Joe Meadows

Born on 31 December 1934 in Basin, West Virginia, Ralph Meadows died near Washington, DC, on 8 February 2003. Radio broadcasts of early country music captivated him as a youngster, particularly the fiddlers whose technique he admired. He took up the instrument himself and had reached a professional standard by his mid-teens, enough to secure work with the Goins Brothers. Two years later he moved to the Stanley Brothers for a further two-year stint that included his first recording sessions, where his version of “Orange Blossom Special” drew notice. Subsequent affiliations took him to the Lilly Brothers, Jim And Jesse, and Bill Monroe; after twelve months with Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys he returned to West Virginia in 1957. For the following two decades he remained active in the region alongside Bill and Mary Reed and Buddy Starcher, while additional collaborations involved the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, Buddy Griffin, Carl and Judie Pagter, and Bill Emerson. From the mid-1970s he rejoined the Goins Brothers and Jim And Jesse for periodic engagements, and from the early 1980s he made his home near Washington, DC, performing until shortly before his death.

His solo albums, reissued in 2006, display signature pieces such as “Cotton Eyed Joe,” “Sally Gardens,” “Indian Springs,” “Battle Of Bull Run,” “Herman’s Rag,” “Southern Aristocracy,” “Kansas City Railroad Blues,” and “Cruel Willie.” On “Cotton Eyed Joe” his grandson Brandon Farley contributes mandolin, accompanied by banjoist Dick Bowden, guitarist Jack Leiderman, and bassist Victoria McMullen; other late-session players include banjo player Mike Munford and mandolinist Jimmy Gaudreau. Across these releases Meadows is credited variously as Ralph, as Joe, or under both names.