For during the 35 years between Carter’s death in 1966 and the O Brother triumph, he and the musicians who worked for him were relentlessly touring a mostly hard-scrabble bluegrass circuit, singing and picking for fans in cow pasture festivals, murky taverns and schoolhouse auditoriums.
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With more than 50 years of performing behind him, Stanley’s career reached a commercial peak with the 2000 Coen Brothers film, whose soundtrack will forever be known as the instigator of a new wave of popularity for traditional mountain music.
Ralph Stanley’s keening conversation with mortality, “O Death”, became the new wave of bluegrass’ strongest link with tradition after appearing in the movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”. And he stayed true to his roots, performing almost until the end of his life. He died on Thursday at his home in Sandy Ridge, Virginia. Tributes poured in from musicians in all genres.
Watch a live performance of “Oh Death” in the clip above. Rolling Stone described his voice as an “ominous tenor”. “He certainly used Ralph Stanley to bring the music of the mountains to the masses”. He was a practitioner of the clawhammer banjo technique, commonly found in the old-time style of folk and bluegrass music. “But we also loved what Bill Monroe was doing”.
His sound was pure and powerful, and packed with sadness.
And to hear Stanley tell it, it’s not his voice. While this is not the first band that the brothers formed, it is the Clinch Mountain Boys that would become a lifelong affair for Ralph. The music and the man never changed.
The Clinch Mountain Boys at this point adapted much deeper Appalachian roots. He was a member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. However, the overwhelming support he received from fans encouraging him to go it alone swayed his hand in the matter, and he went on to pursue music for nearly another 50 years. “I learned to sing harmony from listening to him and my sister and I sang a lot of gospel songs we learned from listening to him”. Whitely, only 15 at the time, joined the group with another budding singer, Ricky Skaggs. Even Bob Dylan sang “The Lonesome River” as only he could with Stanley.
When Dr. Stanley came out of the Army in 1956, he and his older brother Carter began to perform and had a daily 15-minute slot on the radio station WNVA, sponsored by Clinch Valley insurance company. Drawn like a moth to a bluegrass flame, I moseyed over that way. “His driving, arpeggiated banjo style, led with the index finger instead of the thumb, and now known widely as ‘Stanley Style, ‘ was as important to the development of bluegrass as the banjo itself”, wrote John Curtis Goad in Bluegrass Today after Stanley’s passing. I waved and said hello to the old troubadour. “Ralph was one of the giants of America music”.
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Vicki Dean is the digital editor for the Herald-Tribune.
