Bennie "Cuje" Bertram
from the website of the Sgt. Alvin C. York State Historical Park
"I was born August 24, 1894, in Fentress County on the Three Forks of the Wolf. Alvin York was our next door neighbor. His daddy was a blacksmith and mine was too, and their shops weren’t two blocks apart”, so said Bennie “Cuje” Bertram, an African American fiddle player as he recalled his beginnings in the Wolf River Valley. Cuje learned the fiddle at a young age from his father, Doc Bertram, who is buried in the Upchurch Cemetery just off of Highway 127 in Pall Mall, TN. Cuje would grow up to play dance music in the area and played old time fiddle tunes like “Billy in the Lowground”, “Tennessee Waggoner”, Ladies on the Steamboat”, and a local favorite, “Five Miles out of Town”. Times were tough and work was hard, but Cuje made life more enjoyable by the music he played for square dances in the coal and lumber camps. Cuje played with famed duo Burnett and Rutherford in nearby Monticello KY, as well as influenced the playing style of banjo player Virgil Anderson. Cuje also served overseas during the Great War, returning in 1919. Cuje Bertram died in 1993 in Marion, Indiana. While very little information is available on Cuje’s life, the park was honored to feature him this month during Black History Month."
Subjects: Southern Appalachian - general, Person
Tags: African-American, Cuje Bertram, Tennessee
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"I was born August 24, 1894, in Fentress County on the Three Forks of the Wolf. Alvin York was our next door neighbor. His daddy was a blacksmith and mine was too, and their shops weren’t two blocks apart”, so said Bennie “Cuje” Bertram, an African American fiddle player as he recalled his beginnings in the Wolf River Valley. Cuje learned the fiddle at a young age from his father, Doc Bertram, who is buried in the Upchurch Cemetery just off of Highway 127 in Pall Mall, TN. Cuje would grow up to play dance music in the area and played old time fiddle tunes like “Billy in the Lowground”, “Tennessee Waggoner”, Ladies on the Steamboat”, and a local favorite, “Five Miles out of Town”. Times were tough and work was hard, but Cuje made life more enjoyable by the music he played for square dances in the coal and lumber camps. Cuje played with famed duo Burnett and Rutherford in nearby Monticello KY, as well as influenced the playing style of banjo player Virgil Anderson. Cuje also served overseas during the Great War, returning in 1919. Cuje Bertram died in 1993 in Marion, Indiana. While very little information is available on Cuje’s life, the park was honored to feature him this month during Black History Month."