Just a little east of Etowah, Tn., Tellico Plains is perhaps best known for good trout fishing. It is also the birthplace to one of the most influential musicians of the second half of the twentieth century - Burkett H. Graves, known by most folks as Buck or "Uncle Josh" Graves. He died last week just after celebrating his 78th birthday.
With a career spanning more than 50 years, Josh Graves popularized the use of the "Dobro" in bluegrass, country and roots music.
The instrument commonly called a "Dobro" is actually the brand name of a resonator guitar originally manufactured by the Dopyera Brothers. Some folks would say it looks a lot like a guitar body fitted with a 1962 Oldmobile 88 hubcap. The Dobro was the brainchild of Dopyera brother John, who teamed up with his three other siblings to establish a manufacturing facility in California in the late 1920s. A guitar body was fitted with three aluminum cones which would resonate and boost the volume of the guitar. When fitted with a square neck, the Dobro, or "Hound Dog" guitar, was popular for playing Hawaiian and country music.
The instrument was probably bound for a slow steady spiral into obscurity had it not fallen into Burkett's hands. With a highly syncopated style of picking, Graves breathed fire into the pie-pan odd-ball guitar that had previously been so strongly associated with Aloha and Sweet Lelani. While his approach to the instrument allowed him to take off with blistering instrumental breaks, he could also pull a lot of soul from the instrument with his bluesy licks.
In 1942, Graves began playing professionally, making his debut with the Pierce Brothers. Following his stint with the Pierces, he played with Esco Hankins, Molly O'Day, Mac Wiseman, and Stoney and Wilma Lee Cooper. Graves moved to Nashville with Wilma and Stoney Lee in 1957 to play on the Grand Ole Opry. There he fell in with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, to form one of the most famous bands in the history of bluegrass music.
His initial role with the Foggy Mountain Boys was that of bassist, but soon after he began playing his "Houndog" for the band. Influenced by Scruggs' three-finger style of banjo playing, Graves was able to adapt it to the Dobro, resulting in a sound that had previously been unknown. It was during his years with Flatt and Scruggs that Buck became known as "Uncle Josh," just as Jake Tullock (from Etowah, Tn.) had been dubbed "Cousin Jake." Through their alter-ego characters, "Uncle Josh" and "Cousin Jake" Graves and Tullock would do comedy routines during the band's performances.
Graves became part of the Lester Flatts Nashville Grass in 1969, following the dissolution of the Foggy Mountain Boys. In 1971, he became a member of the Earl Scruggs' Revue, where he would remain until 1974.
Graves stayed busy from the 1960s through the 90s, as a session musician. In addition to his Dobro work for Flatt and Scruggs, he also lent his sound to projects recorded by numerous country and pop artists. A list of the musicians that Buck Graves has worked with would read like a who's who of the music world - Kris Kristofferson, Charlie McCoy, Boots Randolph, Bobby Smith, Joe Maphis, Mike Auldridge, Jerry Douglas, and the list goes on...Eddie Adcock, Kenny Baker and Jesse McReynolds, J.J. Cale, Steve Young, Red Taylor, and on…
Over the past few years health problems plagued the performer, but the King of the Dobro still had bookings that he wanted to keep. He made several appearances after being hospitalized in the spring of 2006. He appeared on stage in a motorized wheel chair with an oxygen tank strapped to his back, still chomping at the bit to deliver his trademark sound that has been a part of the bluegrass scene for 50-plus years.
A musical inspiration to many, Grave's musical legacy is a true treasure. It was most fitting that a tribute to the wizard of the resophonic guitar was arranged at the final night of the International Bluegrass Association's Fan Fest, the date coinciding with that of his death.
Phil Leadbetter, a second generation ace dobro player influenced by Graves, recently wrote. "I first met Josh as a 12-year-old learning to play the dobro. I am so blessed to have known Josh, and been able to say years from now to other dobro players who may later come that I knew Josh and was fortunate enough to get the chance to pick with him and hear him play the dobro. How lucky I was."
Burkett Howard Graves (09/27/1928 - 9/30/2006) will be missed greatly by many, but the sounds discovered on the Dobro by the man from Tellico Plains will live on.
(Thomas Brown is an educator, songwriter, free lance writer, banjoist for Spatial Effects, and co-writer of the musical comedy "Fat Shirley's: A Trailer Park Opera." He can be contacted at spatialeffectsbluegrass@yahoo.com)