddle and guitar to her banjo and vocals, the husband-and-wife duo landed several top 10 country hits. They also remained staples of the Grand Ole Opry for two decades. Together, the Coopers carried their native Appalachian music forward into the present. The duo helped shape country music into the cultural force it remains today.

On March 22, 1977, Stoney Cooper died in a Nashville hospital at age 58. Today, we’re honoring his life and contributions to country music on what would have been his 108th birthday.

Who Was Stoney Cooper?

Stoney Cooper’s Appalachian roots ran deep, with his family among the first settlers to arrive in Randolph County, West Virginia.

He grew up steeped in the fiddle music of the region, honing his own skills on local radio for the group Rusty Hiser’s Green Valley Boys.

In the fall of 1938, Cooper joined the Leary Family Singers, a West Virginia gospel group that had recorded for the Library of Congress that year.

He met the group’s singer, Wilma Lee Leary, whom he married in 1941.

A Beloved Duo

Setting off on their own, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper took to the radio circuit, playing shows in Arkansas, Nebraska, Illinois, and North Carolina. In 1947, the married couple kicked off a decade-long gig on WWVA’s Wheeling Jamboree, the nation’s second-oldest country music radio show.

Assembling their acoustic backing band, The Clinch Mountain Clan, the Coopers inked a deal with Columbia Records in 1949.

After releasing several classic singles — including “Sunny Side of the Mountain” and the devotional “Walking My Lord Up Calvary Hill” — they moved to Hickory Records in 1955.

Two years later, the couple moved to Nashville and joined the Grand Ole Opry. Nashville was in the midst of a sonic shift during the late 1950s, but the Coopers kept it old-school, sticking to their traditional country and bluegrass sound instead of the more polished “Nashville sound” popular at the time.

Their star kept rising. In 1959 alone, the Coopers released three top five hits —Come Walk with Me,” “Big Midnight Special,” and “There’s a Big Wheel”. Two more top 20 hits followed the next year. In 1961, they charted one final time with the Top 10 hit “Wreck on the Highway.”

Wilma Lee Cooper Continued After Her Husband’s Death

Failing health forced Stoney Cooper to slow down considerably in the early 1970s. He suffered his final heart attack on February 4, 1977, and died nearly two months later on March 22 in a Nashville hospital. Stoney Cooper was 58 years old.

Following her husband’s passing, Wilma Lee Cooper remained a solo Opry mainstay, switching to a more bluegrass-heavy sound. Her career ended when she suffered a stroke while performing onstage at the Opry in 2001.

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Despite doctors’ assertions that she would never walk again, Wilma Lee later made another Opry appearance to thank her fans. She died at age 90 on September 13, 2011, at her home in Sweetwater, Tennessee.

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