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| Ralph Stanley Sings The Carter Family Two of the greatest talents in the history of Appalachian music converge May 30 when DMZ/Columbia Records presents Ralph Stanley: A Distant Land To Roam-Songs Of The Carter Family. Still a commanding presence at 79, Ralph Stanley re-ignites the drama of these Depression-era classics that first thrilled him as a boy. Backing Stanley on this beautifully produced and packaged homage are his band, the Clinch Mountain Boys, legendary singer and autoharpist Mike Seeger and bassist Dennis Crouch. The album is executive produced by T. Bone Burnett-the musical force behind the soundtracks of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Walk The Line-and co-produced by Larry Ehrlich and Bob Neuwirth. "Ralph Stanley is like an uncle to us and now that all my uncles are gone, Ralph's singing is even more precious. This album of classic folk songs is one of his best, " says Garrison Keillor, who has featured the Grand Ole Opry star and three-time Grammy winner several times on his A Prairie Home Companion radio show. David Gates, a senior editor of Newsweek who also profiled Stanley for The New Yorker, says, "A Distant Land to Roam is indispensable: [Here is] the foremost interpreter of traditional country music singing some of the great canonical songs. . . . [This is] one of his most moving recordings." Notes Jon Weisberger, contributing editor to No Depression: "Ralph's stirring, mournful voice is a perfect match for the Carter Family's songs. Mike Seeger's autoharp and James Alan Shelton's 'Carter lick' guitar act as wonderful bridges between the past and present. It is great to hear The Clinch Mountain Boys behind the master once again." From 1927, when they made their first recordings, until they disbanded in 1943, A. P., Sara and Maybelle Carter were the collective voice of rural America. Hailing from Maces Springs, Virginia-just a few mountainous miles from where Stanley was born-the Carters enriched country music with a torrent of soulful ballads and hymns, among them "Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow, " "Keep On The Sunny Side" and the incomparable "Wildwood Flower." Stanley chose 13 rarer gems for this tribute: "God Gave Noah The Rainbow Sign, " "Little Moses, " "Worried Man Blues, " "Longing For Home, " "Motherless Children, " "Storms Are On The Ocean, " "Keep On The Firing Line, " "Engine 143, " "I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes, " "Orphan Child, " "Hill Lone And Grey, " "Waves On The Sea" and "Distant Land To Roam." The Carter Family made its first recordings in Bristol, the small Appalachian town that straddles the Virginia/Tennessee border. And it was in this same hamlet 19 years later that Stanley would launch his radio career with his older brother, Carter. Over the next 20 years-until Carter's death in 1966-the Stanley Brothers became one of the most beloved and influential acts in the burgeoning field of bluegrass music. The element that set the Stanleys most apart from other bluegrass duos was Ralph's high, forlorn tenor voice, an instrument that seemed to convey all the world's griefs and regrets. It was-and is-a voice perfectly suited to the Carter Family laments. "I met all of the Carters, " Stanley recalls, "and I got to know A.P. pretty well when Carter and I were doing our early radio work on WCYB in Bristol, Virginia." Besides thrilling to Stanley's timeless music, buyers of A Distant Land To Roam will also rejoice in the album's cover art, created by Brian Willse, and the dramatic photos of Stanley, created by Jim McGuire. write your comments about the article :: © 2006 Jazz News :: home page |