Jimmy Cooper was a hammered dulcimer

Hammered dulcimer

The hammered dulcimer is a stringed musical instrument with the strings stretched over a trapezoidal sounding board. Typically, the hammered dulcimer is set on a stand, at an angle, before the musician, who holds small mallet hammers in each hand to strike the strings...

 player from Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

Jimmy was born in Coatbridge

Coatbridge

Coatbridge is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. The town, with neighbouring Airdrie, is part of the Greater Glasgow urban area. The first settlement of the area stretches back to the Stone Age era...

, Scotland, near Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. He started to play the dulcimer around age twelve, and gained a lot of experience by playing in dance halls and busking

Busking

Street performance or busking is the practice of performing in public places, for gratuities, which are generally in the form of money and edibles...

 in the early 1920s. Over the course of his life he worked at various jobs, including driving buses, driving an ambulance for a children's home, and running a dance band. His repertoire included traditional Irish and Scottish tunes, pop tunes, show tunes, and more. He was "discovered" as part of the folk revival in the early 1970s, and helped inspire players of the younger generation such as John McCutcheon

John McCutcheon

John McCutcheon is an American folk music singer and multi-instrumentalist who has produced 34 albums since the 1970s. He is regarded as a master of the hammered dulcimer, and is also proficient on many other instruments including guitar, banjo, autoharp, mountain dulcimer, fiddle, and...

 and Malcolm Dalglish

Malcolm Dalglish

Malcolm Dalglish is an American hammered dulcimer player and builder, composer, and choral director.A virtuoso performer on the hammer dulcimer, he is a former member of the folk/Celtic trio Metamora and has performed frequently with the percussionist Glen Velez...

. McCutcheon described Cooper as "the most complete dulcimer player" he had met.

As principal performer

• Dulcimer Player, Spoot Records / Forest Tracks FTS3009, 1976 (reissued on cassette as FTC6022, 1988)
• Dulcimer Player, Forest Tracks FTBTCD1, 2003 (reissue of 1976 album with three additional tracks from FT3008, and four previously unissued tracks)
• In Concert, Forest Tracks FTC6023, 1988

Other appearances

• Various artists, Southern By-Ways, Forest Tracks FT3008, 1976 (appears on four tracks)
• The Boys of the Lough
  The Boys of the Lough
  -The early years:Their first album, called Boys of the Lough consisted of Aly Bain , Cathal Mc'Connell , Dick Gaughan and Robin Morton ....
  
  , Good Friends - Good Music, Philo PH1051, 1977 (appears on one track, playing Cadam Woods and The Bonnie Lass of Bon Accord)
• Ashley Hutchings
  Ashley Hutchings
  Ashley Stephen Hutchings is an English bassist, vocalist, songwriter, arranger, band leader, writer and record producer. He was a founder member of three of the most noteworthy English folk-rock bands in the history of the genre; Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and The Albion Band...
  
  , Kicking Up the Sawdust, Harvest SHSP 4073, 1977