Clinch Mountain Echo

CMB Birthdays this month:

04 Feb 1972 - Steve Sparkman. Harlan, Kentucky.

04 Feb 1906 - Art Wooten. Born 'Arthur James Wooten' in Alleghany, North Carolina.

11 Feb 1960 - Junior Blankenship. Born at the old Grundy Hospital, Grundy, Va.

25 Feb 1927 - Ralph Stanley. Born 'Ralph Edmund Stanley' in Big Spraddle Creek, near Stratton, McClure, Virginia.

29 Feb 1932 - Jim Williams. Born 'James Lee Williams' in Wythe County, Virginia.


In Memoriam:

05 Feb 1980 - Chubby Anthony. Gainesville, Alachua, Florida.

08 Feb 2003 - Ralph 'Joe' Meadows. Silver Spring, Montgomery County, Maryland.

08 Feb 1987 - Harold 'Red' Stanley. Fentress, Tennessee.


For the Official Ralph Stanley II and the Clinch Mountain Boys site, visit:

Ralph II ralph2.com

Spotlight on:-

Freight Trains Ride Again, Vol. 1
(Wango 117)


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Clinch Mountain Echo

James Alan Shelton - Road To Coeburn

(Copper Creek CCCD-0154) 1997


James Alan Shelton - Road To Coeburn

Average Album Rating: 4.67
(Total votes 6)

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James' debut 'solo' instrumental guitar album for Copper Creek was recorded at a session at the Classic Studio in Bristol, TN on 12th March 1997.

The CD includes two originals by James, with the title cut Road To Coeburn being named after the road leading to Ralph's homeplace, and Tom's Creek a catchy flat-picked affair with guitar/mandolin/fiddle breaks. Both are also featured on James' 'Clinch Mountain Guitar' DVD, with notation/tab and where James gives a detailed breakdown / demonstration of how to play them. Indeed the album also garnered it's own tab/songbook issued by Mel Bay, so it must have generated some interest amongst the bluegrass guitar community in the late '90s.

Other tracks include Ralph's Five String Drag, where Steve Sparkman's banjo work is given equal prominence. This is another of Ralph's lesser known instrumentals, which is simple but catchy, and great fun to play. Several other tracks are in familiar Stanley territory, but the two Bill Monroe numbers (Ashland Breakdown and Goin' Up Caney) and standards like Angeline The Baker and Carter Family's My Dixie Darling work well given the 'stanley-esque' treatment. The final cut, is a finger-picked tune from Flatt & Scruggs 1968 'The Story Of Bonnie & Clyde' LP.

Original copies of this one are now hard to find but fortunately James reissued it on CD-R together with Guitar Tracks from 1999, as The Copper Creek Sessions in 2012.

  • James Alan Shelton: lead guitar
  • Ben Isaacs: bass
  • James Price: fiddle
  • John Rigsby: mandolin (a)
  • Steve Sparkman: banjo
  • Ralph II Stanley: guitar
  • Adam Steffey: mandolin (b)

NB: (a) John Rigsby plays mandolin on tracks (1 - 13) except (2) and (5). (b) Adam Steffey plays mandolin on tracks (2) and (5)

 

Track:
Title:
Time:
Date:
Original Release:
A-1
Tom's Creek
02:03
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

James Alan Shelton
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
A-2
Sunny Side Of The Mountain
02:44
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

Harry C. McAuliffe / Bobby Gregory
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
Adam Steffey
Ben Isaacs
   
A-3
Five String Drag
02:19
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

R. Stanley / George Shuffler
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
A-4
Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem
03:41
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

Robert F. Boyce
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
A-5
Angeline The Baker
02:31
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

Stephen Foster
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
Adam Steffey
Ben Isaacs
   
A-6
My Dixie Darling
02:09
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

Percy Wenrich / Arthur Gillespie
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
A-7
Goin' Up Caney
01:59
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

Bill Monroe
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
A-8
Road To Coeburn
02:19
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

James A. Shelton
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
A-9
Ashland Breakdown
02:30
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

Bill Monroe
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
A-10
Lonesome Reuben (aka Train 45)
03:07
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

P.D.
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
A-11
East Virginia Blues
02:30
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

A.P. Carter
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
A-12
I Saw The Light
02:52
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

Hank Williams
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
A-13
Highway's End
02:40
12 Mar 1997
Road To Coeburn

Randy Scruggs / Earl Scruggs / Lester Flatt
  Ld Gtr Gtr Bjo Mnd Bs    
  James Alan Shelton
Ralph Stanley II
Steve Sparkman
John Rigsby
Ben Isaacs
   
Other artwork / related images:

For the Official Ralph Stanley II and the Clinch Mountain Boys site, visit:

Ralph II ralph2.com

Spotlight on:-

A Vision
(Sugar Hill SH-CD 3873)


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A Life Of Constant Sorrow
alifeofsorrow.com

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Ralph Stanley Museum
ralphstanleymuseum.com

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Hills Of Home Festival
drralphstanleyfestival.com

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Rebel Records
rebelrecords.com

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