Dock Roberts was born and raised on a farm in
Madison County, Kentucky and learned to play the fiddle at an early age with some help from his older brother Liebert. Doc's and Liebert's musical mentor was the
African-American fiddler Owen Walker. After finishing his studies in
Berea, Roberts married in 1913. In 1925, a talent scout, Dennis Taylor, recruited Roberts along with Welby Toomey and Edgar Boaz as old time recording artists for
Gennett Records. In early 1927, Roberts recorded with the string band, the "
Booker Family". They made their recording debut in May 1928 for the Gennett label. Between 1927 and 1934, the duo performed at fiddler's conventions, in schoolhouses, on vaudeville stages, and on radio (
WHAS in
Louisville, Kentucky). Martin & Roberts recorded altogether more than 200 sides on 11 different labels. Later on, with the addition of Doc Roberts' son James, the ''Fiddlin' Doc Roberts Trio'' was formed. In 1928, Roberts was hired, through the agency of
Bradley Kincaid, by the
National Barn Dance radio show in
Chicago. He was paid $50 a week. After only two weeks he quit the show and moved back to Kentucky. The reason was that he was unable to sleep due to the noise of the big city. The Doc Roberts Trio lasted until 1934 when Roberts retired as a recording artist. During the next four decades, he continued to make personal appearances and occasional radio works. He died at the age of 81 in his hometown of
Richmond, Kentucky. ==Discography==