Ralph Stanley - Brand New Country Songs

(King 1028) Jan. 1968

---

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.

That Beautiful Woman / Row Hoe (King 6113) was released prior to the LP, which itself came out in the first week of Jan. 1968. The single features an un-dubbed version of That Beautiful Woman, and as Dec. 1967 Fan Club Newsletter only mentions this 7" and the LP, I presume that the Hemlock And Primroses / Sweet Sally Brown (King 6139) 45 was released after the LP. It seems likely that overdubbed tenor vocal on the LP version of That Beautiful Woman would have been done on the 24 Oct 1967 recording session.^[5] Unfortunately it hasn't been reissued, but it can be found on youtube.

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'."^[6]

Lost Train is re-badged version of Arthur Smith's Lost Train Blues. Smith spent about a year living with the Cline household & was had big early influence on Curly Ray and Charlie Cline.

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

Other artwork / related images:

---

[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] See the December 1967 Fan Club Newsletter.
[6] Homespun's The Banjo Of Ralph Stanley - From Old-Time To Bluegrass DVD.