Wendy Smith & The Windy Mountain Boys - Carter Stanley (Will Lead That Great Band) / Saviour Guide Me

(Fortune 915F-0230) 1967

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Wandell 'Wendy' Smith was a native of Ranger, West Virginia and has been active in bands in the Detroit area since 1959. He first got bitten by the musical bug aged five, when seeing a show in 1938 by the Monroe Brothers, where Bill Monroe's mandolin playing captivated him. In 1966 he met Joe McKinney and they formed the Windy Mountain Boys. Shortly after Carter Stanley's death on 1st Dec. they recorded this tribute 7" to him. Wendy:- "We got a 45 out - that was after Carter (Stanley) died and I wrote a tribute, 'Carter Stanley will Lead That Great Band', and the other side was 'Saviour Guide Me', another one I wrote. They were on the Fortune label. After that tribute to Carter, Ralph asked me to write 'Hills Of Home'...^[1]

In adddition to Hills Of Home, Wendy would go on to have a bunch of songs recorded by Ralph including: River Underground, Daughter Of Geronimo, Sweet Sally Brown, Lonesome and Shotgun Slade.

You can hear a 320 kbps MP3 of Carter Stanley (Will Lead That Great Band) here.

PS: The Memorial issue of 'Stanley Standard' - the Stanley Brothers fan club journal made mention of this release in Fay McGinnis' introduction, which suggests that it may have been available from the fan-club, or that they included details of how to buy copies in with their subscription bumph.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] Marty Godbey interview / article with Wendy Smith in 'Bluegrass Unlimited' - April 1984 (p.31-32)