The Stanley Brothers - Bluegrass Gospel Favorites

(Cabin Creek CC-203) 1967

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Recorded on 5th June 1965, this was another 'quickie' album that didn't see the light of day until 1967.

With 22 songs featured and only a 30min playing time, the average track length on the album is about 1min 20sec, giving just enough time for a quick verse and chorus of each song.

According to Gary B. Reid's liner notes to the Rebel cassette reissue, the LPs were sold on Alex and Ola Belle Reed's radio show on WWVA in Wheeling, West Virginia, and were only available for a limited time.

A second album by Don Reno and Benny Martin is also entitled 'Bluegrass Gospel Favorites' (Cabin Creek 204) 1967, and features similar artwork except it is printed in blue rather than orange.

Jack Cooke: "... we recorded some for Alex Campbell, was on Cabin Creek. I believe. That album was kindly mixed, we wanted to mix it up. Probably some of us didn't know all of the songs, maybe a couple of verses of each one. That's a collector, now you know. Cabin Creek, you can't get that any more..."^[1]

This is another $100 plus item, and has only been reissued on cassette as 'Gospel Songs From Cabin Creek' (Rebel C-4303) 1990. The cassette too is also quite hard to find.

Five tracks from the album (Dust On The Bible, In The Sweet Bye & Bye, Where The Soul Never Dies, Lonesome Valley and Lord I'm Comin' Home) were reissued as part of the 'Country Blue Grass Jamboree' 2xLP (Mad-Bag Productions MB-288-289) 1977.

Thanks to Chris Wing for the scans of the cassette cover.

• Carter Stanley: guitar, vocals
• Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocals
• Jack Cooke: guitar
• Curley Lambert: mandolin
• Sonny Miller: fiddle

For detailed information on these sessions, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 190-191 and 217-218.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] John Wright's book "Traveling The High Way Home" (p. 136)