Larry Efaw & Ralph Stanley - I Worship You

(River Track Studios RTS-1314) 1988

---

This is another rare cassette with Ralph and the Clinch Mountain Boys backing Larry Efaw who sings lead. Eight of the ten tracks are versions of old Stanley Brothers numbers. The other two are versions of Lee Allen's You're Going Away which Ralph had cut on his Sing Michigan Bluegrass LP (and which the CMB's had backed Lee Allen on Songs Of Love And Tragedy); and a Larry Efaw original Light To Guide Me, which Ralph re-recorded in 1990 as City Of Gold on his Pray For The Boys CD.

The cassette was mentioned in the 'General Store' section of 'Bluegrass Unlimited' (December 1988) and the previous month's issue also carried a photo of Larry Efaw presenting Ralph a 'specially-handcrafted clock' in Canal Fulton, Ohio.

I'm guessing at the CMB line-up based on the tapes age... and Larry's vocals sound a bit like Buddy Moore (aka Hook n Beans).

In 2007 Larry Efaw and The Bluegrass Mountaineers released Clinch Mountain Tradition - A Special Tribute To The Stanley Brothers - a CDR featuring Junior Blankenship, Danny Lee Davis, John Rigsby and Steve Sparkman (with Ralph himself singing tenor on one track). On the Bluegrass Mountaineers website Larry's bio it also says that Ralph played on several of Larry's CD's... so there may be other recordings featuring Ralph.

A great big thanks to John Morris for getting in touch on this one, and for sending the scans & Flac files!

• Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocals
• Larry Efaw: mandolin, vocals
• Sammy Adkins ?: guitar
• Junior Blankenship: lead guitar
• Curly Ray Cline: fiddle
• Jack Cooke: bass

Other artwork / related images: