Clinch Mountain Country

Performer: Ralph Stanley
Artist: Bob Dylan; George Jones; Dwight Yoakam; Vince Gill; Diamond Rio; Patty Loveless; Joe Diffie; Porter Wagoner
Engineer: David Castle; Bil VornDick
Producer: Bil VornDick
Distributor: Ryko Distribution

Notes: Personnel includes: Ralph Stanley; Shelton Feazell, Jack Cooke, John Rigsby (vocals); Bob Dylan, Marty Stuart (guitar); Ricky Skaggs (mandolin); Laurie Lewis (fiddle); Mike Bub (bass); Hal Ketchum, Patty Loveless, George Jones, Dwight Yoakam, Vince Gill, Claire Lynch, Judy Marshall, David Marshall, Joe Diffie, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanely II, Rhonda Vincent, Diamond Rio, Jeff Raybon, Marty Raybon, Doug Phelps, John Anderson, Alison Krauss, Junior Brown, Connie Smith, Tim O'Brien, Porter Wagoner, Joe Isaacs, Sonya Isaacs, Becky Isaacs, Vern Gosdin, Jim Lauderdale, The Whites, BR5-49, Kathey Mattea. Principally recorded at Masterlink Studios, Nashville, Tennessee from May-December, 1997. Includes liner notes by Chris Skinker. CLINCH MOUNTAIN COUNTRY was nominated for a 1999 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album. Audio Mixer: Bil VornDick. Liner Note Author: Chris Skinker. Recording information: Maggard Sound Studio (05/1997-12/1997); Masterlink Studios, Nashville, TN (05/1997-12/1997); Quad Studios, Nashville, TN (05/1997-12/1997). Photographers: Chris Skinker; McGuire; Mary E. Yeomans. Unknown Contributor Role: Marty Stuart. The two-disc set Clinch Mountain Country is a treasure that amazes and inspires at every turn. Ralph Stanley is one of the true greats of American music. Kicking off with an all-time favorite, "How Mountain Girls Can Love," the set features Stanley's signature clawhammer banjo style and the distinctive mountain harmonies perfected by himself and his brother, the late Carter Stanley. Other guests from the music world include Dwight Yoakam, Marty Stuart, Bob Dylan, Patty Loveless, BR5-49, Rhonda Vincent, Gillian Welch, Laurie Lewis, Junior Brown, Vern Gosdin, Vince Gill, and many others. One of the most poignant tracks is Stanley, the Clinch Mountain Boys, and country & western master George Jones singing "The Window Up Above." The meeting of Stanley and Jones is a monumental moment in music history. Together their voices blend effortlessly on a song that Jones wrote so many years ago. Also significant is the prominence of Ralph II, the man who will carry on the legacy his father and uncle began in the mountains of Virginia. Stanley's high-lonesome vocal style is unlike any other sound, and he is without peer in the world of bluegrass music. This collection of tunes, many written by Carter and/or Ralph, is evidence of the heartfelt, soul-nourishing music the Carters brought out of the western Virginia Highlands and gave to the world. A worthy follow-up to the 1992 two-CD release Saturday Night & Sunday Morning. ~ Jana Pendragon Ralph Stanley and producer Bil VornDick assembled a small galaxy of musical stars to make CLINCH MOUNTAIN COUNTRY one of the biggest all-star bluegrass recording sessions ever. The list of performers reads as a Who's Who that stretches the gamut of American pop music, including George Jones, Bob Dylan, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, Dwight Yoakam, BR5-49, Gillian Welch and others. This two-disc collection of bluegrass standards is lovingly performed by artists who have clearly been influenced--even defined--by Ralph Stanley's legacy. (Many consider Stanley to be the heart of soul of bluegrass music.) There are plenty of stellar performances on CLINCH MOUNTAIN COUNTRY. Patty Loveless turns in an excellent version of the chilling, traditional murder ballad, "Pretty Polly," while Porter Wagoner offers a splendid rendition of "The White Dove," a Carter Stanley song that Wagoner first sang as a child. But perhaps the most memorable tracks on this excellent document of a bluegrass legend are "Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine" and "My Deceitful Heart," where Stanley and his son, Ralph Stanley II, share vocals.

While he preferred the term "mountain music" to "bluegrass," Ralph Stanley ranks second only to Bill Monroe in importance in the genre. A pioneering clawhammer banjoist and riveting singer, Stanley shot to prominence with his brother Carter and the Clinch Mountain Boys in the '40s and '50s. After Carter's death in 1966, Ralph soldiered on, riding waves of popularity in the '60s Folk Revival and the '70 bluegrass festival scene. In 2000, his acapella rendering of "O Death" became the musical centerpiece of the Coen Brothers' O BROTHER, WHERE ART THOU film and earned Stanley his biggest sales. A devoutly religious man, he recorded many sacred albums throughout his career. The Stanley Brothers were inducted into the International Bluegrass Hall of Fame in 1992.

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