(Rebel REB-1996) 1995
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: |
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A-1 |
Little Birdie |
02:17 |
22 Mar 1973 |
A Man And His Music |
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P.D. |
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Ld Vcl - Bjo | Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Roy Lee Centers |
Curly Ray Cline |
Ricky Lee |
Jack Cooke |
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A-2 |
Hemlock And Primroses |
02:55 |
16 Feb 1976 |
Old Home Place |
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Landon Messer |
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Ld Vcl - Bjo | Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Keith Whitley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Danny Marshall |
Jack Cooke |
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A-3 |
Old Richmond Prison |
02:17 |
02 Apr 1986 |
Lonesome And Blue |
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Emmett Jr Barton / James Roy Barton |
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Tn Vcl - Bjo | Ld Vcl - Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Charlie Sizemore |
Curly Ray Cline |
Junior Blankenship |
Jack Cooke |
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A-4 |
Hard Times |
02:16 |
22 Mar 1973 |
A Man And His Music |
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P.D. |
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Bjo | Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Roy Lee Centers |
Curly Ray Cline |
Ricky Lee |
Jack Cooke |
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A-5 |
Children Go Where I Send Thee |
02:22 |
25/26 Mar 1975 |
Let Me Rest On A Peaceful Mountain |
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P.D. arr C. Love |
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Ld Vcl | Bt Vcl | Tn Vcl | |||||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Keith Whitley |
Jack Cooke |
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A-6 |
Green Pastures In The Sky |
02:29 |
10 Dec 1971 |
Old Country Church |
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Osburn Thorpe |
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Ld Vcl - Bjo | Gtr | Fid | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | ||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Roy Lee Centers |
Curly Ray Cline |
Ricky Skaggs |
Keith Whitley |
Jack Cooke |
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A-7 |
Flood Of '57 |
03:01 |
31 Aug 1971 |
Play Requests |
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C. Stanley / R. Stanley |
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Tn Vcl - Bjo | Ld Vcl - Gtr | Fid | Bs | ||||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Roy Lee Centers |
Curly Ray Cline |
Jack Cooke |
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A-8 |
I'll Just Catch A Train And Ride |
01:48 |
29 Mar 1978 |
Down Where The River Bends |
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R. Stanley |
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Tn Vcl - Bjo | Ld Vcl - Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Mnd | Bs | ||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Charlie Sizemore |
Curly Ray Cline |
Junior Blankenship |
Dan Marshall |
Jack Cooke |
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A-9 |
Room At The Top Of The Stairs |
02:03 |
02 Apr 1986 |
Lonesome And Blue |
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Randall Hylton |
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Ld Vcl - Bjo | Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Charlie Sizemore |
Curly Ray Cline |
Junior Blankenship |
Jack Cooke |
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A-10 |
Clinch Mountain Backstep |
02:21 |
31 Aug 1971 |
Play Requests |
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C. Stanley / R. Stanley |
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Bjo | Gtr | Fid | Bs | ||||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Roy Lee Centers |
Curly Ray Cline |
Jack Cooke |
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A-11 |
I'll Wear A White Robe |
02:10 |
09 Mar 1979 |
I'll Wear A White Robe |
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Luther G. Presley |
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Ld Vcl | Bt Vcl | Tn Vcl | Bs Vcl | ||||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Charlie Sizemore |
Jack Cooke |
Junior Blankenship |
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A-12 |
Snap A Finger Jesus |
02:39 |
05 Dec 1990 |
Pray For The Boys |
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John Brenton Preston |
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Tn Vcl - Bjo | Ld Vcl - Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Ernie Thacker |
Curly Ray Cline |
Ralph 'Hank' Smith |
Jack Cooke |
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A-13 |
Hills Of Home |
01:58 |
25/26 Mar 1975 |
Let Me Rest On A Peaceful Mountain |
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Wendy Smith / R. Stanley |
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Recitation | Ld Vcl - Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Tn Vcl - Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Keith Whitley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Ricky Lee |
Jack Cooke |
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A-14 |
Bootleg John |
02:03 |
16 Feb 1976 |
Old Home Place |
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Marvin Charles Davis |
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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 |
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A-15 |
I've Got A Mule To Ride |
01:47 |
17 Dec 1981 |
Memory Of Your Smile |
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Donnie Joe Mullins |
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Tn Vcl - Bjo | Ld Vcl - Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Charlie Sizemore |
Curly Ray Cline |
Junior Blankenship |
Jack Cooke |
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A-16 |
Old Time Pickin' |
01:48 |
23 Feb 1971 |
Rebel F-310 | |||||||||||||||||
R. Stanley |
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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 |
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P.D. |
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Ld Vcl | Bt Vcl - Gtr | Bs Vcl | Tn Vcl | ||||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Roy Lee Centers |
Keith Whitley |
Jack Cooke |
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A-18 |
Oh Daniel Prayed |
02:23 |
06 Feb 1985 |
I Can Tell You The Time |
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G.T. Speer |
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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 |
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A-19 |
Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem |
03:54 |
12 May 1977 |
Clinch Mountain Gospel |
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Robert F. Boyce |
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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 |
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A-20 |
Man Of Constant Sorrow |
02:51 |
31 Aug 1971 |
Play Requests |
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R.D. Burnett |
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Ld Vcl - Bjo | Gtr | Fid | Bs | ||||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Roy Lee Centers |
Curly Ray Cline |
Jack Cooke |
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A-21 |
The Memory Of Your Smile |
02:43 |
17 Dec 1981 |
Memory Of Your Smile |
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Ruby Rakes |
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Bjo | Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Charlie Sizemore |
Curly Ray Cline |
Junior Blankenship |
Jack Cooke |
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A-22 |
Gold Watch And Chain |
01:58 |
23 Mar 1973 |
A Man And His Music |
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A.P. Carter |
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Tn Vcl - Bjo | Ld Vcl - Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Roy Lee Centers |
Curly Ray Cline |
Ricky Lee |
Jack Cooke |
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A-23 |
I Just Saw The Rock Of Ages |
03:13 |
12 May 1977 |
Clinch Mountain Gospel |
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John B. Preston |
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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 |
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A-24 |
Traveling The High Way Home |
02:07 |
12 May 1977 |
Clinch Mountain Gospel |
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Frankie Bailes / Walter Bailes |
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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 |
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A-25 |
Little Glass Of Wine |
03:27 |
17 Dec 1981 |
Memory Of Your Smile |
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C. Stanley |
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Ld Vcl - Bjo | Gtr | Fid | Ld Gtr | Bs | |||||||||||||||||
Ralph Stanley |
Charlie Sizemore |
Curly Ray Cline |
Junior Blankenship |
Jack Cooke |
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