Bill Monroe is the father of bluegrass music, but one visionary band leader doesn’t make a genre. It took the Stanley Brothers 20 years to continue one of the most relevant musical developments of the first half of the 20th century.
Carter Stanley played guitar and sang lead with younger brother. They were part of a group of pickers known as the Clinch Mountain Boys.
“As steeped in tradition as the Stanley Brothers were and as old sounding as they were, they brought guitar to the forefront of the music and let it take a break.” Jesse Langlais of Town Mountain told Wide Open Country that back in those days it was not a thing. They weren’t the only ones doing it, but there’s some innovation in there when compared to the traditional sound that they have.
The Stanley Brothers popularized bluegrass standards as a live radio draw in the 1940s, a major label recording act in the 1950s, and a folk revival favorite in the 1960s. “The White Dove,” “The Lonesome River” and “The Fields Have turned Brown” are some of the compositions Carter brought to the genre.
The leader of the Clinch Mountain Boys, Ralph, continued after Carter’s death in 1966. The second act elevated Ricky Skaggs and other pickers to the next level.
Jim Lauderdale said, “Just think about that, when they were 17 years old, they were in the band with Ralph.” It’s mind blowing. It’s a training ground.
Carter’s lead parts were sung by Lauderdale on two collaborative albums, I Feel Like Singing Today and Lost in the Lonesome Pines.
Lauderdale said she was nervous on the records because she wanted him to like her singing and the material.
Lauderdale’s Grand Ole Opry debut and other opportunities to share the stage with a giant of American music are a result of an ongoing partnership with Ralph.
“He was a master at what he did,” Lauderdale stated. The audience would hold onto every word he said. He was into it 100 percent when he was singing, no matter how long he had traveled or how tired he was. With that voice. He could structure his set very naturally because of his style and the songs that he’d choose to do. He did what he was told to do. It felt like he was breathing in. The set went in a different way, and each player in the band would perform a song. He showed the guys that played with him and was generous with that. It was structured in such a way that the energy kept going up.
The Stanley Brothers’ legacy was sealed by the first big happening of roots music in the new millennium. The O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack featured the song “O Death”, which was nominated for a Best Male Country Vocal Performance award. Carter’s arrangement of a traditional tune is featured in the soundtrack’s best-known selection, “Man of Constant Sorrow”.
Stanley died on June 23, 2016, The second-generation Stanley family member is the band’s lead guitarist.
“I never saw him out on the road or in the studio to be in a bad mood,” Lauderdale said of the elder Ralph Stanley. “He just enjoyed playing so much and everything that went along with it. He didn’t complain or anything like that, and he kept going until he just literally couldn’t physically anymore. That was such an important thing for him to get out there and sing.”