The Stanley Brothers - Sacred Songs From The Hills

(Starday SLP-122) Oct 1960

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For their second Starday album, the Stanley Brothers continued to make use of lead guitar, which had been introduced at their previous session for King in Sept. 1959. Fortunately, they also brought back in the fiddle/mandolin...

An inital album session took place at WNER-Live Oak Florida in Jan/Feb 1960 including a re-recording of Mother No Longer Awaits Me At Home, which they'd originally cut for Rich-R-Tone in 1947. All four tracks cut at this session were released in Mar 1960 in a picture sleeve 7" EP: A Few More Seasons / Where We'll Never Die // In Heaven We'll Never Grow Old / Mother No Longer Awaits Me At Home (Starday SEP-123) 1960.

A second session a few months later in May/Jun took place at Magnum Studio, Jacksonville Fl.^[1] and many of the selections, would once again form the basis of the Stanley gospel repertoire, with many titles being re-recorded several times by Ralph and the Clinch Mountain Boys in later years.

Rank Stranger in particularly noteworthy, and has gone on to be come one of bluegrass' most enduring songs. In 2009 the US Library Of Congress added the recording to their National Recording Registry, which is some honour considering only 25 titles are chosen each year, showcasing the range and diversity of the American recorded sound heritage.

Prior to the albums release, a further single was issued with two songs from the May sessions: Rank Stranger / Gathering Flowers For The Master's Bouquet (Starday 506) Aug 1960.

'Sacred Songs From The Hills' was also issued in the UK (Melodisc MLP-12-122) 1961 and reissued on CD (Gusto/King 0122) 1988. Nowadays it is probably best found on The Early Starday/King Years, 1958-1961 4xCD box set.

For detailed information on these songs / sessions, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 105-106, 108-109, 144 and 149.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] This liner notes to The Early Starday/King Years, 1958-1961 give slightly different session dates for this album than Gary B. Reid's later The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book...