The Stanley Brothers - Folk Festival

(Stanleytone ST-5003) 2001

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This 2xCD set is another album sold by Ralph at gigs and via his fanclub. The material covers three sets from the inaugural University Of Chicago Folk Festival in Feb 1961, plus one set from the Jan 1965 festival.

The 1961 material is excellent quality, and apart from the opening 'Theme' to their last set, is complete with all dialogue etc intact.

Material from the 1961 festival has circulated in recent years on the internet, including selections by George Armstrong (a Bagpipe medley!), Frank Warner, Frank Proffitt, Horton Barker and The New Lost City Ramblers. Other performers on the bill included Roscoe Holcomb, Elizabeth Cotton, Memphis Slim and Willie Dixon.

The programme of the event is also available on-line.^[1]

According to Gary B. Reid's liner notes, the 1965 material was recorded for WMFT Radio and had been circulating on tape for some time. A second set was also in circulation, but when compiling the CD the master couldn't be found. And the existing tape copies were deemed to be too poor in quality to be released. One track from this second set, a rare version of No More The Moon Shines On Lorena can be found on youtube... If anyone has a copy of the complete second 1965 set, please get in touch!!

The 1965 show, although the quality is poor in comparison to the 1961 tapes, is of particular interest as it includes a young Larry Sparks on lead guitar, and there's also a version of Sharecropper's Son, which the Stanley's (despite Carter's on-stage comments) never recorded. The version here is also performed in 'G' unlike Ralph's recording which is in 'A'.

The CD comes with a 12-page booklet with copious notes by Gary B. Reid, but the printed track listing is slighly incorrect, as the second CD divides the music into 19 tracks, not 20 as listed. Gary recently gave us permission to add his notes for this CD to the site, which you can download here (14.7Mb).

Three tracks from the 1961 concert have also appeared on compilations, with Come All You Tenderhearted, Little Birdie and Rabbit In A Log on Folkways 1964 LP, Friends Of Old Time Music; and Little Birdie and Rabbit In A Log on Classic Bluegrass From Smithsonian Folkways CD.

For more detailed breakdown and background to the shows, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 120-122, 152-154, 189-190 and 216.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] http://www.uofcfolk.org/images/UofC-Folk-Fest-Program-1961.pdf