The Stanley Brothers - Five String Drag / Shout Little Lulie

(King 5934) Sep 1964

---

The third in a set of three consecutive Stanley Brother's singles, (King 5932, 5933 and 5934) that appear to have been simultaneously released in Sep 1964.^[1] Both tracks are instrumentals taken from the Stanley's America's Finest Five-String Banjo Hootenanny LP.

Five String Drag is a neat banjo/guitar instrumental which Ralph and George Shuffler co-wrote. Tab for Ralph's break can be found on Gary Bates' (aka Stanleytone) photo page section on the banjohangout.

Shout Little Lulie was of course the first song Ralph's mother taught him as a child when she bought him his first banjo. It was often introduced as such on Ralph's shows, particulary in Ralph's later years, when he'd handed over banjo duties to Steve Sparkman and it'd become a feature of almost every gig. The song seems to have its originated from African American slaves, and although Ralph performed it as an instrumental, the song is a variation on Hook And Line.^[1] Ralph's mother didn't teach him the words to the song however... and on his much later version on Short Life Of Trouble: Songs Of Grayson And Whitter he apparently got the words from a C90 cassette Gary B. Reid had made for him of old '78s.^[2] The "Shout" in the title seems to mean "dance".

Both sides of the single can be found on The King Years, 1961-1965 4xCD box set.

For a detailed breakdown and background to the Stanley's sessions, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 169-170, 172, 202 and 203-204.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] See: http://www.tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Hook_and_Line
http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=53820
[2] See George Conklin's email on this old 'Google Groups' thread:- https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.music.country.old-time/ATTT1UtigL8