Also known by the nicknames "Buck," and "Uncle Josh," he is credited with introducing the resonator guitar (commonly known under the trade name of Dobro) into bluegrass music shortly after joining Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1955.
Graves switched to the dobro; his way of playing helped propel the instrument into becoming one of the defining features of the bluegrass sound.
Graves adoption of hammer-ons and pull-offs to combine open strings and fretted notes in rapid scalar passages elevated the Dobro to the level of holding its own with the fiddle and banjo.
[1]: 49 Graves played fast and loud but also created extremely sensitive melodic backing to bluesy ballads and slower gospel numbers.
Josh Graves is credited as being a major influence on many leading resophonic guitar players, including Jerry Douglas, Mike Auldridge, and Phil Leadbetter among them.