Customer Reviews

Clinch Mountain Sweethearts

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Making a distinction between this recording and "pure" bluegrass seems beside the point to me. Ralph Stanley has simply assembled some of the very best female country/bluegrass vocalists around, matched them up with great tunes and produced a CD that spends A LOT of time on my stereo system. Iris DeMent and Ralph are terrific, so much so that I hope they record again together real soon. But then I would buy a CD by Iris DeMent and virtually anyone. Don't pass this album up, no matter what sort of music you prefer.

This is the third album of Ralph Stanley's with guests (or is it the fourth? - I think Saturday Night Sunday Morning was recorded as two separate albums) - and came about because the ladies were seriously under-represented on the earlier projects, yet clearly indicated a desire to record with Ralph. The success of John Prine's In spite of ourselves (featuring another stellar cast of ladies, also including Iris, Melba and Lucinda) would have dispelled any doubts about the viability of such a project.

Though under-represented, some notable ladies did appear on the previous albmus (Clinch Mountain Country and Saturday Night Sunday Morning), including Connie Smith (who also appeared on that John Prine album), Alison Krauss, Emmylou Harris. Patty Loveless, Rhonda Vincent and Laurie Lewis, so they leave the stage to others this time.

All the songs are beautifully sung and well chosen. On albums like these, your favorites tend to depend on which guests you like best, but there are so many here that I love, although Dolly is my favorite singer.

Valerie Smith recorded a stunning debut album (Patchwork Heart), listed as Limited Availabilty by Amazon.com - a definite contender for my favorite bluegrass album. I haven't heard her second, Turtle wings.

It's great to see Jeannie Seely back in the recording studio, singing a lovely version of I'm ready to go.

Kristi Stanley (Ralph's daughter-in law) makes her recording debut here, and acquits herself well. It remains to be seen whether she records anything of her own.

Patty Mitchell, who also puts in a great performance, was once a member of the Dixie Chicks. Their music pre-Natalie was very different, much more solidly traditional (way off the mainstream - I could never imagine a major label wanting them), as evidenced on their Little ol' cowgirl album, one of three unavailable early albums, not listed by Amazon.com.

Then there's Pam, Maria, Sara, Gail, Joan, Gillian and the five in my headline .... each and every one of them makes a magnificent contribution. For Iris fans, there's a real treat - she gets to do two songs.

So there you have it - a great bluegrass album of love songs, featuring fifteen magnificent ladies, some world-famous like Dolly and Joan, some complete unknowns like Patty and Kristi and the rest somewhere in between, yet all putting in strong enough performances such that nobody really stands out from the rest - and that makes for a great album.

I have had in my collection for decades the numerous albums the Stanley Brothers cut for Starday, King and Gusto in the fifties and sixties. However, I'll admit it wasn't until Ralph Stanley's resurrection in popularity with the whole "O Brother" phenomenon that I began noticing his more recent labums.

The premise to this 2001 Rebel release was simple: Find some of the best female vocalists in the business and revisit some of the old Stanley Brothers classics. I was skeptical at first, but after the first notes of "Ridin' That Midnight Train" with Iris DeMent, any misgivings I had disappeared.

Although no less moving, Stanley performs "Oh, Death" with Gillian Welch--not a capella, but with the backing of the Clinch Mountain Boys. Other highlights are Dolly Parton's version of "Loving You Too Well," Sara Evans' "Are You Tired of Me, Darling," Lucinda Williams' "Farther Along" and Valerie Smith's "I'll Remember You in My Prayers." Truth to tell, these are are all lovingly performed songs.

As the reigning patriarch of bluegrass, it's encouraging to see Ralph Stanley (who was 73 when these recordings were made) not only receive the recognition he deserves but for helping pass the torch so bluegrass will continue to thrive into the 21st Century. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

How can any album go wrong with Ralph Stanley at the helm! These albums that have been created with Stanley and friends will go through many generations of music listeners as the best that bluegrass has to offer....I love ya Ralph....

I concur with the previous reviewer in that this album smacks a bit too much of "crossover." I do consider myself to be a bluegrass buff (not necessarily a purist...as I like Alison Krauss, but I do know "the real thing" when I hear it) and this just has a bit too much slick Nashville polish on some of the tracks.

Standout tracks include the rollicking "Little Willie" with Patty Mitchell which is just right, nice beat and just the right amount of twang. For me the surprise gem was "Loving You Too Well" with Dolly Parton. I had always thought of a lot of Dolly's music as kind of silly, but she really shines through here. "I'm Ready to Go" with Jeannie Seely is another top notch inclusion (would it be a bluegrass album without at least one gospel number?)

Its not so much that some tracks are bad, its just that they aren't that good. When some of these non-bluegrass voices are stacked next to Ralph Stanley's its pretty easy to figure out who the genuine article is. Everyone does an admirable job, but for many you can tell this project is just an aside or an interesting diversion, you can tell bluegrass is not in their soul like it is in Ralph's.

I do agree that this album has great crossover potential and hopefully will win many bluegrass "converts."

(And one final note...I didn't deduct points for it...but this has got to be one of the worst album covers in the whole history of albums!)

So much has already been written about the Ralph Stanley "revival" that I just want to comment briefly on what I consider the outstanding cuts on this album. Iris DeMent and Joan Baez made the music memorable for me. These ladies can do no wrong and elevate the level of whomever they join. Dolly Parton is also a treasure, but I was a bit disappointed with the selection featuring her. Overall, an impressive experience in Bluegrass.

This is a wonderful album. Ralph Stanley shines as he sings love songs andgospel songs, some old, some new. The version of "Angel Band" on this album will make your hair stand on end - it's that beautiful and moving. This album is sure to be a Grammy winner.

One of the best CD's I have heard in a long time! Ralph Stanley's Voice gets better and better with time.

In a recent DVD review of the now mountain music movie classic, George Clooney's "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?", I mentioned in passing the name of the artist under review here, Ralph Stanley. I also noted that this grand master of mountain music as it derived from The Carter Family strain was eminently worthy of a separate review on his own merits. I make amends here. I think that this settles all debts by all parties.

That said, the following excerpt from that above-mentioned review can be used here to set the tone for a look at Ralph Stanley's work here:

"Sometimes a revival of a musical form, like the "talking blues", that highlighted the urban folk revival of the early 1960's is driven by a social need. In that case it was to provide a format for the "glad tidings" that a new political and social movement was a-bornin'. In the case of the revival several years ago of what is called "mountain music" it was the films "The Song Catcher" and, more importantly, the very popular movie starring George Clooney " O Brother, Where Art Thou?" The CD under review is a compilation of music from that movie, a not unnatural tie-in in the modern entertainment business. The movie deserves a separate review, however, this CD can stand on its own as a very nice cross section of "mountain music", some familiar most not so.

Without straining credulity "mountain music" is the music of the simple folk of Appalachia, those who worked hard in the coal mines, on the hard scrabble farms and in the isolated mills of the region. This was their Saturday night entertainment and with the advent of radio was a unifying cultural experience. The songs "speak" of hard and lonely lives, the beauty of the then pristine countryside, the usual vagaries of love and lost and the mysterious ways of a very personal, if arbitrary, god. Throw in a few upbeat tunes reflecting the love of "corn" liquor, women and the sometimes funny side of coping with life's trials and tribulations and you have the mountain version of the folk experience. Sound familiar? Sure it does, except, it is done with simple guitar, a blazing fiddle and, hopefully, a full-bodied mandolin."

After that introduction it would seem hardly necessary to do more than list the outstanding tracks on this CD. Except one thing. Ralph has gathered around his "good old boy" self a virtual who's who of female country singers, female folk singers, female folk rock singers, female rock folk singers and ..., well you get the drift. Most of the names here have popped up in other reviews, or will do so in the future. Start with my "Internet Sweetheart", Iris Dement on "Ridin' The Midnight Train" and "Trust Each Other". Folk legend Joan Baez on "Weeping Willow". Maria Muldaur, early on from the Jim Kweskin Jug Band and now a "blues mama" extraordinaire in her own right, on "This Memory Of Yours". Melba Montgomery on the classic country song " You Win Again". Lucinda Williams on "Farther Along". And last but not least Gillian Welch on the Stanley national anthem "Oh Death". Did I kid you? This as an All-Star A-list (excepting only Emmylou Harris and Bonnie Raitt). How did the old coot do it? Enjoy.

Here's an album that might turn a lot of people onto Bluegrass. It's more concise and accesible than Stanley's other two star-studded projects, "Clich Mountain Country" and "Saturday Night/Sunday Morning". But it's still 'real' Bluegrass, as opposed to what artists like Allison Krause are putting out. As the title suggests, this album focuses purely on love songs, escewing the religious material and murder-ballads of the other collections. That's good news for music fans that are turned off by the "weirdness" of Bluegrass, because everything here is pretty safe. the downside is that this collection certainly won't meet the expectations of hardcore fans. Although it's always thrilling to hear Stanley sing and play, the collection is narrowminded and may smack of "cross-over potential" to the devoted. Still, it's hard to argue with most of the choices of guests, which seem better overall than past projects. It's enjoyable, but it may seem a little too commercial or mainstream to be truly great.