Customer Reviews

Ralph Stanley

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The fiddles, guitars and banjos here represent bluegrass music, but Ralph Stanley's voice and persona, life experience and song choices more properly belong to the centuries-old Appalachian traditional mountain music which derived from the ballads of the British isles. Somehow, however, in his soul, Mr. Stanley has found a kinship with the black acoustic blues players of pre-World War II---Rev. Gary Davis, Lightnin' Hopkins, Sonnie Terry and Brownie McGhee. Fans of those kinds of singers and fans of Bill Monroe can meet at a Ralph Stanley gig and all have a good time. This collection is sung by a man in his seventies, and it shows. It is sung by a man who knows his art, and that shows. The 11 songs are a nice mix of spirituals and bloody ballads and everything inbetween. If you only know Mr. Stanley because of his appearance in the film "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?" as a Klan leader who wails the song "Oh Death!" you need to know that every song on this disc is better and more interesting than that lament. Ralph is not a Klan kind of guy, and "Oh Death!" is far from the best song he's ever tackled. So here we have an old fella performing 40 minutes of stuff that sounds like traditional folk ballads bump into white Protestant spirituals and bounce back onto a bit of the Delta blues, which pushes them on stage at a bluegrass festival. Ralph isn't as nice to look at or to hear as a Dixie Chick might be, but he has more sense and substance. If that matters, check him out.

This is one of the very best bluegrass/old country recordings of all time. It is not some sort of phony pop imitation of this music, but is really old time music - raw and real and original.
They even mention in the inlay booklet that this album is intended to stay true to real, genuine bluegrass music.
It really does this, and has infinite replay value because the songs are timeless and the recording quality is great.
Alot of bluegrass music has been given cheesy and superficial treatment, but this album is the real, hard core dark and dusty bluegrass we all love. Norman Blake appears on this recording as well giving it a true old school sound.

Though I'm not terribly familiar with Stanley's music, I must say that anyone who can record a version of "Henry Lee" that is almost as beautiful as the original recording, by the Old-Timey musician, Dick Justice, is a captivating musician and singer. Ralph Stanley's version of "John Henry" is a reason that "John Henry" is one of the greatest songs of the 20th century. His version is quite different from those of Furry Lewis or Jimmie Tarlton, therefore showing the variety of approaches that various musicians have taken to performing the same song, for at least one hundred years! This is a highly recommend cd.

What a wonderful old man. I first heard old recordings of the Stanley Brothers twenty years before I heard this album. These performances have the depth of feeling and sincerity of any of his work that I've heard, and the band and recording are superb. I listened to this CD about fifty times in three months, and grew to like it more as I knew it more.

I am now the happy owner of 5 Ralph Stanley CD's. This latest one is a joy to listen to. The only thing to do is play it again & again :-))) I can see where I will be buying more of his work. Wonderful to listen to.