Ralph Stanley - The Bottom Line Archive

(Bottom Line Archive BLRCD-017) 2017

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This is a live recording made at the Bottom Line in New York on 12th June 2002. The gig was sponsored by Columbia records, and promoted the Ralph Stanley album on Columbia/DMZ, with nine of the songs from that album performed on stage, and the remainder being more familiar Stanley fayre.

Backing is provided by Mike Compton, Dennis Ceouch and Stuart Duncan, with James Alan Shelton 'filling in' for Norman Blake.

The sound quality is pretty good, and unlike some show-tapes has a nice 'warm' quality to it.

One highlight of the show is the closing song, Amazing Grace, where Ralph gets the audience to stand up, join hands, and sing along, whilst Ralph lines out the hymn. Ralph's a cappella rendition of I'll Remember You Love In My Prayers is also superb.

I'm guessing that this must have been a one-off performance, as Ralph was billed as appearing in Hazard, Ky the following day and the CMB's are listed as performing at a festival the previous weekend.^[1]

A couple of things to note - the artwork lists the first track as O Death, but the CD has an a capella Twelve Gates To The City instead... and Ralph is also credited as playing banjo, when it's Stuart Duncan on both fiddle and banjo...

• Ralph Stanley: vocals
• Stuart Duncan: banjo, violin
• Mike Compton: mandolin
• Dennis Crouch: bass
• James Alan Shelton: guitar

NB: Liner notes don't specify instruments/vocal parts for individual tracks, so the above is guesswork.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] 13th June 2002 Hazard Kentucky - Memorial Gym. 'Bluegrass Unlimited' June 2002 (p. 86)