Joe Thompson was 93 and he was my friend. Joe Thompson died today, almost 20 years after his banjo playing cousin Odell was killed at MerleFest right in front of Bob Carlin’s eyes on Rt 421.
Joe and his fiddle are silent now. The link gone to a lost world of African American string band music. Joe saw young folks take up the music,  but they never knew Jim Crow or what it was like to be the only black face at a white dance.
Joe Thompson is gone and with him the last living link to the world of my grandparents.