Ralph Stanley - Great High Mountain

(Rebel REB-CD-1130) 2004

---

A fourteen track 37:41 minute, CD compilation spanning 1971-1996, but with more emphasis on the late '70s/early '80s period.

I suspect the release may have been an attempt to cash-in on the success of the 2003 movie 'Cold Mountain', which featured Jack White singing Great High Mountain and credited Ralph as 'arranger'.^[1]

It is a shame that Rebel seem to prefer issuing these patchy compilations, when several of Ralph's Rebel albums haven't been reissued on CD, other than as individual tracks here and there. Personally I'd much rather shell out for a copy of an entire album, or a collection like the superb 1971-1973 box set.

On a plus side, this compilation includes three a cappella hymns (Great High Mountain, Turn Back, Turn Back and Amazing Grace), which many compilations ignore despite being a key part of Ralph's repertoire since Cry From The Cross.

Rather oddly, Go And Leave Me If You Wish To is a re-named version of I'll Just Catch A Train And Ride from Ralph's Down Where The River Bends album.

There is also one unreleased cut, unavailable elsewhere - a version of Peter Rowan's Wild Geese Cry Again from 1996.

The final track, Home In The Mountains was written by Rick Stanley who is a second cousin of Ralph and Carter. The original Old Home Place LP doesn't feature any song credits... Ralph later sang on Rick Stanley & Bad Ridge - You Can't Smoke The Bluegrass CD (at least on one cut?). He is also married to Donna Ulisse.

If you're new to Ralph's music, and are looking for an introduction the earlier Classic Bluegrass, Bound To Ride or My Life & Legacy are a better bet.

Other artwork / related images:

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cold_Mountain_(soundtrack)