Ralph Stanley - Katy Daley / Will You Miss Me?

(Rebel F-315) 1971

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This 7" was recorded at one of the sessions for Ralph's Something Old, Something New LP on 30th June 1971.

Katy Daley is another of those songs which, within the bluegrass world, is synonymous with Ralph and the Clinch Mountain Boys... but it's history is more convoluted. Around 1961/2 former CMB, Paul 'Moon' Mullins was playing in The Bluegrass Playboys and attracted the attention of Nashville producer Paul Cohen, as Mullins recalled in 1975:- "He called me and wanted to know if we wanted to record. We had played some tapes for a fellow called Russell Simms and Paul Cohen had heard them and told us to get some material ready for an album. He sent me a poem, 'Come On Down The Mountain Katie Daly', and said 'See if you can write some music to this.' This poem had thirty-seven verses to it, and I took it and boiled it down to four verses and wrote the chorus and the music."^[1]

The Bluegrass Playboys album 'The World Of Bluegrass' (Briar M-108) 1963, sold well and a single released ahead of the album: Come Down The Mountain Katie Daly / This Heart Of Mine (Briar International 45-148) Dec. 1962,^[2] likewise attracted interest. Billboard reported in their 29th Dec 1962 edition: "For anyone who might be interested, there is a terrific tune by the Bluegrass Playboys on the Briar label. It's an old Irish folk song done up in fine style. It's titled 'Come On Down The Mountain Katie Daly' b-w 'This Heart Of Mine"^[3] Rather than crediting Paul 'Moon' Mullins however, the single showed song writing credits for Katie Daly as writen by Eamon O'Shea...

And as it turns out Eamon O'Shea had released Come Down The Mountain Katie Daly in Nov. 1961 on the Irish Glenside label.^[4] His version of the song was also mentioned in dispatches in the 3rd Feb 1962 edition of 'Billboard'^[5] and by the 29th Sept 1962 edition was being described in the Irish column as "the years most successful native waxing".^[6] Eamon O'Shea who copyrighted the tune in the US in 1962, was actually an alias. His niece recalled:- "Katie Daly was written and sung by my Uncle Eamon O'Shea, real name Herman Weight. Although his name is German, it was deemed more appropriate to use an Irish name. The name Katie Daly was based on his wife's Aunt in America at the time whose name was Katy Daly."^[7]

Will You Miss Me? is the old Carter Family song, which the Stanley Brothers had released on the John's Country Quartet/John's Gospel Quartet albums, and which Carter would often perform in the later Stanley Brothers gigs, as Ralph recalled:- "One thing I noticed and it sort of bothered me and got me worried: Carter started featuring a lot of Carter family songs in our shows. He done a beautiful slow rendition of 'Single Girl, Married Girl' to showcase George Shuffler on lead guitar. And now he was all the time wanting to sing the Carter's 'Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?' But he wasn't just payng tribute, and I could tell there was a bitter taste when he sang the words out, like the way old A.P. sang 'It'll Aggravate Your Soul'. He was making it his song, like A.P.'s story had become his story and it was like he already knew the ending:- 'Perhaps you'll plant a flower on my poor unworthy grave, And come sit alone beside me when the roses nod and wave'"^[8]

Will You Miss Me? was another of Ralph's and the CMB's popular numbers, and he re-recorded it for the Snow Covered Mound album in 1980 and as a duet with Pam Tillis on the 2001 Clinch Mountain Sweethearts CD.

PS: For 'Stanley Style' banjo fans, tabs for Ralph's break to Katy Daley and the brilliant syncopated "D" section of the 2nd verse can be found on Gary Bates's (aka Stanleytone) page on the banjohangout.

• Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocals
• Roy Lee Centers: guitar, vocals
• Curly Ray Cline: fiddle
• Jack Cooke: bass
• Ricky Skaggs: mandolin, fiddle
• Keith Whitley: lead guitar

Other artwork / related images:

[1] Frank and Marty Godbey - 'Bluegrass Unlimited' article 'Paul Mullins: Disc Jockey And Bluegrass Influence' (p.23)
[2] http://www.45cat.com/record/nc774652us
[3] https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=TRgEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT19&lpg=PT19&dq=bluegrass+playboys+billboard&source=bl&ots=7HDYuy78If&sig=YNv6vY1fMZO_UXxfmHYuWg0EzWo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjmrc7h7s_VAhXhAsAKHWpXC_sQ6AEIPzAE#v=onepage&q=bluegrass%20playboys%20billboard&f=false
[4] Eamon O'Shea Come Down The Mountain Katie Daly / The Leprechaun (Glenside EPW-272) Nov. 1961 - see: http://www.45cat.com/record/epw272
[5] https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hxcEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA18&dq=Come+Down+the+Mountain+Katie+Daly+-+O%27Shea,+E.&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi6tMi738_VAhUmKMAKHTU4DQsQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=Come%20Down%20the%20Mountain%20Katie%20Daly%20-%20O%27Shea%2C%20E.&f=false
[6] https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=j0UEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PT23&lpg=PT23&dq=Come+Down+the+Mountain+Katie+Daly+-+O%27Shea,+E.&source=bl&ots=fU17LdHytl&sig=g-OCzVsFurBy9egKQatRH4z5vE4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjT6d3H3c_VAhXsAcAKHSKICFIQ6AEIVzAM#v=onepage&q=Come%20Down%20the%20Mountain%20Katie%20Daly%20-%20O%27Shea%2C%20E.&f=false
[7] see http://www.bellsirishlyrics.com/katie-daly.html and http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=5231
[8] Ralph and Eddie Dean's book "Man Of Constant Sorrow" (p.235-236)