Josh Graves (September 27, 1927 Tellico Plains, Monroe County, Tennessee – September 30, 2006), born Burkett Howard Graves, was an American bluegrass musician. Also known by the nicknames "Buck," and "Uncle Josh," he is credited with introducing the resonator guitar (commonly known under the trade name of Dobro) into bluegrass music shortly after joining Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1955. He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1997.
He joined producers Randall Franks and Alan Autry for the In the Heat of the Night cast CD “Christmas Time’s A Comin’” performing "Christmas Time's A Comin'" with the cast on the CD released on Sonlite and MGM/UA for one of the most popular Christmas releases of 1991 and 1992 with Southern retailers.
Career 1942 Joined the Pierce Brothers playing in Gatlinburg Played with Esco Hankins and Mac Wiseman Joined Wheeling, West Virginia's WWVA Jamboree with Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper 1955-1969 Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys 1969-1971 Lester Flatt's Nashville Grass. 1971-1974 Earl Scruggs Revue. 1974 started solo career. 1984-2006 performed and recorded with Kenny Baker and also with the Masters including Baker, Jesse McReynolds and Eddie Adcock.
Musical style Graves originally joined the Foggy Mountain Boys as a bass player but collaborated with bandmate Earl Scruggs to develop a new style of dobro-picking based on Scruggs' three-finger syncopated banjo style. Graves switched to the dobro; his way of playing helped propel the instrument into becoming one of the defining features of the bluegrass sound. Graves adoption of hammer-ons and pull-offs to combine open strings and fretted notes in rapid scalar passages elevated the Dobro to the level of holding its own with the fiddle and banjo. Graves played fast and loud but also created extremely sensitive melodic backing to bluesy ballads and slower gospel numbers. Josh Graves is credited as being a major influence on many leading resophonic guitar players, including Jerry Douglas, Mike Auldridge, and Phil Leadbetter among them.
References
Discography of Blue Grass Sound Recordings, 1942-, Ibiblio catalog, accessed October 22, 2020, https://www.ibiblio.org/catalog/items/show/3583.
Goldsmith, Thomas. The Bluegrass Reader. 2006. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
Graves, J., Bartenstein, F., & Rosenberg, N. (2012). Bluegrass Bluesman: A Memoir (Music in American Life) (1st ed.). University of Illinois Press.
Rosenberg, Neil V. Bluegrass: A History. 2005. Chicago: University of Illinois Press.
External links OMS Records - Josh Graves Brad's Page of Steel
Selected discography Albums Title Label Year Bluegrass Hits Just Joshing Cotton Town Jubilee 1964 Uncle Josh And His Dobro Cotton Town Jubilee 1965 Something Different Puritan 1972 Bucktime Puritan 1974 Alone At Last Epic 1974 Josh Graves With Bobby Smith Vetco 1976 Sweet Sunny South CMH 1976 Sing Bluegrass Vol. 2 With Josh Graves Vetco 1976 Meetin' At The Crossroads Music City Workshop 1977 Same Old Blues CMH 1977 Smokin' Bluegrass CMH 1978 Bluegrass Specials:We're Gonna Have A Ball Cowboy Carl 1979 First Breath Of Spring Koala 1979 Sing Away The Pain CMH 1979 King Of The Cobra CMH 1980 Playing It Simple Vetco 1980 Living Legends:Dobro And Fiddle Instrumentals Old Homestead 1983 Something Old, Something New Atteiram 1984 Flying South:Fiddle And Dobro Bluegrass Instrumentals Ridge Runner 1986 Tennessee-Kentucky Favorites Montana Country 1987 Dad The Dobro Man CMH 1987 The Real Josh:Super Sidemen Vol. 1 Amber 1988 The Puritan Sessions Rebel 1989 Plays Country Classics Legend 1993 Sings Country Classics Legend 1994 Church In The Wildwood Legend 1995 Live In Port Huron, Michigan Legend 1995 The Graves Situation Legend 1996 King Of The Dobro:A Musical Documentary CMH 1996 Josh Graves Dobro Rebel 1998 Overdue Foster Creek 1998 Sultan Of Slide OMS 2000 World Famous Dobro Starday 2002 Memories Of Foggy Mountain OMS 2002 Just Joshin' Red Clay 2005