By Dr. Iris Thompson Chapman

Odell and Joe Thompson were born into a family of talented string-band musicians. Without much formal education, they mastered the musical techniques passed down by their uncles and fathers (Walter and John Arch, respectively). Joe, said to have begun playing the fiddle at five years old, joined his older brother Nathaniel (Nate) and his father in playing for square dances and frolics, some say three nights for whites and three nights for blacks.

By the 1930’s and 40’s, Odell had joined Joe and his brother Nate; both Odell and Nate on the banjo, and Joe on the fiddle, performing as a traditional fiddle and banjo ensemble for various social events. This ensemble continued until Joe said, “It was time to go to war.” He was assigned to the 61st Engineer Battalion in World War II. Returning from the war on Thanksgiving Day, 1945, Joe discovered that string band music was waning, and it wouldn’t be until the 1970s that he would play again.

The New Duo

During the hiatus, Joe worked at White Factory, and Odell at Kingsdown Mattress Company, both in Mebane. In 1973, Kip Lornell, a student musicologist at Greensboro College, found Joe and Odell, and encouraged them to dust off their fiddle and banjo and begin playing again. This time, Joe and Odell, the new duo, replaced their fathers and brought string band music into the twenty-first century. They achieved local, national, and international acclaim for their unique talents, winning the Brown-Hudson Award from the North Carolina Folklore Society, the North Carolina Heritage Award, and the Folk Heritage Award. Joe was named one of the 12 recipients of the 2007 National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowships, the nation’s highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.

A Lasting Impact

Odell and Joe played all over the USA, even at Carnegie Hall, and internationally in Sydney, Australia. At the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, groups of musicians came together to learn a particular style of play, and sometimes children were a part of the music learning labs. Odell and Joe were often teachers of these classes, and most of the time, their bands won the competition, and won them the title–The Jodell Band. The names Joe and Odell are synonymous with the revival of African-American string band music. What binds all the different strings of their lives together was their deep love for music and its power to bring people together.

For more information, you can watch the short film “The Life and Times of Joe Thompson” (2004), produced by Iris Thompson Chapman, Ph.D., a cousin of Joe Thompson.

Two of our partners for Hook & Line, Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson, were founding members of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, a black string band founded in 2006, inspired by Joe Thompson’s music. Today, Rhiannon and Justin continue making music and inspiring future generations.

Joe Thompson loved to tell folks about how he learned to play “Hook & Line ” at the age of 6. Here, Hook & Line music headliners Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson perform the song.

You say sometimes you’d rather turn the music down and curl up with a good book?
 
There’s a world of outstanding reading on the subject of country and Americana music—and about the instruments and people who use them.
 
Here’s a sampling of three publications—a simple, initial triad of options, like a musical chord, upon which you can build an entire symphony of learning and reading enjoyment.
 

What are some of your favorite books or articles? Please feel free to share your picks on our social media!

We hope you join us on October 10th and 11th, 2025, to celebrate the legacy of Odell and Joe Thompson!

All festival events are FREE for everyone to enjoy, and music performance attendees are encouraged to bring chairs to the community park.

We can’t wait to see you there!