Bluegrass Pioneer Graves Dies

Dobro pioneer Burkett Howard “Uncle Josh” Graves, 79, died in Nashville September 30th, according to his family.

Graves was one of only a handful of professional Dobro players in the 1950s when he joined Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys.

Along with Beecher Ray Kirby (known as Bashful Brother Oswald), Graves was the first to incorporate the guitar-like Dobro into bluegrass, according to Scruggs.

Graves had been in ill health, which he blamed on years of smoking and drinking, and had endured the amputation of his legs.