Clinch Mountain Echo

'On The Road' With Ralph Stanley

(Neon 1210-3) 2000

'On The Road' With Ralph Stanley
Rear Cover Neon Advert Bean Blossom - Evening Set
Bean Blossom - Evening Set Bean Blossom - Evening Set
Bean Blossom - Evening Set Ralph Stanley Interview
Bean Blossom - Afternoon Set Paramount Theatre with Dwight Whitley
Paramount Theatre with Dwight Whitley Paramount Theatre with Dwight Whitley
Bean Blossom - Afternoon Set Ralph II interview
Bean Blossom - Afternoon Set Bean Blossom - Afternoon Set
Bean Blossom - Evening Set Bean Blossom - Afternoon Set with 'Mr. D' aka Myron Dillman
Bean Blossom - Afternoon Set Bean Blossom - Afternoon Set

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This is the third video by Ralph on Dwight O. Bailey's "Neon" label, which was based in Kentucky and also released CD's by Dave Evans and Dwight Whitley. Unlike the other two videos, however, I don't think this one has been re-issued on DVD-R and the orignal VHS tapes aren't that easy to find.

The tape lasts 57:50 min with eleven tracks and interviews with Ralph on his tour bus, including one with Ralph II, who had recently released his Pretty Girls, City Lights CD. In total there's roughly 39 mins of music and 19 mins of interviews.

No indication is given of when the recordings were made, but I suspect they bulk of the tape is from the '34th Annual Bill Monroe Bean Blossom' festival which Ralph played on Saturday/Sunday 16th-17th June 2000. These include a mix of tracks taken from an evening show, where the fluorescent lights tend to make everything look yellow, and part of an afternoon set, which has better colour balance.

As with any VHS tape, picture quality isn't great, but it is shot with 2 or 3 cameras, and the sound quality is generally good.

One track, Precious Memories, features a guest spot by 'Mr. D' (aka Myron Dillman) on fiddle. 'Mr. D' was the father of festival organiser Dwight Dillman and always did a guest spot with Ralph at Bean Blossom. [1]

Also featured is one track from a concert at the Paramount Theatre in Ashland, Ky. 1997[2] with Dwight Whitley singing lead on The Angels Are Singing In Heaven Tonight. Dwight was one of Keith Whitley's brothers, and had his debut CD, 'Brotherly Love' out on Neon Records at the time.

The Bean Blossom material mainly concentrates on vocal numbers by either Ralph or Ralph II with only one CMB 'solo' spot - James Price's Orange Blossom Special.

Unusually, Ralph's clawhammer banjo medley which concludes the set, sees Ralph sing a fragment of Shout Little Luly: "Shout Little Luly, Shout your best, I'm gonna buy you a new red dress" / "Shout Little Luly, Shout your best, I think I'll buy you another dress".

Overall, this video gives a nice snapshot of Ralph at the turn of the millenium, and it certainly was an eventful year for him, what with being inducted to the Opry on 15th Jan 2000, and the 'Oh Brother' film being released later in the year sometime around Sept/Oct.

PS: Thanks to Todd Gracyk for his help in getting a copy of this one for me!

Track:
 Title:
1
 Katy Daly / Mountain Dew

Eamon O'Shea arr Paul Mullins
2
 Interview with Ralph

N/A
3
 Man Of Constant Sorrow

R.D. Burnett
4
 Little Maggie

P.D.
5
 Interview with Ralph

N/A
6
 It's Raining Here This Morning

Grandpa Jones
7
 Interview with Ralph

N/A
8
 The Angels Are Singing In Heaven Tonight

C. Stanley
9
 Interview with Ralph

N/A
10
 Pretty Girls, City Lights

Walden Dahl
11
 Interview with Ralph II

N/A
12
 Interview with Ralph

N/A
13
 Nobody's Love Is Like Mine

C. Stanley
14
 Interview with Ralph

N/A
15
 Orange Blossom Special

Ervin T. Rouse
16
 Interview with Ralph

N/A
17
 Ralph stage introduction by Ralph II

N/A
18
 Interview with Ralph

N/A
19
 Precious Memories

Johnnie Wright
20
 Rocky Island / Little Birdie / Shout Little Luly

P.D.
21
 Rank Stranger

Albert E. Brumley

Tracks: (1, 3, 4, 13, 15, 17) - Bean Blossom 2000 - Evening show.
(6, 10, 19, 20, 21) - Bean Blossom 2000 - Afternoon show. (19) with 'Mr. D' aka Byron Dillman on fiddle.
(8) - Paramount Arts Theatre, Ashland Ky (with Dwight Whitley).

 


Go To Top Of Page [1] In Mr. D's obituary on the 'Bluegrass Today' website James Alan Shelton commented on behalf of the band: "It was kind of a running joke that Myron Dillman, aka Mr. D., would tell the folks at Bean Blossom that he played with Ralph Stanley for something like 27 years. Of course he could never offer any real proof to back it up. Sometimes he would even give dates like ‘I was with Ralph for 27 years from 1948 to 1954,' which made his claims even funnier and drew lots of laughs from the audience. I think he told it so much that he finally got to believing it himself! In actuality he only got up and performed with us as a guest fiddler each time that we played at the Bean Blossom festival.

"Ralph always went along with the joke because he really liked Mr. D and Mr. D really liked Ralph. I think that Ralph Stanley was Mr. D's favorite performer and he made no bones about letting it be known to the other artists who came up there to play."

"Whatever song he chose to do on the show was always in the key of D and he would always kick it off on the fiddle. He was a wonderful friend to all of the Clinch Mountain Boys and will be greatly missed."
See: https://bluegrasstoday.com/myron-dillman-passes/
[2] There's no date on the tape, but in one of the interviews on the Legacy Continues video, it's mentioned that the Paramount Theatre with Dwight Whitley took play in the Summer 1997.