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 2016 Heritage Award.
The Koken family arrived in New Orleans in 1850, then traveled up the Mississippi River to St. Louis (Milliner 2017).
“In 1959, my brother had broken his arm, and heard that playing guitar might be a good way to get its strength back.
I really thought that was neat, and one day he came to me and said, “Why don’t you get a banjo, and we’ll make some money?” (Smith 2011) Since 1965, Koken has played in multiple bands: the Busted Toe Mudthumpers, the Muskrat Ramblers (along with French clarinetist Michel Sebastiani, who later became the Olympic coach of the USA Fencing Team),[1] the Fat City String Band, the legendary Highwoods Stringband, and The Cacklin’ Hens and Roosters Too!.
In 2011, Koken and Clare completed their multi-year literary collaboration, The Milliner-Koken Collection of American Fiddle Tunes.