ROOTS of Country Music

Born Wilma Lee Leary on February 7, 1921, in Valley Head, West Virginia, she became best known as the intense, hard-driving lead vocalist of the mountain music group, Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper & the Clinch Mountain Clan. The Coopers joined the Opry in 1957 and performed together until his death on March 22, 1977. Their daughter, Carol Lee Cooper, has also played the Opry regularly since 1975 as leader of the Carol Lee Singers backup quartet.

Raised in central West Virginia, Wilma Lee took to music early and was a part of her family's gospel group The Leary Family from her teens. Her celebrated delivery of gospel and devotional songs emerged at the same time. Following her 1939 marriage to Dale (Stoney) Cooper she toured as Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper performing both country and Christian songs while simultaneously earning a degree from Davis and Elkins College. In 1947 the pair began appearing on WWVA, Wheeling, West Virginia and were regulars on the WWVA Jamboree. Their period of greatest success dates from the 1956 hit Cheated Too, which was released on Hickory Records.

In 1957 they joined the Grand Ole Opry and soon had a number of best sellers including Come Walk With Me (1958), Big Midnight Special and There's a Big Wheel (both 1959) and a 1960 cover of Stuart Hamblin's This Ole House. In 1961, they went to No. 8 on the Billboard country chart with Wreck on the Highway. They also recorded several songs that, while not charting, still became gospel standards, among them were Thirty Pieces of Silver, Legend of the Dogwood Tree and Walking My Lord Up Calvary Hill.

 Some called her style bluegrass, some mountain music others pure hillbilly, but whatever the name, there’s just one way Wilma Lee Cooper went at it—full throttle. Wilma Lee sang and played guitar with a bursting-at-the-seams energy. She sings those ballads with a clarity and simplicity that let the audience follow every story twist

 She was designated First Lady of Bluegrass by the Smithsonian in 1974 and continued her career solo following Stoney's death. Forced to retire by a 2001 stroke, she remained in Tennessee and was to make a final Grand Ole Opry appearance in 2010 singing with a large group. Wilma lee was a member of the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame. At her death her recordings remained available, those cut with The Leary Family in 1938 from the Library of Congress and the later ones on the Smithsonian's releases and on various commercial labels.

 Wilma Lee Cooper passed away from natural causes on Sept. 13, 2011 at her home in Sweetwater, Tennessee. She is survived by her daughter Grand Ole Opry member and singer Carol Lee Cooper, Hendersonville, Tennessee.

Written by: Richard Bell, Country Music Historian, Nashville, Tennessee, USA. Sep. 2011.

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