Ralph Stanley - Bluegrass

(Plantation Records PLP-57) 1983

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In 1983 Plantation records reissued the two LPs Ralph recorded for Jessup (Sing Michigan Bluegrass and Gospel Echoes Of The Stanley Brothers) split over three albums - each with 8 of the original 24 tracks, and having approx. 20mins of music per LP!

They were probably released to cash-in on the recent success of Ricky Skaggs, whose 1982 album Highways & Heartaches had topped the Billboard Country Charts. 1983 also saw Keith Whitley move to Nashville and sign with RCA. Indeed they are labelled "Collectors Series Of Historical Recordings" and feature Skaggs and Whitely's names prominently on the covers.

Plantation Records were run by Shelby Singleton ^[1] and as all the tracks are now shown as published by Shelby Singleton Music Inc, he presumably bought the rights to the albums/publishing from Jessup.

The cover photo's were taken by Ray Eggleston. (a) and (c) have different poses from (b) which was also used on the original Sing Michigan Bluegrass release.

1. Gospel Echoes Of The Stanley Brothers
2. Bluegrass
3. Sings Traditional Bluegrass And Gospel

For further information see the original LP pages linked above.

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

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

Other artwork / related images:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plantation_Records.