Clinch Mountain Echo

The Stanley Brothers - America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny

(King KLP-872) Jan 1964


America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny
Starday-King/Gusto Front Cover Starday-King/Gusto Rear Cover Starday-King Side One Starday-King Side Two
Gusto? Side One Gusto? Side Two
Banjo In The Hills Front Cover Banjo In The Hills Rear Cover Banjo In The Hills Side One Banjo In The Hills Side Two

Average Album Rating: 4.25
(Total votes 8)

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This is another one I don't have an original 'King' copy of... but being a huge fan of 'Stanley-style' banjo, and Ralph's instrumentals, I hope to rectify that soon! The album was recorded at two sessions on 13th Aug and 16-17th Sep 1963, and features some of Ralph's unique, and to my mind under-rated banjo instrumentals.

One single was taken from the album: Five String Drag / Shout Little Lulie (King 5934) Sep 1964; and Train 45 from the session was also released coupled with I Just Stood There (King 5916) Jul 1964.

It seems that this album has been reissued several times. There was a version with the Starday logo on the front cover, and with the yellow brown Starday King labels (which I think date from late '60s?). There there's a version with plain blue labels, with the same 'Starday' cover. My copy of the latter is pressed slightly off centre and consequently sounds dire... and then there's a Gusto reissue re-titled as 'Banjo In The Hills' (Gusto SK-872) circa 1977. Presumably the term 'Hootenanny', which the Oxford English dictionary defines as "an informal gathering with folk music" was deemed too passé by the late '70s.

More recently, all the material has been compiled on the Complete Starday And King Instrumentals 2xCD set, and the The King Years, 1961-1965 4xCD box set.

 

For detailed information on these songs / sessions, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 169-170, 172-173, 202-203.

Track:
Title:
Time:
Date:
Original Release:
Guitar:
Banjo:
Fiddle:
Mandolin:
Bass:
Lead Guitar:
A-1
Train 45
02:43
13 Aug 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo

Henry Dockery
George Shuffler

G.B. Grayson
A-2
Shamrock
01:50
13 Aug 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo

Henry Dockery
George Shuffler

R. Stanley
A-3
Rang Tang
02:37
16 Sep 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley


George Shuffler
George Shuffler

R. Stanley / George Shuffler
A-4
Ground Hog / Red River Valley
02:36
16 Sep 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley


George Shuffler
George Shuffler

P.D.
A-5
Lonesome Traveler
02:06
13 Aug 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo

Henry Dockery
George Shuffler

R. Stanley
A-6
Sourwood Mountain
02:08
16 Sep 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley


George Shuffler
George Shuffler

P.D.
B-1
Stoney Creek
02:03
13 Aug 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo

Henry Dockery
George Shuffler

R. Stanley
B-2
Big Booger
02:49
16 Sep 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley


George Shuffler
George Shuffler

R. Stanley
B-3
When You And I Were Young, Maggie / Red Wing
02:42
16 Sep 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley


George Shuffler
George Shuffler

P.D.
B-4
Shout Little Lulie
01:51
13 Aug 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo

Henry Dockery
George Shuffler

P.D.
B-5
Five String Drag
01:52
17 Sep 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley


George Shuffler
George Shuffler

R. Stanley / George Shuffler
B-6
Snow Deer
02:30
17 Sep 1963
America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley


George Shuffler
George Shuffler

P.D.

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