Clinch Mountain Echo

Ralph Stanley - Old-Time Pickin'

A Clawhammer Banjo Collection

(Rebel REB-CD-7520) 2008


Old Time Pickin'
CD Tray

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This 39:27 min compilation of Ralph's clawhammer songs includes nine previously unreleased tracks recorded in 1996, 2000 and 2001.

Inevitably there is some overlap in material with the Songs My Mother Taught Me & More collection, although the versions here are different recordings made for Rebel.

Of the new tracks, Battle Ax is a fine energetic instrumental.

Married Life Blues seems to have been an old song. It was recorded in 1940 by Byron Parker and His Mountaineers and later by Roscoe Holcomb, but there's also a field recording by Alan Lomax from 1937 and apparently it was also cut in 1935 by Billy Cox.[1] (James Alan Shelton also cut it in 2004 on his 'Half Moon Bay' CD.)

The remainder of the new tracks are old standards like Cripple Creek, Shady Grove, Old McDonald/Cindy, Black-Eyed Susie... Another fan favourite I've Got A Mule To Ride had previously been released on The Memory Of Your Smile but is re-recorded here with Ralph and Ralph II sharing vocals.

The CD comes with a 12-page booklet with some old photo's and liner notes by Eddie Dean, who at the time was working on Ralph's biography 'Man Of Constant Sorrow'.

 

Track:
Title:
Time:
Date:
Original Release:
Banjo:
Fiddle:
Guitar/Lead vocal:
Guitar:
Bass:
Mandolin:
1
Rocky Island
01:50
22 Mar 1973
A Man And His Music
Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
Roy Lee Centers
Ricky Lee
Jack Cooke


P.D.
2
Shout Little Lulie
01:57
22 Mar 1973
A Man And His Music
Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
Roy Lee Centers
Ricky Lee
Jack Cooke


P.D.
3
Battle Ax
03:13
16 Aug 1996
**Previously Unreleased**
Ralph Stanley
James Price
Ralph II Stanley
James Alan Shelton
Jack Cooke
John Rigsby

P.D. arr R. Stanley
4
Pretty Girls, City Lights
02:11
17 Dec 1981
The Memory Of Your Smile
Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
Charlie Sizemore
Junior Blankenship
Jack Cooke


Walden Dahl
5
Cripple Creek
02:34
27 Apr 2000
**Previously Unreleased**
Ralph Stanley
James Price
Ralph II Stanley
James Alan Shelton
Jack Cooke
John Rigsby

P.D.
6
I've Got A Mule To Ride
01:54
27 Apr 2000
**Previously Unreleased**
Ralph Stanley
James Price
Ralph II Stanley
James Alan Shelton
Jack Cooke
John Rigsby

Donnie Joe Mullins
7
Old McDonald/Cindy
04:02
16 Aug 1996
**Previously Unreleased**
Ralph Stanley
James Price
Ralph II Stanley
James Alan Shelton
Jack Cooke
John Rigsby

P.D. arr R. Stanley
8
Shady Grove
01:44
27 Apr 2000
**Previously Unreleased**
Ralph Stanley
James Price
Ralph II Stanley
James Alan Shelton
Jack Cooke
John Rigsby

P.D.
9
John Henry
01:28
22 Mar 1973
A Man And His Music
Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
Roy Lee Centers
Ricky Lee
Jack Cooke


P.D.
10
Little Birdie
02:15
22 Mar 1973
A Man And His Music
Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
Roy Lee Centers
Ricky Lee
Jack Cooke


P.D.
11
Cuttin' The Cornbread
01:52
29 Mar 1978
Down Where The River Bends
Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
Charlie Sizemore
Junior Blankenship
Jack Cooke


P.D. arr R. Stanley
12
Bound To Ride
01:44
22 Mar 1973
A Man And His Music
Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
Roy Lee Centers
Ricky Lee
Jack Cooke


Arthur Leroy Smith
13
Married Life Blues
02:23
27 Apr 2000
**Previously Unreleased**
Ralph Stanley
James Price
Ralph II Stanley
James Alan Shelton
Jack Cooke
John Rigsby

P.D. arr R. Stanley
14
Black-Eyed Susie
01:48
17 Apr 2001
**Previously Unreleased**
Ralph Stanley
James Price
Ralph II Stanley
James Alan Shelton
Jack Cooke


P.D.
15
Kentucky Shine
01:44
16 Aug 1996
**Previously Unreleased**
Ralph Stanley
James Price
Ralph II Stanley
James Alan Shelton
Jack Cooke
John Rigsby

P.D. arr R. Stanley
16
True Blue Bill
01:54
02 Apr 1986
Lonesome And Blue
Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
Charlie Sizemore
Junior Blankenship
Jack Cooke


Gene Autry
17
Dixieland (My Old Home Town)
02:10
17 Apr 2001
**Previously Unreleased**
Ralph Stanley
James Price
Ralph II Stanley
James Alan Shelton
Jack Cooke


P.D. arr R. Stanley
18
Old Time Pickin'
01:45
23 Feb 1971
Rebel F-310
Ralph Stanley
Curly Ray Cline
Roy Lee Centers
Keith Whitley
Jack Cooke
Ricky Skaggs

R. Stanley

Go To Top Of Page [1] The Byron Parker version is on the JSP CD box set 'Bluegrass - Early 1931-1953 Cuts' (JSP JSP-77131) 2004, and 'Early Days Of Bluegrass Vol. 1' LP (Rounder 1013) 1974. For more info see:-
http://folkarchivist.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/early-bluegrass-byron-parker-his.html
The Alan Lomax field recording can be found here:-
https://lomaxky.omeka.net/items/show/517