(Stanleytone STCD-5001) 2001
This CD contains a set that was recorded by Larry Ehrlich at the WCYB radio studio on 24th March 1956. A fan of the Stanley Brothers, from Chicago, he had travelled to Bristol to see the band.
Larry:- "This recording was made... after a long day of radio shows, barn dances, hog auctions and the like, Carter, Ralph, Curley Lambert, Ralph Mayo and I went to WCYB studios around midnight where I set up a mike, asked the Stanley's to sing some of the old traditional songs and turned on the tape recorder."
The recording features many 'oldies' that the Stanley's hadn't at that time recorded, and is quite a relaxed, informal session. Ralph picks mandolin on East Virginia Blues and apparently Curley Lambert's absence on the latter tracks is explained by him having fallen asleep underneath the studio's piano!
Larry didn't have to pay anything to make the recording[1] and much later Ralph released it on CD and sold through his fan-club and at gigs. It was also re-released in 2004 as An Evening Long Ago on Columbia/DMZ, with a slightly longer running time (47:30 mins). The timing difference between the two seems to be fractionally different playback speed of the original tape (about 2%). I can't discern any difference otherwise.
I presume that this is the same Larry Ehrlich, who is co-credited as producer on Ralph's 2002 Ralph Stanley and 2006 A Distant Land To Roam Columbia/DMZ albums.
The Stanleytone CD comes with extensive liner notes by Gary B. Reid.
For more detailed breakdown and background to the session, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 58-59 and 75-76.
Track: |
Title: |
---|---|
CD: |
(46:30) |
1 |
Handsome Molly |
P.D. |
|
2 |
East Virginia Blues |
A.P. Carter |
|
3 |
The Story Of The Lawson Family |
Walter 'Kid' Smith |
|
4 |
Dream Of A Miner's Child |
Robert Donnelly / Will Geddes |
|
5 |
Come All You Tenderhearted |
P.D. |
|
6 |
Poor Ellen Smith |
P.D. |
|
7 |
Darling Do You Know Who Loves You |
Billy Cox |
|
8 |
Shout Little Lulie |
P.D. |
|
9 |
Bound To Ride |
Arthur Leroy Smith |
|
10 |
Meet Me Tonight |
Joseph Augustine Wade |
|
11 |
My Long Skinny Lanky Sarah Jane |
R. Stanley |
|
12 |
Little Bessie |
P.D. |
|
13 |
Train 45 |
G.B. Grayson |
|
14 |
John Henry |
P.D. |
|
15 |
Little Birdie |
P.D. |
|
16 |
Drifting Too Far From The Shore |
Charles E. Moody |
|
17 |
Orange Blossom Special |
Ervin T. Rouse |
|
18 |
Nine Pound Hammer |
P.D. |
|
19 |
Feast Here Tonight |
Pete Kirby |
|
20 |
Tragic Love |
Buddy Dee |