E-mail: Joe Doub

Joe joined the Winston-Salem, NC chapter of SPEBSQSA in the Spring of 1974 as a bass. Later that year, John Dawson, the founder of the W-S chapter, invited him to join a quartet he was putting together, the “Dixie Classics”. They sang together for a couple of years before Joe decided to give the tenor part a try. His next quartet “Easy Street”, performed together for about three years. By the end of the 1970s, it was time for another combination. At a party at another barbershoppers house, they were doing some more singing together and were talking about what to call the quartet. Joe happened to be holding a can of his favorite refreshing adult beverage Pabst Blue Ribbon so it just seemed natural to name the quartet “Blue Ribbon Edition”. And so it was from 1980 – 1988. This foursome represented the Dixie District at the international quartet contest in 1982 and 1983, in addition to winning the District quartet championship in 1983.

From 1988 – 1996 Joe took some time off from barbershopping to devote more time to his wife and three young children. Also during this time he went back to school at night to finish his Bachelor’s degree in Business.

In 1996, while attending the W-S chapter’s annual show, Bruce Atkinson (bass of 1980 Dixie District champion quartet Vocal Impressions) approached Joe and asked if he would be interested in forming a new quartet. A short time later, “Voiceterous” was formed and Joe was back in barbershopping. This quartet performed on many shows until 2002.

In 2004, Joe, who had now switched to baritone, and son David singing lead, joined with fellow chapter members Rob Alexander on tenor, and Tom Parker to form “Sweet Mother of Harmony” with the intention of having fun doing comedy routines in contest.

Since December 2008, Joe’s current quartet, Let’s Sing! (Steve Tremper-tenor, Mark Chandler - lead, and Greg Zinke - bass) has been quite busy with performing on shows and contests, having won the Dixie District Quartet Championship in 2009 and the Carolinas District in 2010. In addition, they represented the Dixie District at international in 2009 and 2010 and the Carolinas District in 2011. They released their first CD in 2010 and plan to be around for a long time. Joe is just waiting for the other three “kids” to catch up to him so they can compete as seniors.

In addition to all this quartet activity, Joe was and is also a very active member in the W-S chapter, serving a term as Membership V.P. early in his career and also as tenor section leader and assistant director for many years. Since 2007 he has been the Music & Performance V.P. for the chapter in addition to on-going assistant director duties.

Joe and his lovely wife Juli have been married for over 30 years and have called East Bend, NC home for most of that time. They have three grown children (Jill, who lives in Chicago and plans to be married next summer, Jane, who lives and works in W-S, and David, who lives in W-S, sings lead with Triad Harmony Express and plans to be married next spring) who are all educated and gainfully employed. Juli is a career elementary school teacher who loves to read in her spare time and is kept company when Joe is away performing by her ferocious guard dog Poppy, a 5-pound white Maltie-Poo. Joe also loves to read when he’s not learning new music or searching for new arrangements for his quartet and chorus. He also enjoys NASCAR races and is a long-time fan of Duke basketball.