Wilma Lee Cooper and Stoney Cooper are two of the most famous folks from Randolph County, West Virginia. Staples of the Grand Ole Opry for 20 years, they performed together for close to four decades, and helped old-time music evolve into modern country music.

The husband and wife duo performed and recorded through most of their career with their group The Clinch Mountain Clan, had their roots in the gospel, folk and hillbilly musical traditions of the Appalachian mountain country. They stayed true to their unalloyed country style, making few concessions to the commercial honky-tonk and New Nashville developments during the 1950s, but as stalwarts on West Virginia’s rival to the Grand Ole Opry, The WWVA Jamboree, still managed to achieve a run of hits in the late 1950s and into the early ‘60s, defying the trends in the wider pop music market.

This 58-track compilation features at least one side from most of their releases on the Rich-R-Tone and Columbia labels, along with most of their A- and B-sides from their singles for the Hickory label from this era. It features all their career chart entries, including the Top 10 country hits Come Walk With Me, Big Midnight Special, There’s A Big Wheel and Wreck On The Highway, plus their Top 20 country hits with country/pop crossover songs like Johnny My Love and This Ole House. Stoney suffered a heart attack in 1963 and was forced to slow down considerably, but finally succumbed to his health problems in 1977.

Wilma continued to tour and play the banjo in a more bluegrass-oriented style and passed away from in 2011. This highly distinctive act, occupy a particular niche on the country scene, and this selection of their recordings is a worthy showcase for their style.

TRACKS