dr. ralph stanley and his clinch mountain boys

about a year-and-a-half ago, i saw the first trailer for the cohen brothers' film o, brother where art thou?. the song that played on the trailer, man of constant sorrow, instantly made me want to see the movie. i love bluegrass music. there is something very pure about the way it is played. every year my parents have a get-together at their ranch and most times there are several good bluegrass musicians that show up. we sit around the campfire and play tons of traditional bluegrass songs all night.

i purchased the soundtrack for o, brother a couple of months before the film was release in the u.s. it almost immediately became my favorite soundtrack, and i hadn't even seen the movie yet.

it wasn't until after i had seen the movie a couple of times that i learned that many of the songs featured in the movie where written by ralph stanley. i had heard of the stanley brothers when i played with folks at the ranch, but i hadn't really realized their impact on bluegrass until i saw the documentary down from the mountain.

the opportunity to see a living legend play music was one i was not going to pass up. with dr. stanley's absence of superstardom status in mainstream music, it was difficult to convince others that this was a show of a lifetime. but andy jumped at the chance and brought amber along as well.

while eleven hundred springs played the opening act, i wandered back into the ballroom and found that dr. ralph stanley and all of the clinch mountain boys were hanging out in the ballroom with their self-proclaimed "flea-market" of cds, hats, t-shirts, bumperstickers, and commemorative knife sets. the cd's were overpriced at $20 a piece and pretty much everything else followed suit. but there was dr. ralph stanley, sitting in a chair behind the folding table signing cds, hats, t-shirts, bumperstickers, and commemorative knife sets.

"dr. stanley, do you mind if i have a picture taken with you?"

"mm"

he's staring at amber as i squat down beside him and smile towards andy and the digital camera. amber moves in close to andy so that ralph's eyes are almost looking at the camera, and click!

we return to the tea room for the last few songs of eleven hundred springs and then, snaking our way toward the front of the room, wait another 30 minutes for the boys to take the stage.

with seven people and thirteen mics on a very small stage, something was bound to go wrong. seconds into the first song, a short in one of the mic cables blows the p.a. system. several minutes later, the cables are swapped out, the music starts again, and another cable goes out. this occurs no less than four times before some balance is achieved. but it will take another four songs before levels are where they should be and everyone, with the exception of the fiddle player, is happy.

every musician on the stage is one of the best players in the country on their particular instrument. in typical bluegrass fashion, they take turns in the spotlight trading leads. ralph's turn has him playing "man of constant sorrow," which he wrote with his brother, carter, over forty years ago. after several rounds, dr. stanley puts down his banjo and pulls a piece of paper out of his back pocket. quipping about failing memory, he glances at the paper, asks for a "g," and begins singing "o, death." he actually sings this song in the movie during the klan scene.

the music kept getting better and better as the night went on. eventually, dr. stanley left the stage; but not before mentioning that the banjo he had played that night was for sale. he did not happen to say at what price.

one by one, the clinch mountain boys would dissappear from the stage until their were three of them left. they played out a couple of traditional gospel favorites and then they too parted.

it was an unforgettable evening of top knotch bluegrass and i'm sorry that most of you were not able to go. but i did take pictures!