A Distant Land to Roam: Ralph Stanley Sings Songs of the Carter Family
Ralph Stanley
Producer: Larry Ehrlich, Bob Neuwirth
DMZ, 2006
1 CD
Catalogue #: 362921
EAN: 0827969362921
UPC: 827969362921
You save: 20%
Personnel: Ralph Stanley (vocals); Jack Cooke (vocals); James Alan Shelton, Ralph Stanley II (guitar); Steve Sparkman (banjo); Mike Seeger (autoharp); John Rigsby (mandolin, background vocals); Todd Meade (fiddle); Dennis Crouch (bass instrument).
The grand old man of bluegrass sings and picks his banjo through a baker's dozen of the first family of country music's best-known songs, including religious material like "Motherless Children," "Little Moses," and "God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign," and simple, sentimental love songs like "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes." The simple arrangements of these Carter Family classics, Ralph Stanley's fragile, high lonesome voice, and his superb banjo picking give these songs a new lease of life.
Tracklist
Ralph Stanley
While he preferred the term "mountain music" to "bluegrass," Ralph Stanley ranks second only to Bill Monroe in importance in the genre. A pioneering clawhammer banjoist and riveting singer, Stanley shot to prominence with his brother Carter and the Clinch Mountain Boys in the '40s and '50s. After Carter's death in 1966, Ralph soldiered on, riding waves of popularity in the '60s Folk Revival and the '70 bluegrass festival scene. In 2000, his acapella rendering of "O Death" became the musical centerpiece of the Coen Brothers' O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU film and earned Stanley his biggest sales. A devoutly religious man, he recorded many sacred albums throughout his career. The Stanley Brothers were inducted into the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1992.
