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

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(No label MRCCD1002)


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V/A - High Lonesome: The Story Of Bluegrass Music

(Shanachie ???) 1994. Reissued on DVD Shanachie 604) 1999


High Lonesome: The Story Of Bluegrass Music (VHS)

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This is probably the finest bluegrass documentary film that has ever been made. Detailing the history and development of bluegrass music and it's Appalachian roots, it weaves togther a seamless mix of artist interviews plus archive & newly filmed footage with a superb narrative by Mac Wiseman.

Rachael Liebling told 'Bluegrass Unlimited': "I wanted the film to be cinematic. I wanted people to experience the music the way I had. So I used images and sound and voice-over and sound effects in a way that all converged and evoked what the music was about."

"What got me interested in the music, even though I don't come from that background, is this kind of wistful longing for something that has past. Maybe for me it's a childhood memory; I think for the musicians it's their childhood. But it's also the childhood of this country, in some way - this rural farm upbringing that we've gotten so far from. Maybe that's why I could relate. But the way they sing about that has a certain sentiment. I also feel just about my life - looking back at what is lost. And I think a lot of people can relate to that."

"The film was really structured by song - finding the song that would convey an element of the story. For instance 'Jerusalem Ridge', I knew that what I felt that song was about was something that needed to be told in the film, almost like a chapter - so I'd listen to it and think, what images go with this? Well, this song's about the land being destroyed... so then I would look at the archival footage, over and over again. And that's how the whole film worked. It took two years to edit."[1]

As Mac says early on in the film, "In 1911 Bill Monroe was born in Western Kentucky, the story of bluegrass is the story of his musical legacy". As one would expect, there is plenty of coverage of Monroe, including the Big Mon's visit to his old home in Rosine prior to it's restoration. Excerpts of sixteen of Monroe's recordings can be heard, along with archive footage from 1955, the Fincastle 1965 festival and an Opry performance from 1969. Rachael also filmed four of Monroe's songs at his Bean Blossom festival in June 1989, followed by a visit to Rosine where he played Going Across The Sea, a tune Monroe had learnt from his Uncle Pen, but hadn't previously recorded. Another three Monroe tracks were also filmed later on at the Bell Cove Club in Henderson, Tn.[2]

Although Bill Monroe music and it's development form the core of the film, Ralph and the CMB's are featured on two live extracts from the Wind Gap festival on 10th June 1989, with part of I'm Willing To Try and Room At The Top Of The Stairs. Additionally, Ralph pops up as one of the interviewees, and sings Village Churchyard & picks a bit of clawhammer on his Cuttin' The Cornbread. Curly Ray Cline also talks briefly about his country upbringing and plays a bit of Sourwood Mountain.

Archive footage of Ralph from the 1971 Camp Springs festival film Bluegrass Country Soul is also used with a snippet of Man Of Constant Sorrow.

The Stanley Brothers are also represented with part of Worried Man Blues from the Pete Seeger Rainbow Quest show.

Other Stanley related material includes incidental use of sections of: Gloryland from Ralph's Something Old, Something New LP; John Henry from A Man And His Music; Nobody's Love Is Like Mine from The Stanley Sound Around The World; The Fields Have Turned Brown from the I Want To Preach The Gospel LP; and The Stanley Brothers Meet Me By The Moonlight (aka Meet Me Tonight) which is a live recording from the 3rd June 1956 show at Shenandoah Valley Bowl, Edinburg, Va. That had also been issued on the Together For The Last Time LP and Stanley Series, Vol. 2 No. 1 LP/CD.

Other artists featured included Jim & Jesse, Jimmy Martin, The Osborne Brothers, Mac Wiseman, Seldom Scene, Nashville Bluegrass Band, and Alison Krauss.

The film was first premiered at the Anthology Film Archives in New York in Nov. 1991 and at the IBMA's 'International Bluegrass Music Museum' in Owensboro in '92 - Sat. Sept. 26th[2, 3] It got further showings at a number of festivals and won six awards, including a Gold Plaque Award at the Chicago International Film Festival, Best Feature Documentary at the Atlanta Film Festival, a Silver Award for Independent Feature at the Houston Film Festival, a Red Ribbon at the American Film Festival, an Indie Award from the National Association of Independent Record Distributors and Manufacturers, and a CINE Golden Eagle Award. In 1994 it got limited distribution at some art theaters and was released on VHS in August 1994.[2]

Although some of the archive footage isn't as good as later DVDs, such as the Pete Seeger show and the Camp Springs 1971 festival, this is so well put together and will please any life long bluegrass fan, or bluegrass newbie alike.

To accompany the VHS release there was soundtrack CD High Lonesome with Ralph's Gloryland, The Fields Have Turned Brown and The Stanley Brothers Meet Me By The Moonlight (aka Meet Me Tonight).

CMB Personnel on the Wind Gap festival 10th June 1989:-

  • Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocals
  • Sammy Adkins: guitar, vocals
  • Jr Blankenship: lead guitar
  • Curly Ray Cline: fiddle
  • Jack Cooke: bass
  • Bobby Ray Honeycutt: guitar
  • Ralph Stanley II: guitar

PS: The Wind Gap performance by Ralph includes an extra guitar player, Bobby Ray Honeycutt from North Carolina. He later played in the Lonesome Mountain Boys who appeared on the Cumberland Highlanders show with a young Landon Fitzpatrick. You can find a few of their numbers on youtube, which are very much in the Stanley vein and feature Landon's cracking 'Stanley style' banjo work. Landon tells us that Ralph used to let Bobby tag along with the band on occassions.

 

Track:
Artist:
Title:
Date:
DVD
(1:34:59)
A-1
????
????
c19??

??
A-2
Bill Monroe
A Voice From On High
c19??

Bill Monroe / Bessie Maudlin
A-3
Bill Monroe
I'm Going Back To Old Kentucky
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-4
Almeda Riddle
Chick A-Li-Lee-O
c19??

P.D.
A-5
Bill Monroe
Scotland
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-6
Mac Wiseman
I Wonder How The Old Folks Are At Home
c19??

A.P. Carter
A-7
W.M. Step
Bonaparte's Retreat
c19??

P.D.
A-8
Bill Monroe
Goin' Across The Sea
c19??

P.D.
A-9
Bill Monroe
Uncle Pen
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-10
Ralph Stanley
I'm Willing To Try
10 Jun 1989

David Marshall / Bob Fleming
A-11
Ralph Stanley
Village Churchyard
10 Jun 1989

P.D.
A-12
Ralph Stanley
Gloryland
23 Feb 1971

Addra McClellan
A-13
The Old Harp Singers
Shape-Note Scales
c19??

P.D.
A-14
Bill Monroe
Danny Boy
c19??

P.D.
A-15
Bill Monroe
Jerusalem Ridge
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-16
Group at Cumins State Farm
Rock Island Line
c19??

P.D.
A-17
Jesse Bradley & Group
Hammer, Ring
c19??

P.D.
A-18
Uncle John Scruggs
Little Log Cabin In The Lane
c19??

P.D.
A-19
Eddie Thomas & Carl Scott
Tomorrow
c19??

???
A-20
Butch Cage & Willie B. Thomas
Jelly Roll
c19??

P.D.
A-21
Bill Monroe
Sugarloaf Mountain
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-22
Bill Monroe
Muleskinner Blues
c19??

Jimmy Rodgers
A-23
Nashville Bluegrass Band
Angeline The Baker
c19??

P.D.
A-24
Curly Ray Cline
Sourwood Mountain
10 Jun 1989

P.D.
A-25
Ralph Stanley
John Henry
23 Mar 1973

P.D.
A-26
Ralph Stanley
Nobody's Love Is Like Mine
18 Feb 1973

C. Stanley
A-27
Jim & Jesse
I Want To Be Loved But Only By You
c19??

Johnny Bailes / Walter Bailes
A-28
Jimmy Martin
Sunny Side Of The Mountain
c19??

Harry C. McAuliffe / Bobby Gregory
A-29
Bill Monroe
Sally Goodin
c19??

P.D.
A-30
Bill Monroe
Brown County Jamboree Barn
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-31
Ralph Stanley
Cuttin' The Cornbread
c19??

R. Stanley
A-32
Bill Monroe
Travelin' Blues
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-33
Bill Monroe
Cheyenne
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-34
Jimmy Martin
Twenty Twenty Vision
c19??

Joe Allison / Milton Estes
A-35
Bob Wills
I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby
c19??

Dorothy Fields / Jimmy McHugh
A-36
Mac Wiseman
Prisoner's Song
c19??

Guy Massey
A-37
Ted Daffan
Over The Hills
c19??

Ted Daffan
A-38
Bessie Smith
Do Your Duty
c19??

W. Wilson
A-39
Louis Graveure
Che Gelida Manina
c19??

Puccini
A-40
Bing Crosby
My Kind Of Love
c19??

J. Trent
A-41
Duke Ellington
Black And Tan Fantasy
c19??

Bub Miley / Duke Ellington
A-42
Nashville Bluegrass Band
Last Night I Dreamed Of Loving You
c19??

Hugh Maffatt
A-43
The Seldom Scene
Muddy Water
c19??

Phil Rosenthal
A-44
Bill Monroe
I'm Blue I'm Lonesome
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-45
Ralph Stanley
The Fields Have Turned Brown
22 Mar 1971

C. Stanley
A-46
Bill Monroe
Wayfaring Stranger
c19??

P.D.
A-47
????
????
c19??

??
A-48
Coon Creek Girls (?)
How Many Biscuits Can You Eat This Morning
c19??

??
A-49
????
????
c19??

??
A-50
????
Square Dance
c19??

??
A-51
Bill Monroe
This World Is Not My Home
c19??

P.D.
A-52
????
Opry recording
c19??

??
A-53
Uncle Dave Macon
That Old Carolina Home
c19??

P.D.
A-54
????
Opry credits
c19??

??
A-55
Bill Monroe
Blue Moon Of Kentucky
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-56
Bill Monroe
It's Mighty Dark To Travel
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-57
Stringbean
Run, Rabbit, Run
c19??

Ben Weisman / Fred Wise
A-58
Flatt & Sruggs
Randy Lynn Rag
c19??

Earl Scruggs
A-59
Bill Monroe
Bluegrass Breakdown
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-60
Flatt & Scruggs
Bluegrass Breakdown
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-61
Bill Monroe
Blue Grass Stomp
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-62
Bill Monroe
Travelin' This Lonessme Road
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-63
Bill Monroe
When The Golden Leaves Begin To Fall
c19??

Albert Price (aka Bill Monroe)
A-64
Bill Monroe
Heavy Traffic Ahead
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-65
Bill Monroe
Roanoke
c19??

Joe Ahr (aka Bill Monroe)
A-66
Flatt & Scruggs
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
c19??

Earl Scruggs
A-67
Mac Wiseman
Rainbow In The Valley
c19??

P.D.
A-68
Jimmy Martin
Shenandoah Waltz
c19??

Clyde Moody / Chubby Wise
A-69
Stanley Brothers
Meet Me By The Moonlight
03 Jun 1956

Joseph Augustine Wade
A-70
Stanley Brothers
Worried Man Blues
Feb 1966

A.P. Carter
A-71
Eddie Fisher
Wish You Were Here
c19??

Harold Rome
A-72
Osborne Brothers
Roll Muddy River
c19??

Betty Perry
A-73
Elvis Presley
Heartbreak Hotel
c19??

Mae Bourne / Tommy Durden / Elvis Presley
A-74
????
????
c19??

??
A-75
Jim & Jesse
Johnny B. Goode
c19??

Chuck Berry
A-76
????
????
c19??

??
A-77
Bill Anderson
Still
c19??

Bill Anderson
A-78
Porter Wagoner
One Way Ticket To The Blues
c19??

Jack Keller / Hank Hunter
A-79
George Jones
White Lightning
c19??

J.P. Richardson
A-80
Osborne Brothers
The Kind Of Woman I've Got
c19??

Danny Walls
A-81
Bill Monroe
With Body And Soul
c19??

Virginia Staufer
A-82
Ian & Sylvia
You Were On My Mind
c19??

Sylvia Fricker
A-83
Country Gentlemen
Mrs. Robinson
c19??

Paul Simon
A-84
Seldom Scene
Little Georgia Rose
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-85
Flatt & Scruggs
Foggy Mountain Breakdown
c19??

Earl Scruggs
A-86
Eric Weisberg & Steve Mandell
Duelling Banjos
c19??

Arthur Smith
A-87
Flatt & Scruggs
Ballad Of Jed Clampett
c19??

Paul Henning
A-88
Stringbean
Crazy Vietnam War
c19??

Dave Akeman
A-89
Osborne Brothers
Rocky Top
c19??

Boudleaux Bryant / Felice Bryant
A-90
Bill Monroe
Going Up Caney
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-91
????
Parking lot jam from Bluegrass Country Soul
c19??

??
A-92
New Deal String Band
Love Potion Number Nine
c19??

Jerry Leiber / Mike Stoller
A-93
Bluegrass 45
Dueling Banjos
c19??

Arthur Smith
A-94
Jimmy Martin
Freeborn Man
c19??

Mark Lindsay
A-95
Ralph Stanley
Man Of Constant Sorrow
2-5 Sep 1971

R.D. Burnett
A-96
Osborne Brothers
Ruby
c19??

Cousin Emmy
A-97
Bill Monroe
Rawhide
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-98
Bill Monroe
Southern Flavor
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-99
Alison Krauss
Don't Follow Me
c19??

John Pennell
A-100
Ralph Stanley
Room At The Top Of The Stairs
10 Jun 1989

Randall Hylton
A-101
Mac Wiseman
Keep On The Sunnyside
c19??

A.P. Carter
A-102
Seldom Scene
I Know You Rider
c19??

P.D.
A-103
Nashville Bluegrass Band
Dog House Blues
c19??

Peewee King / J.L. Frank
A-104
Bill Monroe
There's An Old, Old House
c19??

George Jones / Harold Bynum
A-105
Bill Monroe
I'm On My Way To The Old Home
c19??

Bill Monroe
A-106
Bill Monroe
Sugarloaf Mountain
c19??

Bill Monroe
Other artwork / related images:
Rear Cover DVD Jacket
Wind Gap Festival June 1989 LR: Bobby Ray Honecutt, Ralph II, Ralph, Sammy Adkins and Jack Cooke
Ralph Stanley Curly Ray Cline (In the middle?)
Curly Ray Cline Ralph Stanley
Ralph Stanley Ralph, Sammy Adkins and Jack Cooke
Jr. Blankenship, Bobby Ray Honeycutt, Ralph II Stanley Ralph II. Bobby Ray Honeycutt and Ralph Stanley
Wind Gap festival advert 'Bluegrass Unlimited' May 1989 Film advert 'Bluegrass Unlimited' May 1994

[1] 'Lonesome No More: The Film High Lonesome' by Kurt Wolf, 'Bluegrass Unlimited' June 1994. (p.50-53)
[2] Neil Rosenberg and Charles Wolfe's book 'The Music Of Bill Monroe' (p.237-238)
[3] https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?72147-High-Lonesome-The-Story-of-Bluegrass-Music

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

Ralph II ralph2.com

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