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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(One Media Publishing no #)


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Clinch Mountain Echo

The Stanley Brothers - Old Time Songs

(Stanleytone STCD-5001) 2001


Old Time Songs

Average Album Rating: 3.85
(Total votes 13)

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This CD contains a set that was recorded by Larry Ehrlich at the WCYB radio studio on 24th March 1956. A fan of the Stanley Brothers, from Chicago, he had travelled to Bristol to see the band.

Larry:- "This recording was made... after a long day of radio shows, barn dances, hog auctions and the like, Carter, Ralph, Curley Lambert, Ralph Mayo and I went to WCYB studios around midnight where I set up a mike, asked the Stanley's to sing some of the old traditional songs and turned on the tape recorder."

The recording features many 'oldies' that the Stanley's hadn't at that time recorded, and is quite a relaxed, informal session. Ralph picks mandolin on East Virginia Blues and apparently Curley Lambert's absence on the latter tracks is explained by him having fallen asleep underneath the studio's piano!

Larry didn't have to pay anything to make the recording[1] and much later Ralph released it on CD and sold through his fan-club and at gigs. It was also re-released in 2004 as An Evening Long Ago on Columbia/DMZ, with a slightly longer running time (47:30 mins). The timing difference between the two seems to be fractionally different playback speed of the original tape (about 2%). I can't discern any difference otherwise.

I presume that this is the same Larry Ehrlich, who is co-credited as producer on Ralph's 2002 Ralph Stanley and 2006 A Distant Land To Roam Columbia/DMZ albums.

The Stanleytone CD comes with extensive liner notes by Gary B. Reid.

  • Carter Stanley: guitar, vocal
  • Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocal
  • Curley Lambert: mandolin
  • Ralph Mayo: fiddle

 

For more detailed breakdown and background to the session, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 58-59 and 75-76.

 

Track:
Title:
Time:
Date:
Original Source:
A-1
Handsome Molly
01:57
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

P.D.
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-2
East Virginia Blues
03:05
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

A.P. Carter
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-3
The Story Of The Lawson Family
04:56
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

Walter 'Kid' Smith
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-4
Dream Of A Miner's Child
02:42
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

Robert Donnelly / Will Geddes
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-5
Come All You Tenderhearted
03:18
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

P.D.
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-6
Poor Ellen Smith
02:15
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

P.D.
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-7
Darling Do You Know Who Loves You
02:50
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

Billy Cox
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-8
Shout Little Lulie
00:55
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

P.D.
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-9
Bound To Ride
02:31
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

Arthur Leroy Smith
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-10
Meet Me Tonight
03:35
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

Joseph Augustine Wade
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-11
My Long Skinny Lanky Sarah Jane
01:44
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

R. Stanley
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-12
Little Bessie
00:51
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

P.D.
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-13
Train 45
02:52
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

G.B. Grayson
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-14
John Henry
01:16
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

P.D.
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-15
Little Birdie
01:36
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

P.D.
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-16
Drifting Too Far From The Shore
03:12
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

Charles E. Moody
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-17
Orange Blossom Special
01:49
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

Ervin T. Rouse
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-18
Nine Pound Hammer
02:22
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

P.D.
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-19
Feast Here Tonight
01:57
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

Pete Kirby
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
A-20
Tragic Love
01:50
24 Mar 1956
WYCB Radio Studio

Buddy Dee
  Gtr Bjo Fid Mnd      
  Carter Stanley
Ralph Stanley
Ralph Mayo
Curley Lambert
     
Other artwork / related images:
Rear Cover CD Tray Booklet Picture L-R: Ralph, Curley Lambert and Carter Booklet Picture: Ralph Mayo

[1] email from Larry Ehrlich quoted in David W. Johnson's book 'Lonesome Melodies - The Lives And Music Of The Stanley Brothers' (p.128)

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

Ralph II ralph2.com

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(Gusto/King KG 0335-2)


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