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• Profiles IN Bluegrass
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• Joseph Dean, Jr., born July 18, 1989, in St. Louis, fell in love with music at an early age. He drew inspiration from Elvis, Eric Clapton and especially the Eagles. On his sixth birthday, his parents surprised him with a small acoustic guitar, plus lessons.
Joe soon began attending mountain dulcimer festivals with his mother. Not satisfied with playing back-up guitar, he began taking classes at the festivals. This led to entering and winning the Illinois State Mountain Dulcimer Championship in 2000.
Shortly thereafter, Joe Dean met Jerry Rosa, a local mandolin player and luthier. Jerry loaned Joe a mandolin, showing him a few chords.
Known for helping young musicians, Jerry began featuring Joe in his group, The Rosa String Works.
In January 2004, Joe was hired to play mandolin for Bull Harmon in Harmon's band, Bullseye. During this time, Joe experienced bluegrass on a national level as well as recording his first solo project, The Thrill of a New Game.
In December 2006, Joe resigned from Bullseye to finish his senior year of high school. In June 2007, he received a call from Jamie Dailey, asking him if he would be interested in auditioning for the banjo spot with Vincent & Dailey.
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StateoftheOzarks wishes Joe Dean the best of luck on what looks to be very bright future.
• Home-grown music in northern Missouri and now central Iowa — the Corder Family Band members have not strayed from their roots.
Now of Des Moines, band member Brenda Smith notes, "I was born in Unionville, Missouri, and my mom had her own radio show back in the '40s. She sang over KIRX, Kirksville.
Brenda's aunt, Oma Corder, remembers. "We started way back when. I was about 16 when we were called to sing on the radio.
"As soon as our girls could sing, we started putting them on stage and they've performed ever since."
Oma's daughter, Susan (now of Knoxville, Iowa), continues, "I play with the family band and joined Highway Home three years ago. It's a big part of my life. I don't read any music — just play by ear, like everybody else.
"Some people don't understand bluegrass," says Brenda, "But I think most people do. It's grown so much, especially with Rhonda Vincent. There's a big awareness now."
Enjoy!
• With the release of their debut album, I Believe, The Millers are continuing a long-standing family tradition.
"I grew up with bluegrass," recalls Joanne Miller, "My grandparents lived in Independence and every time I'd visit, grandpa would play and let me sing. Grandma played the autoharp and harmonica."
Joanne's connection with music doesn't end there.
"My grandma's brother was Johnny Mullins, who was a singer and songwriter here in Springfield. He wrote a lot of songs for country singers like Porter Wagoner [Company's Comin'], Loretta Lynn and Emmylou Harris [Blue Kentucky Girl].
"We do several of his numbers with the kids."
So, how does a parent continue the tradition of music with their children?
"Finally, one day my 11- year-old daughter Megan came up and said she wanted to play the fiddle," explains Miller. "A month later, Austin piped up and said he might want to learn to play the banjo. And it just took off.
"They'd heard it their whole lives. We didn't think they were really listening but I guess they were!
"There's a lot of things in our past, musically, that people have forgotten about," muses Joanne. "It's all getting woke up again."