Clinch Mountain Echo

CMB Birthdays this month:

04 Feb 1972 - Steve Sparkman. Harlan, Kentucky.

04 Feb 1906 - Art Wooten. Born 'Arthur James Wooten' in Alleghany, North Carolina.

11 Feb 1960 - Junior Blankenship. Born at the old Grundy Hospital, Grundy, Va.

25 Feb 1927 - Ralph Stanley. Born 'Ralph Edmund Stanley' in Big Spraddle Creek, near Stratton, McClure, Virginia.

29 Feb 1932 - Jim Williams. Born 'James Lee Williams' in Wythe County, Virginia.


In Memoriam:

05 Feb 1980 - Chubby Anthony. Gainesville, Alachua, Florida.

08 Feb 2003 - Ralph 'Joe' Meadows. Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland.

08 Feb 1987 - Harold 'Red' Stanley. Fentress, Tennessee.


For the Official Ralph Stanley II and the Clinch Mountain Boys site, visit:

Ralph II ralph2.com

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Clinch Mountain Echo

Ralph Stanley - 50th Anniversary Collection

(Rebel REB-1996) 1995


50th Anniversary Collection

Average Album Rating: 4
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This compilation was issued to commemorate Ralph's 50th anniverary in 1996 as a professional musician. Ralph had first played on the radio with Carter in Roy Sykes' band in October 1946, after having been discharged from the Army the same month.

The CD features 25 tracks from 1971-1990 and has a playing time of 62:22 minutes. There is some duplication with the earlier retrospectives, Classic Bluegrass and Bound To Ride, but most of the tracks, appear on CD here for the first time.

Ten of the 25 tracks are drawn from the Roy Lee Centers era, with seven from Keith Whitley's tenure as lead vocalist, seven with Charlie Sizemore and just one with Ernie Thacker. Whereas the previous two compilations lean more on Ralph's very productive period before Roy Lee was murdered in 1974, this CD gives more of an overall view of the post-Stanley Brothers sound, Ralph developed.

The CD is no longer in print, but second hand copies are still fairly cheap.

The liner notes are by John Wright, author of the 'Traveling The High Way Home' book on Ralph, and include details of a typical recording session, contrasting with the major label extravagances of the '70s.

From the liner notes: "It was all very unspectacular," said former lead singer Charlie Sizemore, reminiscing recently about his own period of recording with Stanley in the late seventies and early eighties. "Ralph would have a work tape of a song. It might be some old preachers singing it or it might be some band singing it or it might be, you know, just a tape that the song was on. And I would type up the lyrics to it and bring them to the rehearsal, so we'd have something to go by. And Ralph did that a fair amount, too. He would type the lyrics or hand write them. He can hand write them so you can read them, since he actually comes from a time when people knew how to write.
"Then at some point he would say, it might be a week or two weks in advance or sometimes it was real close, he would say, 'Boys, we're going to record Wednesday. You guys come up to the house Tuesday night and we'd be there at the dining room table with a little cassette recorder sitting there on top of the table and we'd fiddle around with a song till we thought we had it right. Ralph would generally not do a lot of playing. I think he did this more for the singing. He wanted to hear the singing back, you know?
"So we would just sing and play into that recorder. And then we would listen to it back and if something was out of whack we would know it. Otherwise we would just go on to the next song and we'd go through twelve songs. And then the next morning we'd go in and record."

The artwork makes uses of gold-ink which looks impressive but doesn't scan too well on the computer...

 

Track:
Title:
Time:
Date:
Original Release:
A-1
Little Birdie
02:17
22 Mar 1973
A Man And His Music

P.D.
  Ld Vcl - Bjo Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Roy Lee Centers
Curly Ray Cline
Ricky Lee
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-2
Hemlock And Primroses
02:55
16 Feb 1976
Old Home Place

Landon Messer
  Ld Vcl - Bjo Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Keith Whitley
Curly Ray Cline
Danny Marshall
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-3
Old Richmond Prison
02:17
02 Apr 1986
Lonesome And Blue

Emmett Jr Barton / James Roy Barton
  Tn Vcl - Bjo Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Charlie Sizemore
Curly Ray Cline
Junior Blankenship
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-4
Hard Times
02:16
22 Mar 1973
A Man And His Music

P.D.
  Bjo Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Roy Lee Centers
Curly Ray Cline
Ricky Lee
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-5
Children Go Where I Send Thee
02:22
25/26 Mar 1975
Let Me Rest On A Peaceful Mountain

P.D. arr C. Love
  Ld Vcl Bt Vcl Tn Vcl        
  Ralph Stanley
Keith Whitley
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
 
A-6
Green Pastures In The Sky
02:29
10 Dec 1971
Old Country Church

Osburn Thorpe
  Ld Vcl - Bjo Gtr Fid Fid Ld Gtr Bs  
  Ralph Stanley
Roy Lee Centers
Curly Ray Cline
Ricky Skaggs
Keith Whitley
Jack Cooke
 
A-7
Flood Of '57
03:01
31 Aug 1971
Play Requests

C. Stanley / R. Stanley
  Tn Vcl - Bjo Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Roy Lee Centers
Curly Ray Cline
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-8
I'll Just Catch A Train And Ride
01:48
29 Mar 1978
Down Where The River Bends

R. Stanley
  Tn Vcl - Bjo Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Mnd Bs  
  Ralph Stanley
Charlie Sizemore
Curly Ray Cline
Junior Blankenship
Dan Marshall
Jack Cooke
 
A-9
Room At The Top Of The Stairs
02:03
02 Apr 1986
Lonesome And Blue

Randall Hylton
  Ld Vcl - Bjo Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Charlie Sizemore
Curly Ray Cline
Junior Blankenship
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-10
Clinch Mountain Backstep
02:21
31 Aug 1971
Play Requests

C. Stanley / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Roy Lee Centers
Curly Ray Cline
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-11
I'll Wear A White Robe
02:10
09 Mar 1979
I'll Wear A White Robe

Luther G. Presley
  Ld Vcl Bt Vcl Tn Vcl Bs Vcl      
  Ralph Stanley
Charlie Sizemore
Jack Cooke
Junior Blankenship
 
 
 
A-12
Snap A Finger Jesus
02:39
05 Dec 1990
Pray For The Boys

John Brenton Preston
  Tn Vcl - Bjo Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Ernie Thacker
Curly Ray Cline
Ralph 'Hank' Smith
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-13
Hills Of Home
01:58
25/26 Mar 1975
Let Me Rest On A Peaceful Mountain

Wendy Smith / R. Stanley
  Recitation Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Tn Vcl - Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Keith Whitley
Curly Ray Cline
Ricky Lee
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-14
Bootleg John
02:03
16 Feb 1976
Old Home Place

Marvin Charles Davis
  Ld Vcl - Bjo Bt Vcl - Gtr Fid Bs Vcl - Ld Gtr Tn Vcl Bs  
  Ralph Stanley
Keith Whitley
Curly Ray Cline
Danny Marshall
Jack Cooke
Ed Ferris
 
A-15
I've Got A Mule To Ride
01:47
17 Dec 1981
Memory Of Your Smile

Donnie Joe Mullins
  Tn Vcl - Bjo Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Charlie Sizemore
Curly Ray Cline
Junior Blankenship
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-16
Old Time Pickin'
01:48
23 Feb 1971
Rebel F-310

R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Mnd Ld Gtr Bs  
  Ralph Stanley
Roy Lee Centers
Curly Ray Cline Ricky Skaggs Keith Whitley
Jack Cooke  
A-17
Gloryland
02:42
23 Feb 1971
Something Old, Something New

P.D.
  Ld Vcl Bt Vcl - Gtr Bs Vcl Tn Vcl      
  Ralph Stanley
Roy Lee Centers
Keith Whitley
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-18
Oh Daniel Prayed
02:23
06 Feb 1985
I Can Tell You The Time

G.T. Speer
  Tn Vcl - Bjo Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Bs Vcl - Ld Gtr Bt Vcl - Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Charlie Sizemore
Curly Ray Cline
Junior Blankenship
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-19
Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem
03:54
12 May 1977
Clinch Mountain Gospel

Robert F. Boyce
  High Bt Vcl - Bjo Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Mnd Tn Vcl - Bs  
  Ralph Stanley
Keith Whitley
Curly Ray Cline
Troy 'Renfro' Profitt
Danny Marshall
Jack Cooke
 
A-20
Man Of Constant Sorrow
02:51
31 Aug 1971
Play Requests

R.D. Burnett
  Ld Vcl - Bjo Gtr Fid Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Roy Lee Centers
Curly Ray Cline
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-21
The Memory Of Your Smile
02:43
17 Dec 1981
Memory Of Your Smile

Ruby Rakes
  Bjo Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Charlie Sizemore
Curly Ray Cline
Junior Blankenship
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-22
Gold Watch And Chain
01:58
23 Mar 1973
A Man And His Music

A.P. Carter
  Tn Vcl - Bjo Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Roy Lee Centers
Curly Ray Cline
Ricky Lee
Jack Cooke
 
 
A-23
I Just Saw The Rock Of Ages
03:13
12 May 1977
Clinch Mountain Gospel

John B. Preston
  Tn Vcl - Bjo Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Mnd Bs  
  Ralph Stanley
Keith Whitley
Curly Ray Cline
Troy 'Renfro' Profitt
Danny Marshall
Jack Cooke
 
A-24
Traveling The High Way Home
02:07
12 May 1977
Clinch Mountain Gospel

Frankie Bailes / Walter Bailes
  Tn Vcl - Bjo Ld Vcl - Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Mnd Bt Vcl - Bs  
  Ralph Stanley
Keith Whitley
Curly Ray Cline
Troy 'Renfro' Profitt
Danny Marshall
Jack Cooke
 
A-25
Little Glass Of Wine
03:27
17 Dec 1981
Memory Of Your Smile

C. Stanley
  Ld Vcl - Bjo Gtr Fid Ld Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
Charlie Sizemore
Curly Ray Cline
Junior Blankenship
Jack Cooke
 
 
Other artwork / related images:
CD Tray Signed copy

For the Official Ralph Stanley II and the Clinch Mountain Boys site, visit:

Ralph II ralph2.com

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