Joseph F. Lamb (18871960) composed with enthusiasm and was influenced by a variety of sources, all kinds of music, cultures, traditions and the everyday. Although he is considered one of classic ragtimes big threealong with Scott Joplin and James Scotthe did not fit the usual profile. He was musically self-taught, held a corporate job, and composed in his spare time, yet wrote piano rags Joplin enthusiastically championed and returned to composing and well-deserved recognition long after the end of the ragtime era. This biography focuses on his music and his world, and is drawn from family and research sources. It includes a foreword by two of Lambs children.