Cox Family
Bands / Ensembles
The Cox Family (1972–) is a bluegrass, acoustic country and gospel family band from Cotton Valley, in Webster Parish in northwestern Louisiana. It was led by fiddler and singer Willard Cox, with his children Evelyn (guitar, vocals), Lynn (bass, vocals), Sidney (banjo, Dobro, guitar, vocals) and Suzanne (mandolin, vocals). In the late 1980s the family met Alison Krauss at a Texas festival who passed one of their home recordings to Rounder Records leader to her producing their 1993 album Everybody's Reaching Out for Someone. Krauss and the family's 1994 gospel collaboration, I Know Who Holds Tomorrow, won the Grammy for Best Southern, Country or Bluegrass Gospel Album, and their 1995 album Beyond the City was nominated for the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. The family recorded for Asylum and appeared on the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, which won the Grammy for Album of the Year, and Willard had a small acting role in the film. In July 2000, Willard and his wife, Marie, were seriously injured in a car accident, leaving Willard with a spinal injury, and the family afterward played only a few shows. Willard died on November 4, 2019, and Evelyn on May 5, 2026. A revised lineup of Sidney Cox and his sisters later released new music.
In the newsletter
- No. 5 Oct.—Dec. 1995