What people search:
 | Title : Ralph Stanley [Exclusive Amazon.com Edition]
Author : Stanley, Ralph
Release Date : 20020611
Binding : Audio CD
Regular Price : $18.98
Amazon.com Price : $12.79
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Editorial Reviews :
If a number of songs on the wildly popular O Brother soundtrack conspired to raise depression-era spirits with visions of big rock candy mountains and unflagging sunshine, Ralph Stanley's chilling 'O Death' stood firm in reminding folks of just what really lay in store. It's no surprise, then, that Stanley's Columbia/DMZ debut continues in the same pessimistic vein, recounting the ancient mountain themes of false-hearted lovers, knife-wielding suitors, and a peace found only in the afterlife. With producer T Bone Burnett again at the helm and O Brother alums Norman Blake and Evelyn and Suzanne Cox on guitar and harmony vocals, Stanley keeps more to an old-time country sound than bluegrass. In wrapping his raw, world-weary whelp around a cache of traditional offerings, plus his own 'Great High Mountain' and Hank Williams's 'Calling You,' he proves a direct link to a rural America and a primal backwoods way of life largely forgotten. There's power in these songs, and a spookiness in his performance. Be prepared to be haunted.
Buyer Reviews :
In recent years, except for two CDs with Nashville songsmith Jim Lauderdale, Ralph Stanley's CDs have been predictable affairs: old material from his and the Stanley Brothers' repertoire revisited with younger bluegrass, country, and folk artists, punctuated with by-the-numbers gospel outings. It's all decent enough -- Stanley is enough of a pro that mediocrity is no longer a performance option -- but the unmistakable impression has been of an artist resting on his laurels.
In this new recording, however, T Bone Burnett pushes him forward, which in this case is backward, to a mostly pre-bluegrass era of song and songcraft. The mandolin intro to the opening cut will cause you, even if briefly, to wonder if you're listening to a Ralph Stanley album. In short order, however, you're hearing old-time string-band arrangements of venerable ballads (e.g., the bloody-minded 'Henry Lee' and the even more sanguinary 'Little Mathie Grove'), gospel (Hank Williams's 'Calling You' and Stanley's one original, the stirring 'Great High Mountain'), and traditional Southeastern folk songs. He sings bone-chilling unaccompanied versions of the spiritual 'Twelve Gates to the City,' most famously associated with the Rev. Gary Davis though Stanley's version sounds nothing like it, and 'I'll Remember You, Love, in My Prayers,' a parlor song from the 1870s and -- till now treated as a deep-bluegrass piece -- long a Stanley staple.
Ralph Stanley has been recording distinguished music for half a century, but by any standard this new disc is something memorable and exceptional.
(by Jerome Clark)
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