The Stanley Brothers - Little Glass Of Wine / Let Me Be Your Friend

(Columbia 20590) Jun 1949

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The Stanley's second single for Columbia was recorded during their first session for the label and contains a re-recording of Little Glass Of Wine with Carter's original Let Me Be Your Friend.

Little Glass Of Wine had previously been recorded for on Rich-R-Tone RRT-423. See that entry for more info.

Let Me Be Your Friend is another of Carter's early originals, although it is very similiar to Bill Monroe's It's Mighty Dark To Travel^[1] and may have been another contributory factor to Bill leaving the label after his final session there in Nov 1949.

I was lucky to pick up a 7" DJ copy of this record, which I guess must have been one of the earliest 7" singles. It plays at 33 rpm rather than 45rpm and on the Little Glass Of Wine someone (perhaps at the original recipient at a radio station?) has written in pencil "This one describes a double suicide - What next!!" The DJ copy also doesn't list the regular catalogue number, which is kind of odd.

Thanks to Alex Childress for the 78 stock copy label photographs.

Both sides of the disc can be found on The Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers CD.

For a detailed breakdown and background to the Stanley's session, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 23-25 and 36.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] Neil Rosenberg and Charles Wolfe's book "The Music Of Bill Monroe" (p. 65)