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:-

Another Night / Highway Of Regret
(Starday 466)


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Clinch Mountain Echo

Ralph Stanley - Brand New Country Songs

(King 1028) 1967/8


Brand New Country Songs

Average Album Rating: 4.4
(Total votes 15)

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Ralph's first album session after Carter's death took place on May 19th 1967. He then recorded the first Jalyn album (Old Time Music) in August and returned to King to finish 'Brand New Country Songs' on October 24th 1967.

The album contains three tracks co-credited to his late brother Carter. Sharecropper's Son had previously been performed in 1965 by the Stanley Brothers;[1] I'm Better Off Now That You're Gone had never been recorded by the pair, although it had appeared in a 1951 Stanley Brothers songbook;[2] and shortly after their 1966 European tour, Carter described Wonderful World Outside as "(the) first song I ever wrote on an airplane".[3] Faye McGinnis later recalled: "He had this thought in his head when he was over there in one of the countries with the high mountains and he looked out and (saw) how beautiful it was and all. And that's how the song started."[4]

Other tracks are contributed by Carter & Ralph's friend Gene Duty (see Sing Michigan Bluegrass), Wandall 'Wendy' Smith (see Sing Michigan Bluegrass and Hills Of Home) and Landon Messer.

In 1991/2 Ralph described how the instrumental Row Hoe came about:- "Curly Ray Cline and me wrote this on a trip, when we was out in California several years ago... We named this one after Curly Ray's rooster 'Row Hoe'."[5]

Earl Taylor and Jim McCall who were drafted in to help complete the recording line-up, deserve a mention too - their performances are top notch and add more than a flavour of Baltimore 'drive'.

Ralph later re-recorded several of the songs from this album on later studio albums: Hemlocks And Primroses, Poor Rambler, Sharecropper's Son and That Beautiful Woman were all re-recorded on 1976's Old Home Place LP; Wonderful World Outside appeared on Saturday Night / Sunday Morning; and both Wendy Smith's Sweet Sally Brown and Gene Duty's That Beautiful Woman appear on Ralph's Sings His Favorites Now and Then 2004 CD.

An essential Ralph Stanley album, the best way to hear it today is the 3xCD set Poor Rambler, which also has detailed liner notes by Gary B. Reid.

  • Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocals
  • Curly Ray Cline: fiddle
  • Melvin Goins: guitar
  • Jim McCall: bass
  • Earl Taylor: mandolin, harmonica

 

Track:
Title:
Time:
Date:
Original Release:
A-1
Sharecropper's Son
02:30
19 May 1967
Brand New Country Songs

C. Stanley / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
A-2
Hemlock And Primroses
02:59
19 May 1967
King 6139

Landon Messer
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
A-3
That Beautiful Woman
02:46
19 May 1967
King 6113

Gene Duty / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
A-4
Poor Rambler
03:02
24 Oct 1967
Brand New Country Songs

Curly Ray Cline / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
A-5
Lonesome
02:14
24 Oct 1967
Brand New Country Songs

Wendy Smith / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
A-6
Lost Train
02:09
19 May 1967
Brand New Country Songs

Curly Ray Cline[6]
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
B-1
Row Hoe
02:46
19 May 1967
King 6113

Curly Ray Cline / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
B-2
Wonderful World Outside
02:16
24 Oct 1967
Brand New Country Songs

C. Stanley / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
B-3
Sweet Sally Brown
02:17
19 May 1967
King 6139

Wendy Smith / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
B-4
Love Please Stay
03:14
24 Oct 1967
Brand New Country Songs

Melvin Goins / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
B-5
I'm Better Off Now That You're Gone
02:34
24 Oct 1967
Brand New Country Songs

C. Stanley / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
B-6
You Could Never Be True
03:02
24 Oct 1967
Brand New Country Songs

Gene Duty / R. Stanley
  Bjo Gtr Fid Gtr Mnd Bass
 
  Ralph Stanley
Larry Sparks
Curly Ray Cline
Melvin Goins
Earl Taylor
Jim McCall
 
Other artwork / related images:
Rear Cover Side One Side Two

[1] A recording of Sharecropper's Son from the 1965 University Of Chicago Folk Festival was later included on the 2xCD Folk Festival 2001.
[2] Liner notes to the 3xCD set 'Poor Rambler' (King K3CD-0951) 2002.
[3] Concert appearance song introduction quoted in [2].
[4] John Wright's book 'Traveling The High Way Home' (p.180)
[5] Homespun's The Banjo Of Ralph Stanley - From Old-Time To Bluegrass DVD.
[6] Lost Train is really Arthur Smith's Lost Train Blues.

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

Ralph II ralph2.com


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