Josh Graves, 79; Dobro Player Performed on Hundreds of Records

Josh Graves, 79, whose bluesy Dobro adorned hundreds of bluegrass and country records, died Saturday in Nashville after a long illness.

Born Burkett Howard Graves in Tellico Plains, Tenn., “Uncle Josh” was one of only a few professional Dobro players in the 1950s when he joined Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs’ Foggy Mountain Boys. He played on some of the group’s most well-known recordings, including “Petticoat Junction,” which became the theme song for a 1960s TV show of the same name, and the bluegrass standard “Salty Dog Blues.”

The Dobro is similar in shape and size to a guitar, but it has a metal resonator plate on its face and is played with a sliding bar rather than the fingers.

Graves inspired many other players, including modern Dobro masters Jerry Douglas and Mike Auldridge.

A member of the International Bluegrass Music Assn.’s Hall of Honor, his influence went beyond bluegrass. He joined the Earl Scruggs Revue in the 1970s, becoming a key member of that country-rock group. And in the studio he contributed to albums by Kris Kristofferson, J.J. Cale, John Hiatt and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

In recent years, Graves, who was also a skilled songwriter and comedian, had been in ill health that he blamed on years of smoking and drinking. He also had endured the amputation of his legs.