Uncle Josh remembered

Earl Scruggs, Clem O'Brien, Josh Graves, Louisville 1997

Clem O'Brien reports:

I was saddened to hear of the passing of one of my heroes, Uncle Josh. As an on-off Dobro player for fifteen years or so, he and Os were the two I always went to for a charge up if I hadn't played in a while.

As you mentioned, he and Earl were inducted to the Hall of Honor in '97 and I met them in the Galt House in Louisville just a few hours before. I was a member of Special Consensus at the time and we were at the IBMA that week. Dick Gladney has a great story of meeting both Josh and Bill Monroe at a Gibson endorsers' event at IBMA some years earlier, which he might tell you sometime.

Well, that's it for the moment. Just wanted to add my voice to those who will miss Josh.

BIB editor's note: For those who have always enjoyed Clem's too-infrequent performances on dobro, he writes: 'I'm happy to report that I will be playing more Dobro in the coming year thanks to an Artist Endorsement Deal with Paul Beard/Gold Tone. I recently took delivery of a Signature Mahogany Standard that I am very happy with.'