Joe Lewis and his wife, Claire, became a part of square dancing in the mid-1940s. Joe and Claire built their own square dance hall in Dallas, TX and maintained a successful home club and class program. Each year Joe would travel to about 35 states and Canadian provinces with his unique style and upbeat delivery. In the 1950s, he was invited to come to Australia a number of times. Joe got a recording contract with Intro Records, and eventually started his own label, J-Bar-L. He recorded about seventy numbers and wrote many classic favorites like Jellybean and Alabama Jubilee. Joe was a founding member of Callerlab and a member of its Board of Governors. In 1961 he was inducted into the Square Dance Hall of Fame. He was a lifetime member of the North Texas Callers Association. In 1975 he was honored with the Callerlab Milestone award. Joe passed away December 11, 1992.
SIO's Article: SETS IN ORDER makes its salute this month
to Dallas caller, Joe Lewis. Few callers
active today have influenced more dancers
and callers than the man who is featured on
our cover this issue. One of the first to introduce
a complete departure from the traditional type
of calling, Joe combined the sounds associated
with popular styles of singing together with
clear, descriptive square dance calls and in this
way provided an appeal to so many who had
steered clear of the traditional sounds of square
dancing.
Joe's salesmanship was most effective for he
did not change the basic ideas of square dancing,
but just presented it in a way that was more
understandable to a greater number of people.
That he was successful could rapidly be attested
to by the great number of callers who have been
influenced by his calling style.
An entire nation of square dancers — Australia
— took its first square dancing instruction from
Joe Lewis a number of years ago. In Canada,
throughout the United States, in hundreds of
square dancing communities and in square
dancing camps from the Pacific to the Atlantic
coastlines, folks have developed a strong feeling
of gratitude toward Joe, to the dances he
has written and to his calling style which seems
destined towards many years of popularity. It
is for these reasons and for our personal pleasure
in knowing him and his gracious Claire that we
dedicate this issue of Sets in Order to Joe Lewis.