To anyone familiar with Blue Ridge Mountain old time music, country music of the 1940s or Bluegrass, Ralph Stanley needs no introduction. Considered the elder statesman of bluegrass, Stanley has had a prolific recording and performing career has been prolific.

Born February 25, 1927 in Dickenson Country, Virginia, Stanley grew up in the isolated hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia, and he learned to play claw-hammer banjo from his mother. Drawing on the musical traditions of the area – the holiness singing of the Primitive Baptist Church and old-time banjo playing, Ralph with his older brother Carter on guitar began playing and singing their own special style of music at local events in the early 1940s.

Shortly after they were discharged from the Army they formed the Stanley Brothers Band in 1946 and began playing on radio stations around the Bristol, Virginia/Tennessee area. Their first big break came when they began playing on Radio Station WCYB in Bristol where they became an overnight success and remained there through most of the 1950s until rock and roll overtook old-time country and bluegrass music in popularity.

The Stanley Brothers enjoyed a comeback in the 1960s with the folk music resurgence, and played to sold-out shows at colleges and universities all over the United States until Carter’s untimely death in 1966 from cancer at the age of 41.

Since 1966, Stanley has carried on the tradition of the Stanley Brothers, keeping the spirit and music alive with his band the Clinch Mountain Boys.

With more than 150 albums and a career spanning more than 50 years, Ralph Stanley was one of the first to be inducted into the prestigious Bluegrass Hall of Honor. He is the recipient of numerous awards including: The National Endowment for the Humanities Traditional American Music Award, presented in 1985 by President Ronald Reagan; an honorary Doctorate of Music from Lincoln Memorial University; and the Living Legend award, in April 2000, from the Library of Congress for “contributions to American social and cultural heritage.”

Ralph Stanley won three Grammy awards in 2002, including Best Male Country Vocal Performance for his bone-chilling a capella rendition of “O Death” in the film Oh Brother Where Art Thou?.

Because of the success of the film Oh Brother Where Art Thou? and the Grammy-winning sound track album from the movie (more that 6 million copies sold), Stanley is touring more than ever. At 75 years old, he recently completed a 41 city “Down From the Mountain” tour across the United States and Canada and hosts an annual Memorial Bluegrass Festival during Memorial Day Weekend in May at his family’s old home place on Smith Ridge in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

Media by Ralph Stanley
   

Ralph Stanley ... Man Of Constant Sorrow

Ralph Stanley ...Songs My Mother Taught Me

Ralph Stanley ... Clinch Mountain Gospel

The Stanley Brothers ...Precious Memories