Local News

Cochran to be inducted into music hall Saturday

ELKINS - Randolph County resident Johnny Cochran will be inducted into the West Virginia Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum Saturday, along with his family.

Cochran, a renowned fiddler who played in the bands of country music legends George Jones, Johnny Paycheck and Lynn Anderson, is a four-time West Virginia State Fiddling Champion.

He will be inducted into the Hall of Fame at the Sagebrush Roundup in Fairmont Saturday. Also being inducted are his two brothers, Jimmy and Bert, and his sister Linda. All the siblings will perform during the ceremony.

Cochran, who has lived in Randolph County for the last 16 years, began playing music at 3 years old, and by the age of 4 he was performing for the public on WWVA’s live radio show and the "Wheeling Jamboree" broadcast from the old Capital Theatre.

Hailing from Diana, W.Va., the Cochran Family traveled extensively throughout the 1970s, playing bluegrass and country music.

While a champion fiddler, Cochran has also been known to pick up the acoustic guitar, upright bass, dobro, banjo and the mandolin.

Asked about playing for years with Jones, who many consider the greatest country singer of all time, Cochran said he really enjoyed the experience "most of the time," but added that Jones was "mostly clean and sober at that point in his life" and that he considered Jones "the best."

Cochran has released a new CD, "Johnny Cochran’s Greatest Hits Volume II" for the independent label All Most Heaven Records. The CD was recorded at Lone Wolf Productions in Elkins.