Josh Graves (1927 to 2006), called Uncle Josh on stage, is the player who made the Dobro a bluegrass instrument. He joined Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1955 and played on all but one of their Columbia sessions after that, more than any other band member. He built a three-finger Dobro style from Scruggs’s banjo roll and the blues. He entered the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 1997.
Why Graves matters
Before 1955, the bluegrass band had five instruments: fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass, and banjo. Graves added a sixth. Because Flatt and Scruggs were the most popular bluegrass act of the day, his Dobro reached fans on records, radio, and television, and other bands began adding the instrument. Wikipedia credits him as a major influence on Jerry Douglas, Mike Auldridge, and Phil Leadbetter, and the Hall of Fame says he inspired hundreds of musicians to pick up the Dobro.
Life and career
Burkett Howard Graves was born on September 27, 1927, in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. As a boy he heard Cliff Carlisle, who played Dobro on Jimmie Rodgers’s records, when the Carlisle brothers played his community. In 1942 he joined the Pierce Brothers in Gatlinburg.
He worked with Esco Hankins in Knoxville and Lexington, with Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper from 1951 to 1954, and with Mac Wiseman. While working at WVLK near Lexington, Earl Scruggs taught him his right-hand banjo technique. In 1955 Flatt and Scruggs hired him as a bass player and comedian. After a short trial, he moved to the Dobro full time, and the band hired Jake Tullock to play bass.
Graves stayed with Flatt and Scruggs until they split in 1969, then played in both of their new bands: Lester Flatt’s Nashville Grass and the Earl Scruggs Revue. In 1974 he began working as a featured soloist. He later toured and recorded with fiddler Kenny Baker and with the Masters, a band with Baker, Jesse McReynolds, and Eddie Adcock. He died on September 30, 2006.
Playing style
Graves played the Dobro with fingerpicks in a three-finger style based on Scruggs’s banjo roll. He used hammer-ons and pull-offs to mix open strings with fretted notes in fast scale runs, which let the Dobro hold its own with the fiddle and banjo. He could play fast and loud, and he could also back a slow gospel song or ballad with soft melodic fills.
He also brought the blues into the Flatt and Scruggs sound. He grew up on players such as Blind Boy Fuller, and historian Neil Rosenberg singles out the bluesy Dobro opening of Big Black Train as the kind of picking that pulled new fans to the band.
Influences and legacy
Graves learned from Cliff Carlisle, Clell “Cousin Jody” Summey, Brother Oswald, Speedy Krise, and Earl Scruggs. He played beside Lester Flatt, Paul Warren, Jake Tullock, and later Kenny Baker. Jerry Douglas decided to play the Dobro after seeing Graves with Flatt and Scruggs at age 8. Mike Auldridge bought his first Dobro from Graves.
Signature tunes and songs
Fireball Foggy Mountain Rock Flatt Lonesome Just Joshing Big Black Train, with Flatt and Scruggs.
Essential recordings
Just Joshin’, with Jake Tullock (Cotton Town Jubilee, 1963) Hard Travelin’, Flatt and Scruggs (Columbia, 1963) Flatt and Scruggs at Carnegie Hall! (Columbia)
Awards and honors
International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame (1997)
Watch and listen
Graves plays his Dobro on Flatlands Tourister.
Graves, Mike Auldridge, and Jerry Douglas share the stage at a Dobro summit.
What to learn from Graves
Learn Foggy Mountain Rock or Fireball, both his tunes. Focus on the right hand first: a forward roll with thumb, index, and middle picks, the same pattern a Scruggs banjo player uses. Then add a hammer-on from an open string to the second fret. That roll plus the hammer-on is the core of bluegrass Dobro, and Graves built it.
Sources
Josh Graves, Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum Josh Graves, Wikipedia List of Foggy Mountain Boys members, Wikipedia Douglas, Jerry, BluegrassBios.com Awards by Category, IBMA
Related players
See the Dobro players hub and the Dobro guide. Jerry Douglas and Mike Auldridge both started because of him. Jake Tullock was his Flatt and Scruggs comedy partner, and Brother Oswald was one of his models.