It’s The Music
Those lyrics were penned and recorded by North Carolina resophonic guitarist, Frank Poindexter, in 2004 (Dex Records – CD 001). “It’s The Music” was the title and first cut on his solo project that was re-released by Mountain Fever Records in 2022. Frank said, “I want to acknowledge Mark Hodges (Mountain Fever Records). He’s a good guy. It’s The Music was originally on a private label. Mark took it and put codes on it. Now it will go in the archives as a legitimate project. It’s a digital release.”
Not previously distributed nationally, It’s The Music by Frank Poindexter and the Rice Brothers (his nephews) is now available to download and stream. This reissue marks the last studio recording of all four Rice Brothers together. It features Frank on Dobro, Tony and Wyatt on guitars, Larry on mandolin, and Ron on bass. The sessions were supplemented with Sammy Shelor on banjo and Greg Luck on fiddle, plus Rickie Simpkins played mandolin on one tune and Mark Johnson banjo on another.
Ron Rice stated, “Not only is Uncle Frank an excellent Dobro player and all-around musician. He is one cool cat hot bluegrass man. I was honored to play on his solo project. We all had a blast in the studio working on it.”
Wyatt agreed. “Frank’s a great uncle, one hell of a Dobro player, and has his own style. Us brothers got to play on Frank’s album. It was the first time in a long time that all four of us was together at the same time, and our Mom was there, too. What a great recording! It was an honor to be a part of that. This was a very special moment in time.” Uncle Frank recalled, “We lost both Larry and Tony in 2006 and 2020, so I’m grateful to have these recordings.”
Within his title song, the reso-man expressed his love for faith and friends made possible through his passion for music. Reflecting on a lifetime of picking, singing, writing, and recording bluegrass music, Poindexter still maintains that strong sentiment almost two decades later.
“Being a poor son of a sharecropper, we didn’t have golf clubs and bicycles. We had guitars. We give Uncle Joe, my mom’s brother, credit for the music in our family. I had five brothers that all played and sung. When I was about six years old, I’d listen. When they laid the guitar down, I’d go pick it up and try to figure out stuff on it. I remember learning to sing ‘In the Pines’ and play rhythm in D.”
Poindexter came from a large family. He had 14 siblings. “I had nine sisters. I was the youngest boy. I was an uncle when I was two months old! My brothers were a good influence. I looked up to each of them. (Hardin) Junior is still a great songwriter (“Old Man in the Park”), singer, and guitarist. We both miss our brothers: Clarence, Walter, Floyd, and Leon.”
“When I was 10 or 12 years old, my brothers moved to California. They formed a band out there, the Golden State Boys, along with my brother-in-law (Herb Rice). I was (home) watching Uncle Josh (Graves) play Dobro with Flatt & Scruggs on the Martha White Show. When I’d hear Josh play, it just drew me to that tone and sound of that instrument he was playing. I knew that was what I wanted to do. I found a real cheap Dobro, a Herco, at a pawn shop in Danville, Virginia, for $45. Working in tobacco, I would pay six dollars a week until I was able to get it. It didn’t have a case so they put it in a plastic bag. I was excited because I had a real instrument. I hadn’t seen a real Dobro brand Dobro, but that thing looked close enough to me. I eventually traded up for an F hole Dobro brand Dobro.”
Prior to his pawn shop purchase, the budding musician had fashioned his own instrument. “I traded a bowl of pinto beans for a cheap guitar. I glued a bucket lid on it and punched holes in it so it’d look like Josh’s. I’ve still got it in the attic. I raised the strings with a Case knife and played it with a butter knife.”
Continuing to play at home, the teenager started to venture out into the community to perform. “At 15, I played locally at a jam at a fire station. I met two guys playing guitars. They were called the Carolina Rangers and had a 15-minute radio show on WLOE in Leaksville (now Eden). They got me to play Dobro on their show. My uncle would drop me off at the station.”
In the mid 60’s, Poindexter relocated to Safety Harbor, Florida with his brother, Leon. “I moved to play music and get away from tobacco. We played almost every weekend. Eventually, the Rice family moved there for ten years.”
The Dobroist left the band, returned to North Carolina in 1967, married, and went to work for a specialty metal firm in Greensboro. Tony followed him to North Carolina the following year. “We watched a weekly local TV program called Stone & Atkins. We liked Bobby Atkins’ banjo picking so we went to the station, jammed, and were guests on his show the next week!” Frank and Tony started performing with Atkins, resulting in the Old Homestead 1968 Session LP (OHCS 126) and a 1971 movie soundtrack, Preacherman. Then Poindexter started his own company and music took a back seat. “I wanted to devote my full time into my new business, PPC (Poindexter Products Company) Specialty Metals. It was a big risk, but it worked out and we were blessed with it. Thirty-five years later my son has inherited the business.”
Music returned. “The high point in my career was playing on Dickie Betts’ (of the Allman Brothers Band) solo album Highway Call (Capricorn, CP 0123) and going on that all-American tour with Vassar Clements, my brothers (Leon and Walter), and my nephew (Larry Rice) in 1974. We started on the east coast and ended up on the west coast. It lasted for weeks. We played the Birmingham Civic Center, the Grand Ole Opry, Western and Eastern Carolina Universities. I used up all my vacation time and had to fly back. I maintained my day job.” In 1977, Poindexter recorded his debut solo album, Dobro Extraordinary on Old Homestead Records (OHS 90084). Atkins picked banjo on the LP.
Wyatt Rice holds tremendous respect for his mom’s brother. “Uncle Frank is one of the coolest uncles ever. Love you, man! We had a great time when I was a kid. He has been a major influence and integral part of me growing up. Mom and I stayed with Frank and Pam when I was little, and he took me to jam sessions they had back then. He’s always supported the music. As a person and human being, Frank is a hard one to beat! His son, Eddie, and I would play and do kids’ stuff. He has a wonderful family. I remember he had a Martin D-18 that had a picture of an eagle on the back. He built a home and made a recording studio in one of the rooms. It had carpeted walls and was sound-proof. This was all really cool stuff. Larry and Frank would do used car commercials called ‘Big Mama’s Used Cars’ on VHS tapes. That was really funny! Little bit of history…Tony came to Frank’s for a visit and said he had a case that he got me for an old Vega guitar I had. When he brought the case in, there was a guitar in it, a Martin. There was a note in the strings. I broke out in tears. I couldn’t’ believe it.” Ron also has fond memories of time spent with Uncle Frank. “It was a joy to fish local ponds and roam about town in his Mercury Comet Cyclone.” In addition to his son Eddie, who Wyatt mentioned above, Frank has a daughter, Julie, who has always been a big supporter of her father’s music.
Poindexter found himself being pulled back into the music scene. “Larry calls me and he’s doing a Rebel record at Bias Studios in Washington, DC. That was a big turn of events. I go up and record his Hurricanes & Daydreams project. That’s where I met Sammy Shelor and Rickie Simpkins. Of course, Tony and Wyatt are on it. Before you knew it, Larry had booked a tour in Japan with the Larry Rice band in 1986. Everybody went, but Tony. He was doing his own thing.”
Wyatt laughed, “Frank and I had a ball on the bullet train in Japan.” Shelor weighed in, “Frank is, in my opinion, the true innovator of the modern reso guitar. He started a trend with his playing that many of the modern players of the day followed. My first tour of Japan in the 80s with Frank, Larry, and Wyatt Rice, and the Simpkins Brothers was a true learning experience and I have been a huge fan of Frank ever since. And you will not find a better friend!” In 1988, the same group made a European tour of Austria, Switzerland, and Germany. Poindexter recalled, “I met Jim Eanes there for the first time. I had to go to Germany to meet him! I also met Uncle Josh and Kenny Baker.”
Still managing his own business, his music travels required a lot of planning and having the right folks in place to keep his operations running smoothly. “I was very fortunate that I had people that could do that and a good loyal wife (Pam) to keep things glued together while I was gone. My son was running the warehouse.” Those memories from his global musical travels remain vivid in his mind. “It was so exciting. We played big venues. The Japanese people knew the words to the songs. They could sing the lyrics in English. They respected the music, made you feel like real celebrities, and took care of us. They put us in the nicest hotels and took us out to eat in places tourists don’t normally go. We took our shoes off and sat on the floor. The cab drivers wore white gloves and their cabs were spotlessly clean. They took us to the Rocky Top Club, a bar in Toyko. Wyatt left a nice Nikon camera on a park bench right outside of a shopping mall. When we went back, that camera was right where we had left it. That was very impressive.”
In 1989, another musical group comprised of Terry Baucom, Ben and Randy Greene, Ray Atkins, and Poindexter returned to Japan. He also toured in California with the Larry Rice Band. This time the ensemble included Clay Jones on guitar and Eddie Biggerstaff on bass. Then in 1991, the Dobroist debuted with the Rice Brothers (his nephews), Bill Emerson on banjo, and Rickie Simpkins on fiddle. They performed at festivals in Fairfax, VA; Grass Valley, CA; Denton, NC; and Wellsboro, PA.
When Tony introduced the band in Fairfax, he saved his uncle until last, and said, “He’s one whale of a musician, but he doesn’t do it that often and sometimes I don’t blame him. He’s my mother’s brother.” Tony invited his mother to stand at the close of their show.
Poindexter recalled more about that night. “We were invited on stage for a grand finale with Bill Monroe. He said, ‘Come up here, boy, and tell them what your name is.’ That’s some memories!” Wyatt agreed with his uncle. “Later on in the years, we have shared the stage and recordings many times. Lots of good memories.”
Other highlights from Poindexter’s musical career included entertaining for politicians. On one occasion, Frank and Pam enjoyed dinner in Washington, DC, in the Senate Dining Room with then North Carolina Senator Jesse Helms. “We had played for his re-election campaign,” the hound dog player explained. “Another gig came out of that. I was asked to come to New York City to sing a commercial for guy running for governor of Alabama named Jerry Beasley. I got a cassette tape and a plane ticket in the mail. They had the sound track already made, just waiting for my vocal. They pitched it to my vocal range. The sound track sounded like ‘Bonanza’ coming on. I’m not even known as male vocalist, but I got that gig,” he joked.
When music promoter Jeff Branch opened North Carolina’s Oakboro Music Hall in 1999, Poindexter joined Branch and Branch’s uncle, Junior Harris, Randy Smith, and the Hatley brothers (Gary, Ronnie, and Donnie) in a band called Bluegrass Special. “We played a lot of stuff locally for a few years,” Poindexter recalled. A decade later in 2009, he was invited to be part of NC’s Deeper Shade of Blue (DSOB).
“Prior to joining the band, I had pitched a song to them called ‘Bluegrass to the Bone’ and was a special guest on one of their CDs. I got started with them when Brian (Hinson) called me and said their fiddle player couldn’t make it. He asked me to fill in for a show. A week or two later, he called and asked me to fill in again. It was good for me because I was in a non-music slump. I wasn’t doing anything much. I guess today I’m still filling in for that fiddle player. Filling in became permanent.” His wife noted, “He pointed out we were traveling some (and might not always be available) and then he didn’t miss a show for 10 years!”
Poindexter is a gifted songwriter who has had around 20 of his own compositions recorded. “Bobby Atkins did another whole album of my stuff. ‘Mary’s Gone’ was the first song I ever wrote (Old Homestead Records OHSC – 126).” Pam chimed in, “A favorite of mine is one that he’s never recorded, ‘Big Little Man’ about our son. (I think) it’s the best song he’s ever done.”
Frank responded, “It’s a Bobby Goldsboro-type song. I also wrote ‘I’ve Got a Woman’ for Pam (on It’s The Music album). When we recorded ‘Bluegrass to the Bone,’ we got the idea to go to Wingate University and use their skeletons. That was the start of getting our T-shirts and CD (in 2010) with the bones. We still do that song today.”
He also co-wrote “Put Some Bluegrass in My Ear” (Steam, Mountain Fever Records, 2018) with DSOB band mate, Troy Pope. Another one from Poindexter’s pen is “Uncle Josh, the Dobro King” on the same album. “That one was written from the heart. That was a no-brainer writing that for Josh, telling him that I loved him, and how important he was to me. In 2006 (the same year he died), I had a demo tape and played it by his bedside. It meant so much to me. I put a small recorder in Pam’s pocketbook and we turned it on when we got in Josh’s house. We’ve got a good recording of the stories that he told.”
Poindexter described his songwriting process. “It is totally unpredictable. I can be on the lawnmower and get a thought. Lately, the melody line has become the most difficult for me. The melody and the lyrics came to me at the same time for ‘Whether or Not.’ I wish that would be the way that they would all come to me. If it’s coming at the same time, all you have to do is tweak it; but if you’re working on a melody line, that’s very hard. Look at how many melodies are in the world today. The melody line is the most important part because that’s what’s going to stick in your head.” Pam agreed. “If I’m humming it the next day, I know it’s a catcher.”
Poindexter’s latest song with Deeper Shade of Blue, “Whether or Not” (Twenty, Pinecastle, 2021), a play on words regarding weather and an uncertain relationship, is a co-write between the DSOB Dobroist and Brink Brinkman, award-winning songwriter who currently resides in Florida. “We do it back and forth on a phone. We talk to each other. We send sound bites. It is so convenient. I had that idea for a long time and had most of the song written. He added a good bridge.”
Deeper Shade of Blue band mate, Troy Pope, shared, “So much could be said about Frank Poindexter. Not only is he an unmistakable Dobro player who I can tell it’s him playing without seeing him, he is also very creative and always thinking of lyrics and how the next song could be written. I met Frank almost 25 years ago when I filled in with a band he was filling in with and have been fortunate to be standing alongside him for nearly 14 years when he joined our band. I’ve spent a lot of time with the ‘ole boy’ from riding the roads, fishing, playing golf, etc., and shared a lot of memories and stories. I wouldn’t change a thing. Hey, Frank, ‘utakeit!’”
Poindexter is proud of his past. “I am humbled and honored to have performed on stage with some of the earth’s greatest musicians and singers, including Betts, Clements, David Grisman, Dan Tyminski, my nephews (the Rice Brothers), Bill Emerson, the Lonesome River Band, Doc Watson, Rhonda Vincent, Don Rigby, Rickie Simpkins, Josh Williams, Jim Eanes, and to be part of this highly talented group, Deeper Shade of Blue, with their amazing vocals ‘tis an honor and a great pleasure. I love these guys and the fun we have together on and off the stage! Not being a full-time musician, I am so grateful that these groups allowed me to be on stage with them. It’s a blessing to think about the places I’ve played and the people I’ve played with. Tony once described me in Guitar Player Magazine as ‘one of those great undiscovered cats.’ (Dec ’77) I thank God every day.”
“While working on the It’s The Music project, I thought about all the people that I have met in other countries and all the lives that were touched. One of the biggest blessings in life is the music bringing us together. The music we all love. Music ties everything together that I have in this life. Without music, I don’t know where or what I’d be. I have no regrets,” concluded the 73-year-old. “Life is good.”
