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The Stanley Brothers
The Definitive Collection (1947 – 1966)
Legends of American Music
Time Life
M19303DIGI B0007883-02
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Compilation Producers: Gary Reid, Joe Sasfy
Mastering Engineer: Ron Rice
Project Manager: Susan Winslow
Design: Smay Vision
Editorial Research: Olivia Kim
Special Thanks: Christine Jelloian, Michael Ha, Ricky Skaggs, Chuck Young
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Discography
DISC ONE:
All tracks on this disc performed by the Stanley Brothers ad the Clinch Mountain Boys unless otherwise noted.
1. Little Glass of Wine - The Stanley Brothers
(C. Stanley / R. Stanley)
Columbia 20590 – 1949
Originally Released 1949 Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Under License From The Sony BMG Custom Marketing Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
2. The Old Home – The Stanley Brothers
(C. Stanley)
Columbia 20667 – 1950
Originally Released 1950 Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Under License From The Sony BMG Custom Marketing Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
3. The White Dove – The Stanley Brothers
(C. Stanley / R. Stanley)
Columbia 20577 - 1949
Originally Released 1949 Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Under License From The Sony BMG Custom Marketing Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
4. The Fields Have Turned Brown – The Stanley Brothers
(C. Stanley)
Columbia 20667 – 1950
Originally Released 1950 Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Under License From The Sony BMG Custom Marketing Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
5. The Lonesome River – The Stanley Brothers
(C. Stanley)
Columbia 20816 – 1951
Originally Released 1951 Sony BMG Music Entertainment
Under License From The Sony BMG Custom Marketing Group, Sony BMG Music Entertainment
6. Get Down on Your Knees and Pray – Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys
(B. Monroe)
Decca 9-46351 – 1951
Courtesy of MCA Nashville
7. I’m Lonesome Without You
(R. Stanley)
Mercury 70217 – 1953
Courtesy of Mercury Records
8. This Weary Heart You Stole Away (Wake Up, Sweetheart)
(C. Stanley)
Mercury 70217 – 1953
Courtesy of Mercury Records
9. Our Last Goodbye
(C. Stanley)
Mercury 70270 – 1953
Courtesy of Mercury Records
10. (Say) Won’t You Be Mine
(C. Stanley)
Mercury 70270 – 1953
Courtesy of Mercury Records
11. A Voice from On High
(B. Monroe / B. Mauldin)
Mercury 70340 – 1954
Courtesy of Mercury Records
12. I Just Got Wise
(C. Stanley)
Mercury 70453 – 1954
Courtesy of Mercury Records
13. Blue Moon of Kentucky
(B. Monroe)
Mercury 70453 – 1954
Courtesy of Mercury Records
14. Hard Times
(R. Stanley)
Mercury 70546 – 1955
Courtesy of Mercury Records
15. If That’s The Way You Feel
(P. Stanley / R. Stanley)
Courtesy of Mercury Records
16. Orange Blossom Special
(E. Rouse)
Mercury 70663 – 1955
Courtesy of Mercury Records
17. Nobody’s Love Is Like Mine
(C. Stanley)
Mercury 70789 – 1956
Courtesy of Mercury Records
18. Angel Band
(R. Stanley)
Mercury 20349 – 1958
Courtesy of Mercury Records
19. Who Will You Call Sweetheart
(B. Monroe / C. Stanley)
Mercury 20349 – 1958
Courtesy of Mercury Records
20. The Cry From The Cross
(J. Masters)
Mercury 71135 – 1957
Courtesy of Mercury Records
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DISC TWO:
All tracks on this disc performed by the Stanley Brothers
1. Gonna Paint The Town
(R. Stanley)
Starday 45-406 – 1958
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
2. How Mountain Girls Can Love
(R. Rakes)
King 615 – 1959
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
3. Think of What You’ve Done
(C. Stanley)
King 615 – 1959
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
4. How Far To Little Rock
(R. Rakes)
King 45-5306 – 1960
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
5. Train 45
(R. Rakes)
King 615 – 1959
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
6. Ridin’ That Midnight Train
(R. Stanley)
Starday 45-949 – 1960
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
7. Man of Constant Sorrow
(C. Stanley)
King 609 – 1960
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
8. Rank Stranger
(A. Brumley)
Starday 506 – 1960
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
9. Jacob’s Vision
(R. Rakes)
King 698 – 1960
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
10. Little Maggie
(R. Stanley)
Starday 45-522 – 1961
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
11. God Gave You To Me
(R. Stanley)
Starday 45-522 – 1961
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
12. Let Me Rest
(R. Stanley)
King 719 – 1961
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
13. Who Will Sing for Me
(R. Stanley / C. Stanley)
King 805 – 1962
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
11. Little Birdie
(W. Mainer)
King 834 – 1963
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
15. Lonesome Night
(C. Stanley)
King 864 – 1963
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
16. Don't Cheat in Our Home Town
(R. Pennington / R. Marcum)
King 864 – 1963
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
17. Stone Walls and Steel Bars
(R. Pennington / R. Marcum)
King 864 – 1963
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
18. Beautiful Star of Bethlehem
(Traditional)
King 918 – 1964
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
19. O Death
(J. Reedy)
King 918 – 1964
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
20. Soldier's Grave
(F. Bailes / J. Bailes / W. Bailes)
King 963 – 1966
Courtesy of Gusto Records Inc.
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DISC THREE
All tracks on this disc performed by the Stanley Brothers
1. Theme & Cotton-Eyed Joe
(Traditional)
Rebel 855 – 1988
Courtesy of Rebel Records
2. Mother No Longer Awaits Me at Home
(R. Stanley / C. Stanley)
Rich·R·Tone 420 – 1947
Courtesy of Rounder Records
3. The Girl Behind the Bar
(C. Stanley)
Rich·R·Tone 420 – 1947
Courtesy of Rounder Records
4. Molly and Tenbrooks
(B. Monroe)
Rich·R·Tone 418 – 1948
Courtesy of Rounder Records Corp.
5. Are You Waiting Just for Me
(E. Tubb)
Rich·R·Tone 1055 – 1952
Courtesy of Rounder Records Corp.
6. Will You Be Loving Another Man
(L. Flatt / B. Monroe)
Previously unissued live recording, 1955
Courtesy of Copper Creek, Gary and David Hedrick
7. Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms
(Traditional)
Country 780 - 1984
® 1991 Rebel Records
Courtesy of Rebel Records
8. Black Mountain Blues
(Traditional)
Country 780 – 1984
® 1991 Rebel Records
Courtesy of Rebel Records
9. Meet Me Tonight
(Trad.; arr. by C. Stanley / R. Stanley)
Blue Ridge 45-514 – 1962
Courtesy of Rounder Records
10. Nobody's Business
(Traditional)
Blue Ridge 45-514 – 1962
Courtesy of Rounder Records
11. Sugar Coated Love - The Stanley Brothers with Bill Monroe
(A. Butler)
Previously unissued live recording, 1961
Courtesy of Copper Creek and Mike Seeger
12. Tell Me Why My Daddy Don't Come Home
(E. Boyd / H. Burns / E. Nunn)
Previously unissued live recording, 1962
Courtesy of Copper Creek and Brooks Otis
13. Hide Ye in the Blood
(Traditional)
Wango 106 – 1965
Courtesy of County Records
14. East Virginia Blues
(Traditional)
Wango 104 – 1966
® 1990 Rebel Records
Courtesy of Rebel Records
15. Pretty Polly
(Traditional)
Wango 104 – 1966
® 1991 Rebel Records
Courtesy of Rebel Records
16. Pig in a Pen
(Traditional)
Wango 104 – 1966
® 1990 Rebel Records
Courtesy of Rebel Records
17. Will You Miss Me
(Traditional)
Wango 104 – 1966
® 1990 Rebel Records
Courtesy of Rebel Records
18. Where the Soul Never Dies
(Trad.; arr. by C. Stanley)
Rimrock 153 – 1967
® 1986 Old Homestead Records
Courtesy of Old Homestead Records
19. Dust on the Bible
(Traditional)
Cabin Creek 203 – 1967
Courtesy of Rebel Records
20. Single Girl
(A. P. Carter)
Joy 10329 (reissued on Rebel SLP-1512) 1971
Courtesy of Copper Creek, Gary and David Hedrick
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THE STANLEY BROTHERS had a profound effect on me as a young musician growing up in Kentucky. Their sound was so pure it was like getting a drink of spring water from up in the hills. Carter's songwriting and beautiful lead singing and Ralph's banjo pickin' and tenor singin' made me want to be an entertainer. The Stanleys had a different style than Bill Monroe … mountain soul, I'd call it. Although they copied Bill's music at first, Carter and Ralph started writing their own songs and created a very distinctive sound. They sang what is known as the "high lonesome" sound in such songs as The White Dove, Angels Are Singing (In Heaven Tonight), The Lonesome River and The Fields Have Turned Brown. Normally the baritone vocal is sung below the lead, but the Stanley Brothers used it above the tenor. A great singer and mandolin player named Pee Wee Lambert was with the Stanleys at the time, and his high singing voice helped create the high lonesome sound.
Despite the tremendous importance of the Stanley Brothers to bluegrass and American music, there has never been a definitive, career-spanning anthology until now. Thanks to Time Life you have in your hands a 3-CD box set that takes you through all 20 years of their recorded history, from a radio broadcast in1947 to a live performance shortly before Carter's untimely death in 1966. In between you'll get to hear all of their most important and most famous recordings for the Rich-R-Tone, Columbia, Mercury, King and Starday labels. And if you're a hardcore fan like me, you'll be thrilled to hear quite a few rare recordings, some of them never before available.
The Stanley Brothers have given us so much wonderful music to listen to. This is a great collection of songs. Be sure to play this music for your kids as my dad and mom played it for me. It's good for the soul! Enjoy.
- RICKY SKAGGS
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THE STANLEY BROTHERS are regarded as one of the preeminent groups from the founding days of bluegrass music. They are routinely mentioned in the same breath as other bluegrass luminaries and originators such as Bill Monroe and Flatt & Scruggs. Their appeal stemmed from a variety of factors. Guitarist Carter Stanley had one of the most poignant singing voices in bluegrass. He was the spokesperson for the group onstage and had a winning style as a master of ceremonies that resonated with the group's audiences. He was also a gifted composer, and wrote much of the repertoire that the duo performed. Ralph was an equally talented vocalist whose distinctive mountain tenor blended seamlessly with his brother's leads. In addition to being one of the first banjoists to adopt the three-finger style of playing, he developed his own unique touch on the instrument that is pegged today as Stanley-style banjo. As exceptional and talented as the brothers were separately, together they created an unparalleled partnership that continues to grow in popularity. It's safe to say that their esteem and scope of Influence are greater today than they were during the scant two decades the brothers performed together (1946-66).
When the duo started out, the term "bluegrass" had yet to be coined. In fact, neither brother considered their music bluegrass; to this day Ralph prefers to call it old-time mountain music. When queried about the term by bluegrass DJ Pete Wernick, Carter replied, "I think anytime that you play a good song, to me it's hillbilly music. The Carter Family played good hillbilly music and they're definitely not bluegrass, and J. E. Mainer played good hillbilly music and he's not bluegrass, and I don't figure we're bluegrass. We're the Stanley Brothers, that's the way I’ve always tried to work it ... we have got out, I think, and developed a sound of our own. I think as long as you sing a song with the best feeling you've got, and if you do feel it, 1 think the people will know it and they'll call it whatever they want to call it."
Fans of the Stanley Brothers' I music today know them from their recordings, but few know much about the individuals behind the music. Carter was the more outgoing of the two. Onstage he was a very articulate emcee; offstage he was a most congenial person and enjoyed interacting with people. Ralph was always quiet, reserved and not overtly demonstrative in conversation; he was content to handle all of the behind-the-scenes details. Both brothers enjoyed certain aspects of their rural upbringing: Carter enjoyed hunting and raising dogs for hunting; Ralph liked farming, raising a garden, and trading livestock. They shared a strong sense of determination in connection with their music. As the popularity of their style of music rose and fell over the years, they were one of the few groups to stick with it, through thick and thin. As outgoing and social as Carter was, his life seemed to be permeated by a fatalistic sense of sadness. Some have speculated that his parents' estrangement had a profound effect on his life and left him with a feeling of insecurity and/or abandonment that he never overcame. The theme of separation from loved ones appeared frequently in his writing over the years.
Carter and Ralph Stanley hailed from Dickenson County in the extreme southwestern part of Virginia, nestled deep in the Clinch Mountains. Carter was born on August 27, 1925, and Ralph was born on February 25, 1927. They were the children of Lucy and Lee Stanley. The story of the young Stanley Brothers parallels that of many rural musicians growing up in the '20s and '30s. Their exposure to music was mostly of a homemade variety. Their father was a singer of old songs and their mother played banjo and sang some as well. In the mid-‘30s the family purchased a radio that allowed them to hear jamboree programs such as the Grand Ole Opry and entertainers like Mainer’s Mountaineers. Singing at church had a profound impact on the boys, especially Ralph.
Carter and Ralph acquired their first instruments w3hen they were both young teens. Carter sent away for his guitar through a Montgomery Ward mail-order catalog; after its arrival, the local mail carrier taught him how to play. Ralph received his banjo from an aunt; he was given the choice of a sow or a banjo – thankfully he chose the banjo! His mother taught him his first tunes on the instrument. They began learning to play and sing together and performed at school functions; they even made a guest appearance on local radio. World War II interrupted their musical development. Carter enlisted in the air force in 1943, and several years later Ralph enlisted in the army and was sent overseas to Germany.
While Carter was in the process of being discharged, in March of 1946, he made the acquaintance of another Virginia musician by the name of Roy Sykes. It wasn't long before Carter was in the employ of Sykes's band, the Blue Ridge Mountain Boys. He played with them for six months, until Ralph received his discharge. Ralph was met at the bus station by his brother and father, who took him to a radio station to perform a song on the air before going home. Ralph joined up with Sykes's group as well but felt somewhat uneasy about the situation; he and Carter subsequently agreed to pull out and start a band of their own. They took Sykes's mandolin player, Pee Wee Lambert, and acquired a fiddle player by the name of Bobby Sumner. Soon afterward they landed a radio show on station WNVA in Norton, Virginia.
Carter and Ralph's dad, Lee Stanley, proved instrumental in helping the boys advance their career. By the end of the year he had negotiated for them to appear on WCYB, a new radio station in Bristol, Virginia, and he helped them acquire a new fiddler, Leslie Keith. The brothers launched a noontime program called Farm and Fun Time. It became legendary throughout southwestern Virginia, eastern Tennessee, Western North Carolina and portions of West Virginia and Kentucky. The spirit, drive and enthusiasm of the group during this time are captured here in a rare radio recording from WCYB. Typically the Stanley Brothers would open their daily radio broadcasts with a theme song, followed by a hearty we1come and a peppy, up-tempo instrumental. A fine example is the old fiddle tune Cotton-Eyed Joe as played by Leslie Keith.
The opportunity to record came not long after the brothers had arrived at WCYB. Their sudden popularity throughout the region attracted the attention of label owner Jim Stanton. Located in nearby Johnson City, Tennessee, Stanton had a relatively new label called Rich-R-Time. He arranged for a recording session at another Bristol radio station, WOPI, where the group recorded four songs. Two of them were gospel quartets, similar in style to those that were being featured on the Grand Ole Opry by Bill Monroe, the acknowledged innovator of the style of music known today as bluegrass. The other two songs were compositions that Carter had recently put together. Mother No Longer Awaits Me at Home is the tale of an errant boy who finally heeds his mother's prayers, only to return home too late. The inherent sadness displayed here would appear countless times in Stanley songs over the years. The flip side of the disc is The Girl Behind the Bar, the story of a barmaid who meets her demise at the hands of a jealous lover.
For the first year or so of their stay in Bristol, the Stanleys played in a basically oldtime style, not unlike that of popular banjoist Wade Mainer. Ralph's banjo playing closely resembled Mainer’s archaic two-finger style, and the brothers' singing seemed rooted in older stylings as well. All that had changed by the middle of 1948, when another Rich-R-Tone session found the group playing music in the style associated with Bill Monroe. They even recorded a song Monroe had cut but had yet to release. Molly and Tenbrooks featured Ralph playing three-finger-style banjo in the manner of Monroe's banjoist, Earl Scruggs. The group's mandolin player, Pee Wee Lambert, sang lead in a high-pitched register - a sharp contrast to recordings featuring the Clinch Mountain Boys' regular lead singer, Carter Stanley. And whether it was designed to bring their sound closer to Monroe’s or not, the Stanleys hired a former Monroe sideman, Art Wooten, to play fiddle. Molly and Tenbrooks displayed a drive and intensity not found on earlier Stanley recordings and marked the first time that anyone (other than Monroe) recorded in this style. Music historian Neil Rosenberg asserts that the Stanley Brother’s recording of this song moved the music from one man’s style to a musical genre, the yet-to-be-named style of bluegrass.
"TO US, THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE IMPOSSIBLE" – Columbia Recordings
Although Bristol and WCYB would be home to the Stanley Brothers for most of the next decade, the brothers, like many musicians, of their day, hopped around to a variety of radio stations to perform. By the summer of 1948 the Stanleys felt they had "played out" the Bristol area and moved to WPTF in Raleigh, North Carolina, where they stayed for a little over six months. It was there that they receive word that Art Satherly, a producer at Columbia Records, wanted to, record them. This was a big break for the band. While the early Rich-R-Tone titles helped establish the band locally, Columbia was a national label. Carter noted in later years that the opportunity to record for Columbia had represented "the impossible." It was one of the largest record companies in the nation, and it was the one Bill Monroe recorded for.
The Stanleys signed a contract in October of 1948 but had to wait until the following March to record, due to a ban on recording imposed by the musicians’ union. For their first session they introduced a batch of Carter Stanley originals. They also set forth a new vocal pattern never heard before used in this style of music. Trio harmonies traditionally featured a lead vocal with a higher tenor part and a lower baritone voice. The Stanleys' new arrangement, suggested by fiddler Art Wooten featured a standard lead and tenor vocal and something new: an even higher third part, called a high baritone. It had a lovely effect on a number of the songs recorded at this session, most notably the classic The White Dove. Other tunes recorded at the first Columbia session included Little Glass of Wine, a favorite from the group's daily radio broadcasts, and The Old Home, a piece that borrowed from a recent Monroe recording.
In January of 1949 the group moved back to Bristol and picked up where they'd left off on Farm and Fun Time. By the end of the year they were gone again, heading back to North Carolina to radio station WTOB in Winston-Salem. While there, the group journeyed to Nashville for another Columbia session. They recorded six songs, all but one of which were compositions by Carter. Pee Wee Lambert remained on mandolin and contributed high-baritone vocals to several selections, most notably The Fields Have Turned Brown.
Lester Woodie, a fiddler from North Carolina who joined the band in the summer of 1949, noted that the group took a brief hiatus from touring after the second Columbia session. When they hit the road again they went to Huntington, West Virginia, and appeared on radio station 'WSAZ. They were on the air six days a week, Monday through Saturday, from 6:05 to 6:30 a.m. While in Huntington, they became one of the first (if not the first) hillbilly-style bands to have their own television program. Their stay in West Virginia lasted for three months, after which they ventured south to Shreveport, Louisiana:, to appear on KWKH and the Louisiana Hayride. They stayed for only three weeks; Ralph later attributed this to homesickness.
The Stanley Brothers' last performance at KWKH was on October 25, 1950. On November 3 they were back in Nashville to record for Columbia. They recorded only four songs. two were solos by Ralph that have remained with him ever since: Man of Constant Sorrow and Pretty Polly. Another, The Lonesome River, featured the haunting high harmonies of Carter, Ralph and Pee Wee Lambert. The group finished out the year working in Lexington, Kentucky, over radio station WLEX. In addition to daily radio work the brothers, appeared on the weekly Kentucky Mountain Barn Dance.
The year 1951 seemed to be one of uncertainty for the Stanley Brothers. They returned to Bristol once again and played a variety of venues, from civic auditoriums and theaters to PTA-sponsored shows at schoolhouses. The Korean War was in full swing, and band members Lester Woodie and John Shuffler were called to fulfill their military duty. Keeping the group together seemed tenuous at best. Carter took advantage of the situation by seeking employment with Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys. Monroe had always been Carter's idol, and the opportunity to tour with him fulfilled a lifelong dream. Carter toured for three months with Monroe from June until August. In July he participated in two recording sessions, helping Monroe record a total of six songs, including the ethereal quartet Get Down on Your Knees and Pray.
On a number of Monroe's engagements, Ralph filled in on banjo.
Rumor has it that Monroe offered to change the name of the band to Bill Monroe and the Stanley Brothers if the boys would stay with him. While returning from one of their engagements, Ralph and Pee Wee Lambert were involved in a serious automobile accident. When Ralph had completed his recovery; the brothers reunited and re-formed their Clinch Mountain Boys. The group included fiddler Bobby Sumner, bass player Charlie Cline (a member of the West Virginia-based Lonesome Pine Fiddlers and a former Monroe sideman) and mandolin player Bob Osborne, who would later gain fame as part of the Osborne Brothers. As 1951 drew to a close, the Korean War called Osborne away. He was replaced by Curly Seckler, a veteran mandolin player who had achieved notoriety for his work with Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs. Seckler's contacts in the music business enabled the Stanleys to go back to Lexington, where they landed a spot on WVLK.
The Stanley Brothers spent most of 1952 away from Bristol. The months of January and February were spent at WVLK for daily radio broadcasts. From the end of May through the end of September they worked six days a week doing early morning radio on WOAY in Oak Hill, West Virginia. In April of that year they recorded their final session for Columbia. The session didn't break any new ground, but it did introduce a musician who would be with the Stanleys off and on for the next 12 years: bass player George Shuffler (former bassist John's brother). Later in the year, because they were no longer under contract to Columbia, the Stanleys returned to Rich-R-Tone for a full session. It, too, inaugurated new players: fiddler Art Stamper and mandolinist Jim Williams. One of the tunes from this session was Are You Waiting Just for Me. The song had been written during World War II by Ernest Tubb and had been performed by other musicians, including Bill Monroe.
"WE GOT OUR BEST SOUND ON THAT FIRST SESSION" - Mercury Recordings
In the early part of 1953 the winter months promised little in terms of dates to play for personal appearances. Carter and Ralph headed to Detroit and found employment at the Ford Motor Company. By August they had reorganized again and secured a recording contract with Mercury Records.
They retained their players from the previous year - Jim Williams, Art Stamper and George Shuffler - and on August 9 they recorded four songs for Mercury. By most accounts these tracks - (Say) Won't You Be Mine, This Weary Heart You Stole Away (Wake Up, Sweetheart), I'm Lonesome Without You and Our Last Goodbye - represent the artistic pinnacle of their career. In his book Bluegrass Bob Artis describes the spirit of the session: "To say the first Mercury session was hot would be a woeful understatement. Carter's lead singing was strong and self-assured, and Ralph was sending his hard mountain tenor right up through the rafters. The younger Stanley was playing his banjo hard and loud, establishing once and for all the Stanley style of bluegrass banjo. [Jim] Williams played some inspired Monroe-style mandolin, and [Art] Stamper played breaks and fiddle backup that are still talked about. Giving the session an almost unbelievable forward thrust was bassist [George] Shuffler, playing some of the most complicated bluegrass bass ever recorded."
The temporary dissolution of the band in the early part of 1953 proved to be the last time they would break up. From here on out the Stanley Brothers remained a full-time touring and recording act. Gone, too, was the endless stream of station hopping; they spent 1953 through 1958 at WCYB and Farm and Fun Time. During this time they would also sometimes appear on WRVA’s popular Saturday night Old Dominion Barn Dance in Richmond. They group continued to record for Mercury, and much of what they did ranks as some of the very best music from the early days of bluegrass. Among the highlights were A Voice From On High, a tune they’d learned from Monroe; the masterful Carter originals I Just Got Wise and Nobody’s Love Is Like Mine; and the gospel classics Angel Band and The Cry from the Cross. Angel Band was later featured in the multi-platinum soundtrack album to the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou?
One song, Blue Moon of Kentucky, was recorded at the insistence of Monroe. In a 1966 interview with Mike Seeger, Carter recalled, “Bill Monroe asked me one night … we was in Nashville to record and he said, ‘After the Opry we’ll go eat,’ and he said, ‘The I want to come up to WSM studios, there’s something up there I want to hear.’ He had the record with him; Blue Moon of Kentucky by Elvis Presley. And we had to go up there where there was a machine, you know. So he said, ‘I want you to hear something,’ and he had never said anything like that to me before. So we went up and that’s what we heard, Blue Moon of Kentucky by Elvis Presley. I laughed a little bit looked around and everybody else was laughing except Bill. He said, 'You better do that number tomorrow if you want to sell some records.' So I guess he had some vision there that I didn't have. Boy, it was a different sound, there's no doubt." The version the Stanleys recorded the next day owed a much larger musical debt to the Elvis rendition than to the waltz recording Monroe had made nearly a decade earlier.
The Stanleys also recorded several instrumentals while on Mercury. A classic that remains in Ralph's repertoire to this day is one that was named, perhaps in anticipation of the shake-up the music industry that would be precipitated by Elvis, Hard Times. The effects of rock 'n'-roll had yet to take their toll on traditional music in 1954, when this track was recorded, but they were looming on the horizon. A happier note, and no less brilliant was a 1955 recording of the venerable fiddle tune Orange Blossom Special. Recorded at the end of a session of six songs; it was, perhaps, done as an afterthought, or as a bonus track to complete the session. The bass player, Bill Lowe, commented that “we shoved the damn hell" out of that piece. The fast-paced and sprightly rendition featured the work of a young West Virginia fiddler named Joe Meadows, who had joined the band the previous year. For their efforts the group won an Instrumental Group of the Year award from one of the leading country music magazines of the day.
From the latter part of their association with Mercury came several gems, including the Bill Monroe-Carter Stanley collaboration Who Will Call You Sweetheart. The song lay dormant for several years until it appeared on the 1958 album Country Pickin' and Singin’. It featured the same type of high trio harmonies that the Stanleys had used to good effect on their Columbia recordings several years earlier. A tune that was somewhat of an oddity for the Stanleys was If That's the Way You Feel, attributed to Ralph and Peggy Stanley, Ralph's wife at the time. The record features an electric steel guitar in the background. This is the only time the Stanleys used this instrument in any of their recording sessions. They recorded the song at what was to be their last formal session for Mercury.
For most of the first decade of their career the Stanley Brothers tended to be a regional band, playing mostly in Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee and North Carolina. During the mid and late '50s, the group began traveling to country music parks in states such as Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana. A 1955 concert at Bill Monroe's music park in Indiana featured Carter and Ralph performing a stellar rendition of the Monroe classic Will You Be Loving Another Man. The duo never formally recorded this selection, but they performed it in concert. Carter's singing in this previously unissued live recording contains a certain lilt not found in many of their other recordings.
"WHERE THE MOUNTAINS MEET THE SKY" - King/Starday Recordings
In the summer of 1958 Carter and Ralph hooked up with Starday, an independent label in Nashville, Tennessee. Headed by shrewd entrepreneur Don Pierce, the label had a knack for giving the public what they weren't getting from mainstream record labels - namely, authentic country and bluegrass music. The Stanleys recorded sporadically for Starday, as need and circumstances arose. From their first session for the label, which they recorded at WCYB, came the rousing Stanley original Gonna Paint the Town.
It wasn't long until the Stanleys found a home with one of the larger independent labels of the day, King Records. Located in Cincinnati, the label was started during the waning days of World War II by Syd Nathan. After the war he amassed a trendy catalog of hillbilly and race records. By 1958 he had developed an operation in Cincinnati that was all under one roof. He had his own recording studio, art department, and facilities to print and manufacture singles and albums. It was here that Carter and Ralph recorded, over a two-day period, their first album for King, titled simply Stanley Brothers. For collectors of their music, the catalog number, King 615, is indelibly etched in their consciousness. It remains perhaps the best overall album of their career. With one or two exceptions the album consisted entirely of Stanley originals and added a number of songs to the band's growing canon of classics. Chief among these are songs that are now bluegrass standards, such as How Mountain Girls Can Love and Think of What You've Done, as well as the instrumental Train 45 (in which various band members can be heard bantering with Carter). Playing mandolin was Bill Napier, who frequently played the comedy role in the group as "old man Dad Napier"; on fiddle was one of the best - Ralph Mayo from Kingsport, Tennessee; and rounding out the group was bass player Al "Towser" Elliott.
"HELLO EVERYBODY EVERYWHERE" - Florida/Jim Walter Homes
In November of '58 the, Stanley Brothers embarked on a new venture that would take them far away from their beloved hills of old Virginia. They had felt for some time that they needed to find new audiences for their music. A gentleman in Live Oak, Florida by the name of Aubrey Fowler was in the process of trying to reestablish a jamboree program that had flourished there during the mid-'50s. Jim and Jesse McReynolds, Virginia natives who grew up not far from Carter and Ralph, had headlined the show a few years earlier. Evidently Mr. Fowler felt that another team of Virginia natives might be what was needed to reinvigorate the program. So the decision was made for Carter and Ralph to relocate farther south, and they became the headliners of the Suwannee River Jamboree.
The group had not been in Live Oak more than a few months when they were fortunate to secure the sponsorship of the Jim Walter Corporation, makers of shell homes throughout the South. Not long after they inked the deal, the Stanleys inaugurated a television program for their sponsor; it aired over station WJXT in Jacksonville, Florida.
Some months later they traveled to Atlanta to record The Jim Walter Jamboree, a series of 15-minute radio programs that were syndicated to Southern radio stations. Carter was the spokesperson for the shows, and even did all of the commercials. The programs opened and closed with a Jim Walter jingle; in between were renditions of recent Stanley Brothers songs, hymns and instrumentals. One such showpiece was Black Mountain Blues, featuring ace fiddler Chubby Anthony. Another venerable classic from these programs was Carter and Ralph's rendering of the bluegrass favorite Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms.
In the middle of 1959 the Stanleys again recorded several sessions for Starday, using local radio station WNER in Live Oak as a studio. One of the most enduring songs to come out of these sessions was Ridin' That Midnight Train. Along about the same time, they recorded material for a single that was eventually released on the Blue Ridge label. The owner, DJ and promoter Don Owens, was instrumental in exposing people in the Washington, D.C., area to bluegrass. Carter and Ralph recorded only two songs for Blue Ridge - Meet Me Tonight and Nobody's Business - but both are prime examples of classic Stanley music.
In September of '59 a two-day marathon session took place in the King studios. In all, 25 songs were recorded-enough for two full albums and then some. The hand of label owner Syd Nathan was definitely allover these recordings. Rumor has it that Nathan was a man who hated a fiddle; it's undeniable that he had a fondness for the Delmore Brothers, a duo that he'd had much success with in the late '40s. Nathan felt that he needed something to spark the Stanleys' record sales, so he persuaded them to alter their sound. For the marathon session, the fiddle and mandolin were dropped, the banjo was minimized, and the lead guitar - a hallmark of the Delmore Brothers sound - took the brunt of the instrumental passages. The inclusion of the guitar in these sessions forever changed the Stanleys' style of music; it was to be featured on nearly all of their King recordings for the next six years and continues to be part of Ralph's shows to this day.
Several of the songs from this session would yield instant as well as long-term benefits. Most immediately, How Far to Little Rock, recorded at the tail end of the sessions, was released as a single and managed to peak at No. 17 on the Billboard country chart. It was the only recording of the brothers to chart while they were together. They had learned the song, more commonly known as Arkansas Traveler, in their youth from a carpenter who came to build a house for one of their brothers. Man of Constant Sorrow paid big dividends some 40 years later when the Stanleys' arrangement was used as the model for the version recorded by the studio group the Soggy Bottom Boys for the hit movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? Included in the gospel portion of the sessions was Jacob's Vision, a song they had learned from a Free Will Baptist preacher in Virginia.
In 1960 the Stanleys were still bouncing back and forth between King and Starday. That May they located a home studio in Jacksonville and recorded 12 songs, which made their way to Starday. It proved to be a wonderful session overall; it was well recorded and featured the return of the mandolin and the fiddle to the band while retaining the new guitar sound. Ralph had recorded Little Maggie for Rich-R-Tone a decade earlier in a rather archaic, old-time style. At the 1960 session he imprinted the song with definite bluegrass stylings, and it has remained a seminal part of his repertoire. God Gave You to Me was a recent Stanley composition that Ralph has since reprised several times during his solo career. Rank Stranger, written by famed gospel writer Albert E. Brumley, is widely recognized as one of the greatest recordings by the Stanley Brothers, and it may be the most achingly poignant example of Carter's emotive singing style.
Although the boys were living and working in Florida, the hills of home were ever in their minds. Carter may have been feeling a bit melancholy when he wrote Let Me Rest. The song recalled happy childhood days at his Virginia mountain home, but it also foreshadowed his untimely passing a scant six years later. Ralph later used this song as the foundation of a recitation tribute to his late brother.
On July 4,1961, guitarist and singer Bill Clifton hosted one of the first all-day bluegrass festivals. The event was held at Oak Leaf Park in Luray, Virginia. On hand for the event were Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, the Country Gentlemen, Jim & Jesse, and Mac Wiseman. In addition to full concerts by each performer, there were reunions of former Blue Grass Boys with Monroe. One such reunion featured Carter singing Sugar Coated Love with his old boss.
While at King, the Stanleys established a pattern of alternating between secular and sacred material for their albums. A 1962 gospel album called Good Old Camp Meeting Songs consisted entirely of quartets by Carter and Ralph, George Shuffler and Ralph Mayo. One of the best representations of quartet singing from this session is Who Will Sing for Me, a song popular among bluegrass bands in the' 50s and '60s. It was about the time of this gospel session that Shuffler assumed the role of lead guitarist in the group. Not content to merely duplicate what earlier guitarists had played, he pioneered a new playing style that has come to be known as cross-picking. When people today think of the guitar in Stanley music, it is Shuffler's style of crosspicking that comes to mind.
In the summer of 1962 the Stanley Brothers played a three week engagement at the Ash Grove, a trendy coffeehouse in Hollywood, California. Their band for the gig featured longtime mandolin player Curley Lambert and fiddler Vernon Derrick. They also secured the services of Roger Bush, a member of the Country Boys (later known as the Kentucky Colonels), to play bass. The band played twice a night, turning over a new audience for each performance. They went through a lot of their standard repertoire but also reached back for some seldom performed gems such as Tell Me Why My Daddy Don't Come Home, a song they never recorded commercially.
In 1963 the Stanley Brothers attempted to cash in on the tail end of the folk music craze. A few of their earlier King albums had '"folk this" and "folk that" in their titles, so it was not surprising that Folk Concert was the title for their latest album. Flatt & Scruggs had recently recorded an album called Live at Carnegie Hall, and perhaps the Stanleys were trying to ride the crest of this trend as well. Folk Concert was marketed as a live album, and even contained applause and spoken song introductions by Carter. In fact, it was a studio album with fake applause added later. In retrospect it was a hokey concept, but the music was great nonetheless. Especially impressive was Ralph's rendering of Little Birdie, featuring the old-time clawhammer style of banjo playing that his mother had taught him when he was first starting out.
Material from other 1963 sessions yielded yet another album, Country Folk Music Spotlight, which was also aimed at the folk market. A number of the songs were anything but folk; several of them, in fact, were written and supplied by King Records producer Ray Pennington. Two of these songs, Don't Cheat in Our Home Town and Stone Walls and Steel Bars, turned out to be the highlights of the album. In the last full concert that the Stanley Brothers gave together - on October 16, 1966, at Bill Monroe's Brown County Jamboree music park - Carter performed Stone Walls and Steel Bars, a clear testament to the song's popularity and staying power. Also recorded a the session was Lonesome Night, a piece Carter had written in the '50s that they had never previously released.
"I'M LONG GONE THIS TIME" - The Latter Years
By this time in the Stanley Brothers' career, the appeal for their brand of roots based mountain music seemed to be at an all time low. Although they were falling on hard times, they were still cranking out albums at King. A 1964 album called Hymns of the Cross gave special credit to the talents of George Shuffler. He was featured in the album cover photo along with Carter and Ralph and was even given billing below the Stanleys' names. Shuffler cross-picked his guitar throughout the album and sang a third harmony part on all the songs. Two songs from that album have become enduring classics: O Death and Beautiful Star of Bethlehem. The first tune was later resurrected by Ralph and featured in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? Ralph's performance on the newer recording won him a Grammy for Best Male Country Vocalist in 2001. The latter tune is now a bluegrass and country favorite every Christmas, having been recorded numerous times in both genres. The recordings of both songs presented here are the originals that inspired their popularity in later years.
Later in '64 the Stanley Brothers made a series of recordings for Baltimore DJ Ray Davis. Davis had been acquainted with the Stanleys since the early ‘50s, and often promoted them on shows throughout the Baltimore area. In December of 1963 he hired the Stanley Brothers for a week to record a series of 26 15-minute radio programs. At the conclusion of that week Davis seized the opportunity to have the band record an album of gospel material for release on his Wango label. His sponsor at the time was a car dealer, Johnny’s Used Cars. In honor of his sponsor Davis released the recordings under the name of John’s Gospel Quartet or John’s Country Quartet. Among those recordings was the Carter Family favorite Will You Miss Me. Carter Stanley had a case of laryngitis at the time, so Ralph sang lead on the verses.
Additional tunes recorded for Ray Davis in 1964 included Pretty Polly, Pig in a Pen and East Virginia Blues. At the start of the session, Davis said that he wanted the old, original sound, to which Carter Stanley replied, “I’ll be proud to give it to you.” The line-up for these recordings consisted of only Carter and Ralph and George Shuffler. Surprisingly, they turned in a full, well-balanced sound that belied the limited number of musicians on the session. Other recordings, with a larger band, were made in November; they include a rousing version of the old gospel song Hid Ye in the Blood.
In June of 1965 Carter and Ralph recorded a session of material that was similar in nature to what they had done for Ray Davis, only this session was with Alex Campbell. Campbell and his sister, Ola Belle Reed, were responsible for bringing bluegrass and traditional country music to the northeastern part of Maryland, where they promoted shows at New River Ranch, a country music park. Campbell was also a DJ on local stations as well as on WWVA, a clear channel station in Wheeling, West Virginia. On WWVA he sold album packages that he advertised on his program as offering "22 songs on one LP." It seemed like a great value, but in order to make this much material fit on one album, he had the band record abbreviated versions of the songs. While the songs on this album don't represent prime or classic Stanley material, Dust on the Bible merits inclusion here as a musical oddity in the brothers' career.
In September of '65 Carter and Ralph performed at the very first multi-day bluegrass festival. The event was the brainchild of Carlton Haney, a former manager for Bill Monroe and Reno & Smiley. The festival featured virtually all of the headliners in the genre, including Bill Monroe, the Stanley Brothers, the Osborne Brothers, Mac Wiseman Jimmy Martin, Don Reno, Red Smiley, Doc Watson and others. The same month, the Stanley Brothers recorded their last formal session for King Records. It was a gospel collection that featured mostly new original material. Someone at King must not have been paying attention, as the album jacket from the first pressing promoted this set as the Greatest Country and Western Show on Earth. Ralph complained to King about the oversight, and they subsequently repackaged the album with a church scene on the cover and a new title: A Collection of Original Gospel and Sacred Songs. The last song recorded at the session was Soldier's Grave, a piece dating from World War II that took on new meaning in light of the Vietnam conflict.
In December of '65 the group journeyed to Arkansas, to the home of Wayne Raney, a legendary country harmonica player who had recorded for King in the '40s. Carter and Ralph - along with George Shuffler on guitar and Ralph Mayo on fiddle - recorded two albums' worth of material for release on Raney's Rimrock label. One track, Where the Soul Never Dies, paired Raney's harmonica with the Stanley ensemble. The inclusion of harmonica on a few Stanley tracks recorded a few years earlier sounded awkward and at odds with the Stanleys' pure mountain sound. Here, however, Raney's work is actually quite listenable and enjoyable.
The year 1966 proved to be a busy year for the brothers. Fans of the group knew that it was the last year they would tour together. In February they journeyed north to New York City, where they appeared on Pete Seeger's Rainbow Quest television program. This, appearance is one of the only remaining samples of the Stanley Brothers on video: A few days later the group headed overseas for a three-week tour of Europe that included performances in Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, Denmark and England (where they played London's prestigious Royal Albert Hall). They were the first mainstream country music act to tour Europe. Upon their return to the States they stayed busy working a series of dates at schools, theaters and country music parks. They had recently hired, Melvin Goins, a former member of the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers who played bass and did comedy. Just as important, he kept the band very busy, booking them on a large number of dates throughout the year.
Also in '66, the. Stanley Brothers became members of the WWVA Jamboree cast in Wheeling, West Virginia. The group played the Jamboree a number of times that year, including a date on October 15. The following day they played at Bill Monroe's country music park in Indiana. This proved to be their last full show together. Bluegrass historian Bob Artis noted in his book Bluegrass that although Carter's voice that day was only a shadow of what it had once been, he sang with a conviction that characterized his very best work. A fine example is his performance that day of Single Girl, an old song associated with the Carter Family. He sang the song a lot that year and perhaps had intentions of recording it, but that opportunity never arose.
Following their performance at Monroe’s park, the Stanleys journeyed to Nashville for the annual DJ convention. There the band's fan club honored them at a banquet for their 20 years in the business. From Nashville they went to the Red River Valley School in Hazel Green, Kentucky. After performing only a few songs, Carter was taken sick and excused himself from the stage. It was to be his last time onstage. Six weeks later, on the morning of December 1, 1966, Carter Stanley died at the age of 41, the victim of cirrhosis. Bill Monroe performed at his funeral; he laid his hand on Carter's casket and sang Swing Low, Sweet Chariot. He later cited Carter' as the "best natural lead singer" he he’d ever heard.
In the years since his brother's passing, Ralph Stanley has built a highly successful solo career. He has struck an artful balance, recognizing his roots with the Stanley Brothers while developing a sound that explores his old-time and mountain heritage. He's carried a number of top-notch bands over the years and created a rich recorded legacy. Beyond his role as one half of the Stanley Brothers duo, his achievements of the past 40 years have earned him a place in the annals of bluegrass and country music history.
Despite the fact that it's been four decades since the demise of the Stanley Brothers, there remains a strong and growing interest in them and in their music. They have been enshrined in the International Bluegrass Music Association's prestigious Hall of Honor. They have been the subject of a critically acclaimed theatrical production, Man of Constant Sorrow. Over the years artists such as Ricky Skaggs, Patty Loveless and Emmylou Harris have had significant hits with songs originally written or recorded by the Stanley Brothers; hundreds of other bands have also made use of their material. The duo remains very much in the hearts of fans at a grassroots level; pickers at bluegrass festivals play their songs in countless informal jam sessions every weekend. Today's bluegrass fans were witness to the widespread exposure that Carter and Ralph's music received as the result of its inclusion in the popular move O Brother, Where Art Thou? movie.
On a more personal level, thousands of fans make an annual pilgrimage to the Memorial Day bluegrass festival that is hosted by Ralph Stanley in the Hills of Home Park on the site of his and Carter's childhood home. On a knoll atop one of the ridges is the family cemetery where Carter was laid to rest. For the weekend-long festival, the music of the Stanley Brothers emanates from a lone speaker in the graveyard. As songs such as The White Dove, with its imagery of the "deep rolling hills of old Virginia," are played, it's easy to look around and see where the inspiration for these songs came from. Maybe that is the most endearing legacy of the Stanley Brothers: their ability to convey so eloquently the natural beauty of their birthright. It's easy to be captivated by those thoughts, sounds and images. Bob Dylan once noted, "All my beliefs come out of those old songs."
Carter Stanley finally got the wish he expressed in a song he and Ralph had recorded, Let Me Rest. The words were simple and direct but spoken straight from his heart to a multitude of admirers:
Let me rest on a peaceful mountain
When the seeds for the harvest is sown
Where the wild birds nest in the good old summertime
On a mountain near my home sweet home ...
We should all be so lucky as to have our own "hills of home." Thanks to Carter and Ralph Stanley for sharing theirs. May their music live forever.
- Gary Reid
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As A FAN OF BLUEGRASS AND OLD-TIME MUSIC SINCE 1973, GARY REID HAS BEEN INVOLVED IN MANY ASPECTS OF THE MUSIC BUSINESS. FIRST, AS THE ORIGINAL BASS PLAYER FOR THE NATIONALLY ACCLAIMED JOHNSON MOUNTAIN BOYS, AND LATER AS A RESEARCI\ER AND RECORD COMPANY/PUBLISHING FIRM FOUNDER. HIS COPPER CREEK RECORDS WAS ORGANIZED IN 1978 AND SPECIALIZES IN THE ISSUANCE OF CLASSIC BLUEGRASS. AS A WRITER/PRODUCER, HE HAS COMPILED NOTES FOR NUMEROUS CDs AND BOXED SET RE-ISSUES;
HE IS A TWO-TIME WINNER OF lNTERNATIONAL BLUEGRASS MUSIC ASSOCIATIONS LINER NOTES OF THE YEAR AWARD.
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Photo Credits:
Page 32, 34-35: David Gahr Photography
Booklet cover/page 25, page 20-21, 23, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30-31: Courtesy of Gusto Records, Inc. Nashville, TN
Page 18-19: Photo by Robert Leahey, courtesy of the State Archives of Florida
Page 36-37: Michael Ochs Archives
Page 10, 16-17, 28, 20: Showtime Archives, Toronto
Page 23-23: Ann Lane Streeter
Front Cover, inside liner, booklet back cover montage, page 4, 6, 7,
8-9, 12, 13, 14-15, 24, 38: From the collection of Gary Reid
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