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

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Take This Hammer
(Rebel SLP-1568)


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V/A - Masters Of The Banjo

A National Tour Of Traditional Banjo Styles

(Arhoolie CD 421) 1994


Masters Of The Banjo

Average Album Rating: 3
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This is a compilation of live recordings made during a 'National Tour Of Traditional Banjo Styles' organised by the National Council for Traditional Arts, in November 1993.

The tour presented several styles of banjo playing, with clawhammer and Irish tenor, two-finger, three-finger and melodic styles all on display. The tour also featured Ethiopoian, Seleshe Damessae singing in Amharic and playing his 'krar', a six string lyre which dates back to the ancient civilisations of the Nile.

Ralph:- "Seleshe would finger-pick that krar lightening fast, and he'd do some sort of talk-singing... We couldn't say much to each other, so we just talked through music. I got a kick out of Seleshe and his krar, and he got a kick out of my clawhammer... when I'd go out to do my part of the show he'd come out on stage and make a bow down to my banjo and sit right there at my feet. When I started playing, why, he would dance around and just have a time. Seleshe would hit the floor every time I played 'Shout Little Lulie'. He really thought it was it, and he would almost do somersaults and such onstage, the music made him so happy".[1]

It's a bit odd that Ralph commented on only being able to communicate with Seleshe through music - his English on the album is perfect, and he did spend twenty years in the US before returning to Ethiopia.[2]

November was a pretty busy month for Ralph, with approx eight of shows on the 'Banjo Styles' tour sandwiched between regular CMB appearances at clubs and festivals:-

  • 4th Nov - McLean, Va, (McLean Community Centre)
  • 5th Nov - (*) New Brunswick, NJ (New Brunswick Cultural Center)
  • 6th Nov - (*) Wilmington, De, (Grand Opera House)
  • 7th Nov - (*) Lowell, Ma, (Smith-Baker Center)
  • 9th Nov - (*) Easton, Pa, (Lafayette College)
  • 11th Nov - (*) Geneva, NY, (Smith Opera House)
  • 12th Nov - (*) Washington DC, (Baird Auditorium,Smithsonian Institution)
  • 13th Nov - (*) Annapolis, MD, (Maryland Center For Creative Arts)
  • 14th Nov - (*) Blue Bell, Philadeliphia Pa, (Science Theatre Montgomery County Community Centre)
  • 25th Nov - Myrtle Beach, SC, (24th Annual South Carolina State Bluegrass Festival)
  • 27th Nov - Lockland, OH, (Willard & Jean's)
  • 28th Nov - Clay City, Ky, (Kentucky Friends Of Bluegrass Club)

(*) 'National Tour Of Traditional Banjo Styles'

The CMB's didn't accompany Ralph on the tour, instead he was backed by a bluegrass all-star line-up, which make the recordings sound a little different and quite interesting:-

  • Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocals
  • Dudley Connell: guitar, vocals
  • Tony Ellis: mandolin, vocals
  • Laurie Lewis: fiddle, vocals
  • Jimmy Trivette: bass

It's notable too, that even on a 'Banjo' tour, one of Ralph's a cappella perfomances (Children Go Where I Send Thee) was also so good it just had to be included!

 

Track:
Artist:
Title:
Time:
Date:
A-1
Seleshe Damessae
The Eldest Of All (The Nile)
03:37
Nov 1993

??
A-2
Seleshe Damessae
A Family Quarrel On Sunday
03:17
Nov 1993

??
A-3
Seleshe Damessae
If You Come, Come; If You Go, Go
02:10
Nov 1993

??
A-4
Kirk Sutphin
John Brown's Dream
01:40
Nov 1993

??
A-5
Kirk Sutphin
John Brown's Dream
01:40
Nov 1993

??
A-6
Kirk Sutphin
Let Me Fall
02:26
Nov 1993

Larry Richardson
A-7
Kirk Sutphin
Yellow Rose Of Texas
01:58
Nov 1993

P.D.
A-8
Tony Ellis
The Wild Fox
01:54
Nov 1993

??
A-9
Tony Ellis
Wind Chimes And Nursery Rhymes
02:32
Nov 1993

??
A-10
Tony Ellis
Cherry Blossom Waltz
02:44
Nov 1993

??
A-11
Tony Ellis
Hand In Hand
04:14
Nov 1993

??
A-12
Seamus Egan
Bird In The Tree
02:32
Nov 1993

??
A-13
Seamus Egan
Charleston/Mason's Apron
06:08
Nov 1993

??
A-14
Seamus Egan
Lark In The Morning Medley
05:46
Nov 1993

??
A-15
Laurie Lewis & Dudley Connell
The Lover's Return
04:15
Nov 1993

??
A-16
Carroll Best
The Johnson Boys
01:59
Nov 1993

??
A-17
Carroll Best
McMitchen's Reel
02:07
Nov 1993

P.D. ?
A-18
Carroll Best
Say Old Man, Can You Play The Fiddle?
01:44
Nov 1993

P.D. ?
A-19
Will Keys
Mississippi Sawyer
02:21
Nov 1993

P.D.
A-20
Will Keys
Sweet Fern
03:30
Nov 1993

P.D.
A-21
Will Keys
On My Mind
03:05
Nov 1993

??
A-22
Will Keys
Evergreen
02:41
Nov 1993

??
A-23
Ralph Stanley
Nobody's Love Is Like Mine
02:11
Nov 1993

C. Stanley
A-24
Ralph Stanley
I'll Just Go Away
02:53
Nov 1993

C. Stanley
A-25
Ralph Stanley
Children, Go Where I Send Thee
02:31
Nov 1993

P.D. arr C. Love
A-26
Ralph Stanley
I Got A Mule To Ride / Rocky Island / Shout Lulu
04:23
Nov 1993

Donnie Joe Mullins / P.D. / P.D.
Other artwork / related images:
CD Tray Booklet picture

[1] Ralph Stanley and Eddie Dean's book 'Man Of Constant Sorrow' (p.437)
[2] http://musicinafrica.net/directory/seleshe-damessae

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

Ralph II ralph2.com

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