(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.
Track: |
Title: |
Time: |
Date: |
Original Release: |
Banjo: |
Fiddle: |
Guitar/Lead vocal: |
Guitar: |
Bass: |
Mandolin: |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
I've Always Been A Rambler |
02:49 |
10 Nov 1995 |
Short Life Of Trouble |
Steve Sparkman |
James Price |
Ralph II Stanley |
James Alan Shelton |
Jack Cooke |
|
G.B. Grayson |
||||||||||
2 |
Bootleg John |
02:05 |
16 Feb 1976 |
Old Home Place |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Keith Whitley |
Danny Marshall |
Ed Ferris |
|
Marvin Davis |
||||||||||
3 |
Who Will Call You Sweetheart |
02:37 |
05 Dec 1981 |
Memory Of Your Smile |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Charlie Sizemore |
Junior Blankenship |
Jack Cooke |
|
C. Stanley / Bill Monroe |
||||||||||
4 |
Go And Leave Me If You Wish To |
01:51 |
29 Mar 1978 |
Down Where The River Bends |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Charlie Sizemore |
Junior Blankenship |
Jack Cooke |
Danny Marshall |
P.D. |
||||||||||
5 |
Great High Mountain |
03:22 |
23 Mar 1973 |
I Want To Preach The Gospel |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Roy Lee Centers |
Ricky Lee |
Jack Cooke |
|
arr. R. Stanley |
||||||||||
6 |
Sharecropper's Son |
02:55 |
16 Feb 1976 |
Old Home Place |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Keith Whitley |
Danny Marshall |
Ed Ferris |
|
C. Stanley / R. Stanley |
||||||||||
7 |
Clinch Mountain Backstep |
02:23 |
31 Aug 1971 |
Play Requests |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Roy Lee Centers |
Jack Cooke |
||
Ruby Rakes |
||||||||||
8 |
I'm Lonesome Without You |
02:47 |
16 Feb 1976 |
Old Home Place |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Keith Whitley |
Danny Marshall |
Ed Ferris |
|
R. Stanley |
||||||||||
9 |
Turn Back, Turn Back |
03:10 |
25 Mar 1975 |
Let Me Rest On A Peaceful Mountain |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Keith Whitley |
Ricky Lee |
Jack Cooke |
|
arr. R. Stanley |
||||||||||
10 |
I'll Remember You Love In My Prayers |
02:30 |
24 Feb 1971 |
Something Old, Something New |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Roy Lee Centers |
Keith Whitley |
Jack Cooke |
Ricky Skaggs |
W.S. Hays |
||||||||||
11 |
Wild Geese Cry Again |
02:40 |
16 Aug 1996 |
**Previously Unreleased** |
Steve Sparkman |
James Price |
Ralph II Stanley |
James Alan Shelton |
Jack Cooke |
John Rigsby |
Peter Rowan |
||||||||||
12 |
I've Got A Mule To Ride |
01:54 |
05 Dec 1981 |
Memory Of Your Smile |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Charlie Sizemore |
Junior Blankenship |
Jack Cooke |
|
Donnie Joe Mullins |
||||||||||
13 |
Amazing Grace |
03:33 |
12 May 1977 |
Clinch Mountain Gospel |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Keith Whitley |
Jack Cooke |
||
arr. R. Stanley |
||||||||||
14 |
Home In The Mountains |
03:04 |
16 Feb 1976 |
Old Home Place |
Ralph Stanley |
Curly Ray Cline |
Keith Whitley |
Danny Marshall |
Jack Cooke |
|
Rick Stanley |