Walt Koken
Walt Koken (born October 9, 1946, Columbia, Missouri) is an American claw-hammer banjo player, fiddler, and singer, who received the Nashville Old-Time String Band Association's Heritage Award for 2016. Koken was prominent in the old-time music revival during the 1960s, and continues to be a leader and mentor in the old-time music community today. Biography Family Koken's mother, Helen Hawkins Koken Pickel, was a classical pianist and a kindergarten teacher. Her family was English; the Kokens were from Germany. Koken's father, John C. Koken, was a math professor. The Koken family arrived in New Orleans in 1850, then traveled up the Mississippi River to St. Louis (Milliner 2017). By 1892, the Koken Barber’s Supply Company of St. Louis held two barber chair patents; one for the first reclining Koken chair and one for the first hydraulic lift chair (Creek). In 1915 Walter F. Koken received a patent for the first electric Barber’s Chair (Patents 1917). Music Walt Koken started playing banjo at the age of thirteen. “In 1959, my brother had broken his arm, and heard that playing guitar might be a good way to get its strength back. He got his old guitar with a warped neck and high