Joe Val Day
The initial concert for the BBU was Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys. Longtime Waltham resident, originally from Everett, Joe had sung and played mandolin over the years with a number of area musicians, such as Bill Keith and Jim Rooney and the Charles River Valley Boys. Joe was part of the latter band when they recorded the landmark “Beatle Country” for Epic Records. Joe often played at Club 47 in Cambridge (which later became the still-thriving Club Passim). The first album under his own name was One Morning In May by Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys (Rounder 0003, released in October 1971, the third release from the local label. Subsequent Rounder albums were Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys (0025, August 1975), Not A Word from Home (0082, June 1977), Bound To Ride (0109, July 1979), Sparkling Brown Eyes (0152, June 1982), and Cold Wind (0182, August 1983). The band had toured some overseas and in 1981 the Dutch label Strictly Country released Live in Holland.
Joe and the band were much loved in the Boston area, and he left an indelible impression when the band performed outside New England. He was always a man of modest means – and demeanor, a wry sense of humor and encouraging to all.
In 1984, Joe Val became ill, diagnosed with lymphoma. A typewriter repairman by trade, likely his illness was caused by the cleaning chemicals he used on a daily basis. Today, these chemicals are known carcinogenic, but at the time, they were in regular use.
When he became ill 1984, still just 58 years of age, a series of regional benefits were organized on his behalf to help raise money for his cancer treatment. On June 9, 1985 an indoor/outdoor Joe Val Appreciation Day and Benefit was organized by the BBU and the North River Bluegrass Association, and held at the Kennedy Middle School in his hometown of Waltham. Featured artists included John Lincoln Wright and the Sour Mash Boys (with Peter Wolf joining in), High Lonesome, Southern Rail, Tony Trischka, Bea Lilly, Herb Applin, and more. Tony Rice canceled other plans and made his way to the Boston area, telling BBU chair Stan Zdonik, “The only insurance a musician’s got is other musicians.”60 Some 2000 attended and well over $11,000 was raised.
Just two days later, on the evening of June 11, 1985, Joe Val died at Boston’s University Hospital.61
His last shows in the Greater Boston area had been in December 1984, with shows at the Kinvara Pub in Allston and in Marblehead and Billerica.
Footnotes –
- Jeff McLaughlin, “2000 friends, fans aid Joe Val,” Boston Globe, June 11, 1985: 28.
- Jeff McLaughlin, “Joe Val, 58; leading bluegrass mandolinist, singer and bandleader out of New England,” Boston Globe, June 13,1985: 91. The Globe also featured an appreciation by Steve Morse on Page 89.