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T hough Ralph Stanley might be referred to as a titan of the
bluegrass community, the 76-year-old banjo picker and high
tenor vocalist will be the first to steer you away from that par
ticular notion.
"What I play are the old-time songs," says Stanley. "Mountain
music. Old-time country music is what you might call it. Now blue-
grass, I don't really know what bluegrass is. There's so many styles
that's bein' called that nowadays, but to me bluegrass [is best per
sonified by] somebody like Bill Monroe."
If anyone should know what is or isn't
bluegrass, traditional, old-time country
and so on, it's Stanley. Born in 1927 to
a Virginia family already well-versed in
old-time and Appalachian music, Ralph
Stanley and elder brother Carter Stanley
were taught the claw-hammer style of
banjo playing by their mother. The
highly percussive style of finger
picking would become synony
mous with the two as their
careers as professional musi
cians progressed.
"My mother had seven
brothers and sisters and
every one of 'em played
claw-hammer on the five-
string banjo," says Stanley.
"They didn't play profession
ally or anything, just for their
own amusement. I do like
instruments other than the
banjo, but I've never really wanted
to play any of 'em."
Like fellow pioneers Bill Monroe and
Charlie Louvin, Stanley has proven suc
cessful on two fronts: as half of a two-
brother combo along with the late Carter,
and as a bandleader of several incarnations
of his esteemed Clinch Mountain Boys.
Though they only recorded a handful of songs during their three-
year stint with Columbia Records (and a subsequent tenure with
Mercury), the brothers' plaintive, spiritual "Stanley sound" inspired
new generations of pickers and singers much the way the Carter
Family had done with country nearly 25 years before.
During the past four decades, the Stanleys' recordings of such
traditional standards as "Angel Band," "Pretty Polly," "A Vision of
Mother" and the benchmark of the current old-time music revival,
"Man of Constant Sorrow," have had just as much impact on a Bob
Dylan or Rod Stewart as on a Ricky Skaggs or Gillian Welch. Again
like the Carters, the appeal of the rurally-bred Stanley Brothers' rich
combination of gospel-steeped harmony and rustic Appalachian
accompaniment has proven universal. So much so, in fact, that
Stanley was granted an honorary doctorate from Lincoln Memorial
University in Harrogate, TN, for teaching classes centered around
Carter's and his use of close-harmony vocals and his own distinctive
style of banjo picking.
Shaken by his brother's death in 1966, Ralph Stanley gave
up performing for some time, but eventually wound up back
on the road, Clinch Mountain Boys in tow. One of the most
enduring backing bands of their genre and rivaled only by
Monroe's Bluegrass Boys in terms of loyalty and member
ship, the Clinch Mountain crew has provided a steady,
constant comfort for Dr. Ralph over the years.
"Right now we've got Jack Cooke [on bass] who's
been with me for 33 years, James Shelton [on
guitar], Steve Sparkman
[on banjo], John Rigsby
[on mandolin], my son
Ralph II on the guitar and
vocals, and we've also got a new fiddle player named Todd
Mead." Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys have been a
steady draw for decades. Specializing in a form of music that
has always maintained a healthy following regardless of main
stream trends or chart success, the current interest in their
brand of Appalachia has come as a pleasant surprise to Stanley:
"I'll say it's been a surprise—but a good surprise. There's actu
ally more fans and more younger people now that's heard it and
liked it. There's a wider audience for it than there was in the
'50s or '60s." Of course, much of the current interest taken in blue
grass and-old timey music can be attributed to the Coen Brothers' 0
Brother, Where Art Thou? and the film's widely acclaimed soundtrack.
Both the Stanley Brothers' classic recording of "Angel Band" and
Ralph's a cappella rendition of "0 Death" figured prominently in the
film. It should also be noted that the hugely successful Soggy
Bottom Boys' take on "Man of Constant Sorrow" car? be directly
traced to Ralph and Carter's version. "I enjoyed that movie and
thought it was a real good soundtrack too," says Stanley, "but the
soundtrack still wasn't what you'd call bluegrass. Again it was the
old-timey mountain music. To tell you the truth, I don't listen to
much [of the newer stuff out there]. I'm strictly traditional"
One couldn't really ask for a better description of what Stanley
does than that: strictly traditional. Even though he's not up-to-date
on many of the newer artists, both up-and-comers and old hands
still think the world of him. In the past couple of years, devoted
admirers such as Dwight Yoakam, Bob Dylan, Tom T. Hall, Marty
Stuart, Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss, Vince Gill and even George
Jones have gotten the opportunity to record with and perform
alongside Stanley. Lose in the Lonesome Pines, the second album
pairing Stanley with songwriter Jim Lauderdale, received a 2002
Grammy Award for Best Bluegrass Album. It's been several years
since Stanley performed in Athens and the chance to see a forbear
of American traditional music and what's now often referred to as
"Americana" should not be passed up. Like Doc Watson and the late
Bill Monroe. Stanley has earned both his living and reputation on
the road in front of many a packed house. For those who want to
see old-time music done the way old-time mountain folks intended
it to be, few can prescribe a better elixir than good Dr. Ralph.
Michael Andrews
r
\
WHO: Ralph Stanley & His Clinch Mountain Boys
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