Ralph Stanley, RIP
On June 23, Ralph Stanley died. He was 89.
He was the last of the founders of bluegrass music. This is an American invention, named after the group that backed up Bill Monroe, the Bluegrass Boys. Monroe's music was "old timey" until the arrival of Earl Scruggs, who revolutionized banjo picking. Scruggs joined the Bluegrass Boys in 1945. He started his own group in 1948, the Foggy Mountain Boys.
Ralph and his brother Carter were right behind Monroe. They started the Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946. They played together until Carter's death in 1966. They are generally regarded as the second bluegrass band.
Bluegrass was a regional phenomenon until the Beverly Hillbillies hit the culture in the fall of 1962. Flatt and Scruggs did the theme song. Then in 1967 they did the music for Bonnie and Clyde, which worked wonderfully as aesthetic background. Of course, Bonnie and Clyde died in 1934, and bluegrass was invented in 1945, but that's close enough for Hollywood. It's the thought that counts . . . and the soundtrack royalties.
Stanley kept touring after Carter died. The group never achieved the fame or income of Flatt and Scruggs, but it remained on the circuit the whole time.
Then, in 2000, lightning struck: O Brother, Where Art Thou? The Coen Brothers movie became a sensation, which itself was something of a miracle. Some of us saw George Clooney for the first time.
In the movie, there is a scene where the Ku Klux Klan has gathered for a lynching. The Wizard sings "O Death," a cappella. Stanley sang it. It was, as many noted at the time, haunting. Stanley tells this story.
T-Bone Burnett had several auditions for that song. He wanted it in the Dock Boggs style. So I got my banjo and learned it the way he did it. You see, I had recorded "O Death" three times, done it with Carter. So I went down with my banjo to Nashville and I said, "T-Bone, let me sing it the way I want to sing it," and I laid my banjo down and sung it a cappella. After two or three verses, he stopped me and said, "That's it."
The soundtrack sold eight million copies. It received no advertising. It was a phenomenon.
In 2002, Stanley won the Grammy for his performance: best male country music vocal. It was his first Grammy. He was 75 years old. He won another in 2003 for an album by Jim Lauderdale, which featured Stanley.
In 2004, he performed at Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I went to hear him. After the show, he was at a table, selling CD's, which is how touring groups make extra money. I went up to him and thanked him for reminding us older guys that hanging in there can finally pay off. He thanked me. He was polite enough not to ask me why I hadn't bought anything. A true country gentleman!
Stanley was a man who stuck to his knitting. The payoff came late in life. The number of obituaries online testifies to his persistence.
More than anyone I can think of, he sang his own departure.