Born 99 Years Ago Today in Tennessee, the Foggy Mountain Boy Who Changed the Sound of Bluegrass by Adding This Instrument to the Mix

On this day (September 27) in 1927, Josh Graves was born in Tellico Plains, Tennessee. Also known as “Buck” or “Uncle Josh,” Graves revolutionized the bluegrass genre when he introduced the Dobro into its musical vernacular. A longtime member of Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys, he played on all their Columbia recording sessions except one. In 1997, the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor welcomed him into its ranks.

Josh Graves died on September 30, 2006, just three days after his 79th birthday. Today, we’re taking a trip through his extraordinary musical legacy.

How Josh Graves Found the Dobro

Josh Graves was actually born Burkett Howard Graves, but he hated that name. “I said my mother run out of names to call my father when I was born,” he joked in a 2005 interview.

Growing up one of six children, money was tight, but Graves’ father would buy his son a new record whenever he could afford it — usually Jimmie Rodgers or the Carter Family.

He became interested in playing the Dobro after hearing Cliff Carlisle’s work on Rodgers’ landmark RCA sessions.

“I didn’t know who it was, I didn’t know what it was, but I loved that sound,” Graves said.

His Bluegrass Beginnings

Josh Graves came up with the “Uncle Josh” persona as a teenager while working as an announcer for Knoxville radio station WROL. In 1942, the Pierce Brothers brought him aboard as a guitarist and comedian.

After a stint with Esco Hankins and Mac Wiseman, Graves joined the Wheeling Jamboree in Wheeling, West Virginia, with Wilma Lee and Stoney Cooper.

In 1949, he met Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, who had recently parted ways with the “Father of Bluegrass” himself, Bill Monroe.

The two men were looking to distinguish their sound from Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys. Scruggs thought Graves’ rolling three-finger banjo technique could be the missing ingredient. He encouraged the younger man to adapt that style for the Dobro.

In 1955, Graves joined Flatt and Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys as an upright bassist who occasionally played the Dobro. After just two weeks, they offered him the opportunity to switch to Dobro full time. Naturally, he jumped at the chance.

Changing the Game

Josh Graves remained with the Foggy Mountain Boys until Flatt & Scruggs split in 1969.

He played Dobro on hits including “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” and “The Ballad of Jed Clampett”, bringing bluegrass to major venues like New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl.

[RELATED: 6 Essential Songs for Beginning Bluegrass Music Fans]

Thanks to Graves, the Dobro joined the five core instruments — fiddle, guitar, mandolin, bass, and banjo — as an essential element of bluegrass music.

Despite losing both legs to circulatory problems, he continued playing until his death in Nashville on September 30, 2006.

Featured image courtesy of the Bluegrass Hall of Fame

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