Gindust: Joe Stephenson – Sample Tunes
There’s not much to do around the cotton fields of West Texas but practice or plow. Joe Stephenson chose to practice. He literally cut his teeth on a fiddle scroll while his dad Nathan “piped the tunes” into his head. And drawing a bow instead of a plowshare Joe Stephenson took Texas tradition beyond the West Texas horizon into a clear cloud of Gindust.
CREDITS
Gindust: Joe Stephenson
Produced by Lanny Fiel
Engineer and Mastering: Craig Robinson
Joe Stephenson: fiddle, mandolin, flattop, electric and rhythm guitars, bass, and vocals
Lanny Fiel: rhythm guitar and piano
Donna Stephenson: bass on “Wonderin’”
Chris Stongle: drums
All songs by Joe Stephenson
Recorded in Lubbock, Texas, 1993
(“Wonderin’” recorded October 1987; New Version remixed, mastered with additional instrumentation 1993 and 2020.)
© ℗ 2020 Gindust Music BMI
LINER NOTES
Joe Stephenson is the fourth-generation fiddler in the Stephenson line. His folks’ farm near the West Texas town of McAdoo hosted many fine musicians, among them Texas-fiddle greats Benny Thomasson and James “Texas Shorty” Chancellor. Joe’s fiddle style came early to bear the stamp of these founders of Texas fiddle, and in 1968 at the age of sixteen he was Texas State Fiddle Champion.
Joe spent time in Nashville for awhile. (You might have seen him on Hee Haw or Austin City Limits or later in Golden Colorado fiddlin’ at the Lazy H Chuckwagon.) But today and everyday you’ll find him in Colorado Springs, Colorado doing The Lord’s work with The Colorado Cowboys for Jesus.
The tunes on this album represent his dad’s legacy.
They belong to the Texas branch of the Southern tradition and have been polished by several generations of fiddle masters into gems of the region’s style. Joe’s renditions bespeak West Texas, yet transcend region: His surprising talent releases the universal, enduring qualities of these tunes.
Joe dedicates this album to his dad, Nathan Stephenson, and to his family.
