Thanks for posting this, Ken. I saw Stanley's obituary last night amidst all sorts of other news and was immediately saddened.  He was probably second only to Bill Monroe in creating the bluegrass sound that we all recognize, and more than Monroe, I think, he stressed a real mountain music feel to his music. He was still making music up towards the end.  May we all be so lucky.

--
Dusty T., Northern California
Site Moderator

As a musician, you have to keep one foot back in the past and one foot forward into the future.
-- Dizzy Gillespie

Well, that saddens me.  Always liked Ralph's and Ralph & Carter's music, even when they were doing more like acoustic country music rather than old time or bluegrass.  I got to meet him the last time he played up here.  He didn't remember our 10 or 15 minute conversation about 30 minutes after we had it.  He only did one song on the banjo and he forgot the words to one song.  It was one of those pleasurable yet sad moments of life.

RIP Dr. Ralph.

 

One of Bluegrass and Old Time music's founding voices passed away yesterday.  He will always be associated with the tunes tunes like Oh Death, Clinch Mountain Backstep, Pretty Polly and Little Maggie .  More at

http://bluegrasstoday.com/ralph-stanley-passes/

and

http://www.tennessean.com/story/entertainment/music/2016/06/23/ralph-stanley-bluegrass-legend-dead-89/86038242/

updated by @ken-hulme: 06/24/16 09:06:19AM