BY PHILL BARNETT
MOUNTAIN CITIZEN

TOMAHAWK — Traditional music enthusiast, master luthier and retired educator James E. Webb passed away Feb. 5, after a courageous battle with Parkinson’s disease. His passing marks a profound loss for the local music community and serves as a bittersweet reminder of the quiet but extraordinary impact he has had on Martin County and beyond.

Webb’s story begins and ends on the same holler: up Milo Road in Tomahawk, Kentucky, in a little valley that used to be called Stidham. Webb was born in Morganfield in 1944, but was raised along Milo Road by his mother and grandparents, whose general store served as a community landmark and would one day become a music shop under Webb’s direction.

Webb spent most of his childhood and adult life in Tomahawk, building not only instruments but a cultural institution that would influence generations. Alongside him through nearly all of it was his wife, Linda, his partner of 56 years, who shared in the quiet life and community he loved so deeply.

After graduating from Morehead State University, Webb returned home and devoted decades to educating the children of Martin County, first as a teacher and later as principal of Inez Elementary School.

Outside the classroom, he cultivated a second legacy. Webb opened James E. Webb Musical Repair and Sales in his grandparents’ old general store in the 1970s. Through all of its various uses, the shop has served as a cultural institution and Webb made it a permanent center for Appalachian music in Martin County.

Since then, the shop has grown from a local gem to a regional landmark. Traditional old-time, bluegrass and folk musicians travel from all around the country to gather at the Webb music shop.

In 2022, a fire severely damaged the shop, threatening the loss of decades of instruments, tools and history. The blaze was devastating, but the response revealed the depth of Webb’s influence. Musicians, friends, and strangers from across the region rallied around him, donating funds, instruments, and labor to restore the shop. The rebuilding effort was not just about repairing an old building; it was about preserving a living center of Appalachian culture. The fire demonstrated what many already knew: Webb’s shop was more than a building. It was a community anchor.

In the aftermath of that fire, Webb quietly worked to rebuild. He did not dwell on loss. Instead, he spoke about the instruments, the people, and the music that mattered most. The recovery effort ensured that the shop could continue fulfilling its purpose not just as a place of repair, but as a place of continuity.

From the beginning, the shop was not just retail; it was a place where instruments were brought back to life, where young musicians learned their first songs, and where tradition was passed from one set of hands to the next.

In 2024, the shop was featured in a KET “Kentucky Life” special titled “String Mountain Music: James E. Webb Musical Repair and Sales,” documenting the legacy of the shop. As the special shows, Webb’s son James L. Webb (Jim) has stepped into his father’s role, continuing the work of repairing and building instruments and maintaining the shop as a cultural hub. Through events like the annual Stidham Old Time Music Festival, held on the very ground where Webb lived and worked, the family has ensured that his vision would endure.

For Webb’s grandson Joey, that legacy was deeply personal.

“We lost a man today who meant more to me than life itself,” Joey said in a public statement. “Dadaw was a private man, content in the way he lived his life and comfortable in his and my Nana’s home in Eastern Kentucky. He was so comfortable that he never had the desire to leave, so when we wanted to visit him, we always buckled up and ventured out to Tomahawk, where not only their house was but also where his little music shop stood.

“It was his safe space, where he built instruments and listened to the radio, and it’s where I often found myself asking him questions about music and what it meant to be a luthier.”

Joey recalled the everyday moments that defined Webb’s character as much as his craftsmanship.

“He was a prankster, a jokester, a musical inspiration and most importantly, a friend,” he said. “He began the tradition of bluegrass and old-time music in my family, which changed the trajectory of our lives.

“Old-time music and bluegrass music have shaped me into who I am as a person, and without him, I wouldn’t be the Joey Webb I am today.”

Webb’s influence extended far beyond his family. Over more than five decades, he helped sustain a musical tradition that might otherwise have faded. His shop became a place where knowledge was freely shared, beginners were welcomed, and experienced musicians returned again and again.

In 2023, the younger James Webb incorporated an official nonprofit to manage the festival and broaden the scope of his efforts to increase participation in our musical heritage. This semester, the Stidham Old Time Music Association received a grant from SouthArts and many private instrument donations to pay highly skilled musicians to conduct weekly “Pick and Bow” traditional music lessons at Martin County High School and provide aspiring young musicians with instruments.

James E. Webb was one of the most important grassroots preservers of Appalachian musical tradition in eastern Kentucky. He was a master instrument builder, educator and entrepreneur whose humble music shop has become a nucleus of local and regional music culture for more than half a century.

(Writer’s note: I count myself among the blessed to have found the musical community that Webb helped nurture here in Martin County. I have picked a guitar and sung on his front porch, an honor greater than playing for any king. When you play there, the sound does not just fade away. It travels across the holler, strikes the opposite hillside, and gets echoed back to you. The first time you notice it, it stops you. You realize you are not just making music. You are part of something older, something alive.

I hope thousands and even millions more will one day sit on that porch and feel it for themselves. I hope they hear centuries of Appalachian heritage carried on the air, echoing between the hills that raised it. And if you listen closely enough, I have no doubt you will hear James Webb there too, picking right along with the band, exactly where he has always been.)

Callaham Funeral Home in Inez will host a visitation for Webb this Friday, Feb. 13, 5:30 – 7:30 p.m., with a funeral following Saturday at noon.

Consider donating to the Stidham Old Time Music Association to help spread Webb’s legacy and our shared creative heritage as eastern Kentuckians.