The Stanley Brothers - Stanley Series, Vol. 2 No. 1

(Copper Creek CCSS-V2N1) 1984

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This edition of the Stanley Series is from a performance on the 3rd June 1956 at the Shenandoah Valley Bowl, Edinburg, Va. and features one of the classic CMB line-ups with Chubby Anthony on fiddle, Curley Lambert on mandolin and Doug Morris on bass.

According to the liner notes, several people taped the show, including Mike Seeger and Benny Cain. The source tapes used for the album, however, were recorded by the late Jeremy Foster and provided by Alice Gerrard. Sound quality is excellent, but often includes some noisy chirping birds, which was apparently due to a nest of robins in the roof above the stage! Also, quite a bit of the dialogue wasn't recorded, so it can seem a bit disjointed at times.

The performance however is amazing, with Chubby's virtuoso bluegrass fiddle being showcased on Orange Blossom Special and Leather Britches, and providing fluid breaks & fill-ins elsewhere. Carter and Ralph are also in fine form, with superb brother harmonies... and the band in general sounds very tight.

Most of the songs are from the Stanley's Mercury and Rich-R-Tone catalogues, but there are also a numbers which the Brothers hadn't recorded:- there's a faithful version of Bill Monroe's I Believed In You Darling, which Bill had only been released a few weeks earlier.^[1]; and Meet Me By The Moonlight (aka Meet Me Tonight/The Prisoner's Song) has sublime harmony vocals. Popularised by the Carter Family, it was later recorded by the Stanley's on their Blue Ridge single as Meet Me Tonight. Another track, I'll Be True While You're Gone, is sung by Curley Lambert and was originally released in 1942 by Gene Autry,^[2] Rabbit In A Log meanwhile is styled after The Monroe Brothers, and would later be recorded by the Stanleys on their John's Country Quartet Wango LP.

Tracks from this show have also resurfaced on a couple of albums with: I Believed In You Darling and Meet Me By The Moonlight on Together For The Last Time; and Rabbit In The Log on The Legendary Stanley Brothers Recorded Live, Vol. 2. Meet Me By The Moonlight was also featured on Rachael Liebling's excellent High Lonesome - The Story Of Bluegrass film and soundtrack CD.

The album comes with a 4-page A4 booklet with lyrics and details about the songs, plus an interview about the show with the organisers Ben & Vallie Cain. It was also reissued on CD (Copper Creek CCCD-2-1) 199? and (Copper Creek CCCD-5505) 1993. The 'CCCD-2-1' version comes with a fold out cover that duplicates the liner notes / interview. I think the 'CCCD-5505' version may a later version, as the cover is similiar to the later CD issues in the series.

• Carter Stanley: guitar, vocal
• Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocal
• Chubby Anthony: fiddle
• Curley Lambert: mandolin (a)
• Doug Morris: bass

NB: (a) Curley Lambert sings lead on I'll Be True While You're Gone.

For more detailed breakdown and background to the show, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 52-55, 59-60 and 76-77.

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