Ralph Stanley (born February 25, 1927), also known as Dr. Ralph Stanley, is an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing.
Biography
Ralph Edmond Stanley was born, grew up, and lives today in
rural southwestern
Virginia—"in a little town called McClure at a place called Big Spraddle, just up the holler" from where he moved in 1936 and has lived ever since in
Dickenson County. The son of Lee and Lucy Stanley, Ralph did not grow up around a lot of music in his home. As he says, his "daddy didn't play an instrument, but sometimes he would sing church music. And I'd hear him sing songs like '
Man of Constant Sorrow,' '
Pretty Polly' and '
Omie Wise.'"
He decided to go it alone, eventually reviving the Clinch Mountain Boys.
Larry Sparks, Roy Lee Centers, and Charlie Sizemore were among those with whom he played in the revived band. He encountered
Ricky Skaggs and
Keith Whitley arriving late to his own show: "They were about 16 or 17, and they were holding the crowd 'til we got there. . . They sounded just exactly like (the Stanley Brothers)." Seeing their potential, he hired them "to give 'em a chance", even though that meant a seven-member band.
Political career
Around 1970, he ran for Clerk of Court and Commissioner of Revenue in
Dickenson County only to state this:
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Stanley's work was featured in the 2000 film
O Brother, Where Art Thou?, in which he sings the Appalachian dirge "O Death." The soundtrack's producer was
T-Bone Burnett. Stanley said the following about working with Burnett:
With that song, Stanley won a 2002 Grammy Award in the category of Best Male Country Vocal Performance. "That put the icing on the cake for me," he says. "It put me in a different category." In October 2008, the Obama campaign aired a radio ad in Virginia featuring Stanley.
Stanley maintains an extensive touring schedule.
Country singer Dwight Yoakam has stated that Ralph Stanley is one of his "musical heroes."
Stanley's autobiography, Man of Constant Sorrow, coauthored with the music journalist Eddie Dean, was released by Gotham Books on October 15, 2009.
Musical style
Ralph created a unique style of
banjo playing, sometimes called "Stanley Style". It evolved from
Scruggs style, which is a three finger technique. "Stanley style" is distinguished by incredibly fast "forward rolls," led by the index finger, sometimes in the higher registers utilizing a
capo. In "Stanley Style", the rolls of the banjo are continuous, while being picked fairly close the
bridge on the banjo, giving the tone of the instrument a very crisp, articulate snap to the strings as the player would strike them.
Selected discography
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center;"
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! rowspan="2" style="width:15em;"| Title
! rowspan="2" style="width:18em;"| Details
! colspan="4"| Peak chart positions
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US Grass
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US Country
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US
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US Heat
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Clinch Mountain Gospel
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Release date: May 15, 2001
Label: Rebel Records
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Ralph Stanley
| align="left"|
Release date: June 11, 2002
Label: Columbia Records/DMZ
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| 22
| 163
| 5
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Poor Rambler
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Release date: June 17, 2003
Label: King Records
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Shine On
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Release date: June 7, 2005
Label: Rebel Records
| 6
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A Distant Land to Roam
| align="left"|
Release date: May 30, 2006
Label: Columbia Records/DMZ
| 4
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| —
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Mountain Preacher's Child
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Release date: April 3, 2007
Label: Rebel Records
| 9
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A Mother's Prayer
| align="left"|
Release date: April 19, 2011
Label: Rebel Records
| 6
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Other contributions
Lifted: Songs of the Spirit (2002, Sony/Hear Music) - "Listen to the Shepherd"
Honors, awards, distinctions
He's known in the world of bluegrass music by the popular title, "Dr. Ralph Stanley" after being awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1976.
He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1992 and in 2000.
He became the first person to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in the third millennium.
His work was featured in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, in which he sings the Appalachian dirge "O Death."
*That song won him a 2002 Grammy Award in the category of Best Male Country Vocal Performance.
The Virginia Press Association made him their Distinguished Virginian of the Year in 2004.
The Ralph Stanley Museum and Traditional Mountain Music Center opened in Clintwood, Virginia in 2004.
He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2006, the nation's highest honor for artistic excellence.
The Virginia legislature designated him the Outstanding Virginian of 2008.
He was awarded the Key to the City of Garner, North Carolina on November 15, 2008
He was named a
Library of Congress Living Legend in April 2000
See also
The Stanley Brothers
George Shuffler
Dickenson County, Virginia
Bluegrass music
Old-time music
Banjo
International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor
Grand Ole Opry
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Grammy Awards
National Medal of Arts
References
"Old-Time Man" interview June 2008 Virginia Living pp 55–57.
Notes
External links
American legends: Ralph Stanley - The Guardian
http://www.slipcue.com/music/country/countryartists/stanley.html
http://www.drralphstanley.com/index.shtml
Ralph Stanley Museum & Traditional Mountain Music Center
Ralph Stanley Interview
[ Allmusic with audio]
A capella performance of 'Me and God'
http://www.ralphstanley.net/
Ralph Stanley plays the Tiny Desk for NPR Music
The Ralph Stanley "Twine"
Category:1927 births
Category:Living people
Category:American country musicians
Category:American country singers
Category:American male singers
Category:American banjoists
Category:American bluegrass musicians
Category:International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor inductees
Category:National Heritage Fellowship winners
Category:United States National Medal of Arts recipients
Category:Grammy Award winners
Category:People from Dickenson County, Virginia
Category:Grand Ole Opry members
Category:Rebel Records artists
Category:Baptists from the United States
Category:American Christian Universalists
Category:20th-century Christian Universalists
Category:21st-century Christian Universalists
Category:Baptist Universalists