CONCORD The Rev. Joseph Emmett "J.E." Mainer Jr., 95, passed away Friday, Jan. 17, 2020, at his home, in Concord. A funeral service is scheduled for 2 p.m., Monday, Jan. 20, at Lady's Funeral Home Chapel. The Rev. Ronald Cooper will officiate. Interment will follow at Carolina Memorial Park in Kannapolis. Military honors will be conducted by the Cabarrus County Veterans Honor Guard. The family will receive friends from 12 to 1:45 p.m., Monday, Jan. 20, at Lady's Funeral Home. The Rev. Mainer was born Jan. 22, 1924, in Concord. He was a son of the late Joseph Emmett Mainer Sr. and Sadie McDaniel Mainer. He was a member and Pastor of Cedar Grove Freewill Baptist Church. J.E. enjoyed reading his Bible and playing Bluegrass and Gospel music. His father, J.E. Mainer Sr., and the Mountaineers are in the Bluegrass Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tenn., and Wilkesboro. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by wife, Mary Alice Mainer; two sisters, Mary Hadley and Carolyn Covington; two brothers, Earl and Glenn Mainer; and one great-grandson, Nathaniel Hooks. The Rev. Mainer is survived by three daughters, Carol Laws and husband, David, of Concord, Debbie Hicks and husband, Charles, of Iron Station, and Barbara Taylor of Concord; two sons, Allen Biggerstaff and wife, Kayren, of Concord and Gary Mainer of Flag Pond, Tenn.; brother, Charles Mainer and wife, Kay, of Concord; nine grandchildren; 17 great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren on the way. Memorials may be sent to Hospice & Palliative Care of Cabarrus County, 5003 Hospice Lane, Kannapolis, NC 28081. Remembrances may be sent to the family at www.ladysfuneralhome.com. Lady's Funeral Home & Crematory is assisting the family of the Rev. Mainer.
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J.E. Jr. was witness to his father's entire musical career, and eventually became a part of it. After J.E. Jr. returned from serving in the US Army in WW2 and records began being made again, the elder J.E. began recording for the King label out of Cincinnati.
There were three recording sessions in 1946 for which J.E. Jr. was a part of the band. Some of those sides were just J.E. Jr., brother Glenn, and sister Carolyn. Six of the songs were written by J.E. Jr. By that time there was a similarity between what the Mainer's were doing and what Bill Monroe was doing, though the old-time aesthetic always permeated the Mainer recordings.
As country music took a hit during the Elvis period of the 1950s, J.E. Jr. continued to accompany his dad's band following his second stint in the Army during the Korean conflict, and when Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records in California made a visit to J.E.'s home in Concord NC in 1963 to record during the height of the so-called "folk boom," J.E. Jr. was the lead singer and guitarist of Mainer's Mountaineers. The resultant Arhoolie record led to an appearance at the Berkeley Folk Festival in 1963, a trip that created many memories for the Mainers but no profit as they spent all their earnings on van repairs to get home from California.
In the mid-1960s J.E. Jr. committed his life to Christ and became an ordained minister in 1974 leading the congregation of Cedar Grove Freewill Baptist Church in Concord NC until his retirement a few years ago.
I am sad to see this pioneering artist and my friend leave, but he is now with his beloved wife Mary in a place he prepared to be. Godspeed, J.E.
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J.E. Jr. was witness to his father's entire musical career, and eventually became a part of it. After J.E. Jr. returned from serving in the US Army in WW2 and records began being made again, the elder J.E. began recording for the King label out of Cincinnati.
There were three recording sessions in 1946 for which J.E. Jr. was a part of the band. Some of those sides were just J.E. Jr., brother Glenn, and sister Carolyn. Six of the songs were written by J.E. Jr. By that time there was a similarity between what the Mainer's were doing and what Bill Monroe was doing, though the old-time aesthetic always permeated the Mainer recordings.
As country music took a hit during the Elvis period of the 1950s, J.E. Jr. continued to accompany his dad's band following his second stint in the Army during the Korean conflict, and when Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records in California made a visit to J.E.'s home in Concord NC in 1963 to record during the height of the so-called "folk boom," J.E. Jr. was the lead singer and guitarist of Mainer's Mountaineers. The resultant Arhoolie record led to an appearance at the Berkeley Folk Festival in 1963, a trip that created many memories for the Mainers but no profit as they spent all their earnings on van repairs to get home from California.
In the mid-1960s J.E. Jr. committed his life to Christ and became an ordained minister in 1974 leading the congregation of Cedar Grove Freewill Baptist Church in Concord NC until his retirement a few years ago.
I am sad to see this pioneering artist and my friend leave, but he is now with his beloved wife Mary in a place he prepared to be. Godspeed, J.E.
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