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:-

The Stanley Brothers And The Clinch Mountain Boys
(Mercury FDX9059-60)


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Clinch Mountain Echo

Ralph Stanley - Songs My Mother Taught Me & More

"Clawhammer" Style Banjo

(Freeland Recording Co. FRC-CD-655) 1997


Songs My Mother Taught Me And More

Average Album Rating: 3.5
(Total votes 4)

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This is a reissue of the (Claw Hammer) The Way My Mama Taught Me cassette which Ralph released in the late 80s/early 90s, but with several additional tracks.

Eight of the original ten tracks are instrumentals with Ralph and Curly taking turns to play the melody. Dixie Land and Little Birdie feature vocals by Ralph.

Blue Eyed Verdie is a re-working of 'Black Eyed Suzie', and had also been recorded in 1971 on Curly Ray's Chicken Reel LP.

Track 11, Me And My Buddy is a studio recording that was originally released on David Marshall's Song Of Poverty LP in 1977, with Ralph playing clawhammer. David was one of The Marshall Family, and had several of his songs recorded by Ralph.

Tracks 12 to 18 are live recordings. The CD liner notes just say "The performances on this album date from the early 1970s into the 1990s and include a wide range of musicians who played with Ralph over those years"...

Track 12, a medley starting with I Got A Mule To Ride sounds to me like it features Kenneth Davies, Art Stamper and James Alan Shelton, which would indicate it dates from 1994-95... but I could be wrong.

The energetic and enthusiastic audience on Tracks 13 & 14 suggest they are from the same source, and as Curly Ray's The Farmers Girl was on his 1971 They Cut Down The Old Pine Tree... I'd hazard a guess this might be from McClure 1972 or one of the other early 70s tapes that were used on the Classic Stanley release. The guitar break and harmony vocals on Farmer's Girl sound like Keith Whitley, so this is perhaps from his second tenure with the band.

The guitar break on Track 15, Old-Time Pickin' could be Ricky Lee or Ralph 'Hank Smith'...

Track 18 is from a workshop that took place in the afternoon of the 10th March 1974 show at the Smithsonian Institution. See the Live At The Smithsonian Institution CD entry.

If anyone can identify the other dates/line-ups, please get in touch via the Contact form.

  • Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocals
  • Curly Ray Cline: fiddle
  • Jack Cooke: bass

 

Track:
Title:
Time:
Date:
Original Release:
A-1
Dixie Land
02:00
Unknown
Claw Hammer...

P.D. (?)
  Bjo Fid Gtr Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-2
She'll Be Coming Around The Mountain
02:22
Unknown
Claw Hammer...

P.D. (?)
  Bjo Fid Gtr Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-3
Uncloudy Day
02:15
Unknown
Claw Hammer...

P.D. (?)
  Bjo Fid Gtr Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-4
Blue Eyed Verdie
01:43
Unknown
Claw Hammer...

Curly Ray Cline
  Bjo Fid Gtr Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-5
Cripple Creek
01:56
Unknown
Claw Hammer...

P.D.
  Bjo Fid Gtr Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-6
Shout Little Lulie
01:45
Unknown
Claw Hammer...

P.D.
  Bjo Fid Gtr Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-7
Will The Circle Be Unbroken
02:25
Unknown
Claw Hammer...

A.P. Carter
  Bjo Fid Gtr Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-8
John Henry
02:15
Unknown
Claw Hammer...

P.D.
  Bjo Fid Gtr Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-9
Little Birdie
01:43
Unknown
Claw Hammer...

P.D.
  Bjo Fid Gtr Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-10
Cindy
02:01
Unknown
Claw Hammer...

P.D.
  Bjo Fid Gtr Bs      
  Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-11
Me And My Buddy
02:09
1977
Song Of Poverty

David Marshall
  Bjo Vcl - Bjo Gtr Bs    
  Ralph Stanley
David Marshall
??
Jack Cooke
 
 
 
A-12
Medley
- I Got A Mule To Ride, Rocky Island, Shout Little Luly
05:30
c1994
Unknown

P.D.
  Vcl - Bjo Bs Vcl - Gtr Ld Gtr Fid Gtr  
  Ralph Stanley
Jack Cooke
Kenneth Davies
James Alan Shelton
Art Stamper
Ralph II Stanley
 
A-13
Little Birdie
02:09
19??
Unknown

P.D.
A-14
The Farmer's Girl
02:53
197?
Unknown

Alton Delmore / Rabon Delmore
A-15
Old Time Pickin'
01:20
197?
Unknown

R. Stanley
A-16
Rocky Island
012:02
19??
Unknown

P.D.
A-17
Blue Eyed Verdie
012:02
197?
Unknown

P.D.
A-18
Interview & Medley
- Shout Little Luly, Little Birdie x2, Little Maggie x 2
06:34
10 Mar 1974
Smithsonian

P.D.
  Vcl - Bjo            
  Ralph Stanley
 
 
 
 
 
 

NB: Liner notes don't specify instruments/vocal parts for individual tracks.

Other artwork / related images:
CD Tray Signed Copy

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

Ralph II ralph2.com

Spotlight on:-

...And His Lonesome Pine Fiddle
(Melody MLP-17)


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