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The Stanley Brothers - Stanley Brothers Of Virginia, Vol. 1:

That Little Old Country Church House

(County CO-738) 1973

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This is a reissue of the Wango 106, John's Gospel Quartet - Songs Of Mother And Home album, which was recorded at Ray Davis' studio at Johnny's Used Cars in November 1964.^[1]

Jack Cooke who played guitar on the album recalled:- "While I was in Baltimore, Carter and Ralph, I'd always do shows with them. They'd come through and they'd always call me. We recorded some stuff for John's Gospel Quartet. It's a used car lt there in Baltimore. Johnny's Used Car Lot, 4801 Harford Road. I never will forget that. Johnny was sponsoring the show and Ray Davis, he was the announcer, the MC on the radio station. And we recorded those albums up over (the) top of the car lot, in a building up over top of the sales department. We had a little studio up there. And we done, I guess it was about four albums of that, John's Gosepl Quartet. And Carter and Ralph, they was tied up with a record company, you know, so that's the reason they called it John's Gospel Quartet."^[2]

The County reissues of the four Wango LP's are all worth picking up, and usually can be found quite cheap. Note that the rear sleeve on this LP doesn't mention the penultimate track on Side 2: Are You Washed In The Blood. Also, the later pressing with the colour labels, has better sound quality than the earlier pressings with the B&W label design.

Earlier editions had a different rear sleeve design. The LP was also issued in the UK (Fundamental SAVE-27) 19??, but hasn't been reissued on CD.

It's a shame that all four Wango albums haven't appeared on CD - they would after all easily fit on a double CD set.

Thanks to Chris Wing for the scans of the original label and rear sleeve design.

• Carter Stanley: guitar, vocals
• Ralph Stanley: banjo, vocals
• Jack Cooke: guitar
• Barry Glickman: bass
• Red Stanley: fiddle

For detailed information on these sessions, check Gary B. Reid's The Music Of The Stanley Brothers book, pages 186-189 and 215-216.

^{[1] Gary B. Reid's "The Music Of The Stanley Brothers" book (p.186-189)
[2] John Wright's book "Traveling The High Way Home" (p.136)}