Misplaced Pages

#732267

32-567: Clinch Mountain is a long ridge, about 150 miles (240 km) in length, and because of its size it is sometimes called a mountain range or complex. It runs generally southwest-northeast, with numerous curves. Its north-south extent is 97 miles (156 km), and its east-west extent is 172 miles (277 km). The ridge includes the sub-range of Knob Mountain, as well as four summits above 4,000 feet ( Beartown Mountain , Flattop Mountain , Morris Knob , and Chimney Rock Peak). For its entire length, Clinch Mountain has only one true gap through which

64-549: A hotel, golf course and mineral baths. The seasonal resort even had its own spur on the railroad, so visitors could easily make the trip from all over the country. Notable guests included the Fords, Studebakers, Mellons, Firestones and Rockefellers. Because of a devastating fire and the Great Depression, only a few buildings survive today. In the 1970s through the 1980s, plans for a 75-mile-long hiking trail system known as

96-434: A little store, and I remember my aunt took it out in groceries. He learned to play the banjo , clawhammer style, from his mother: She had 11 brothers and sisters, and all of them could play the five-string banjo. She played gatherings around the neighborhood, like bean stringin's. She tuned it up for me and played this tune, "Shout Little Luly," and I tried to play it like she did. But I think I developed my own style of

128-433: A lot of music in his home. As he said, his "daddy didn't play an instrument, but sometimes he would sing church music... I'd hear him sing songs like ' Man of Constant Sorrow ,' ' Pretty Polly ' and ' Omie Wise .'" I got my first banjo when I was a teenager. I guess I was 15, 16 years old. My aunt had this old banjo, and Mother bought it for me ... paid $ 5 for it, which back then was probably like $ 5,000. [My parents] had

160-468: A radio advertisement for Barack Obama 's presidential campaign. Country singer Dwight Yoakam said that Stanley is one of his "musical heroes". In 2012, Stanley was featured on several tracks of the soundtrack for Nick Cave 's film Lawless , with music by Cave and Warren Ellis . His solo track "White Light/White Heat" is prominent in several scenes of the movie. Stanley maintained an active touring schedule; appearances in his later years included

192-600: A statement on his own website appeared saying that he would not be retiring. After two previous marriages ended in divorce, Stanley married his wife, Jimmie, in 1968; he had four children. Stanley's autobiography, Man of Constant Sorrow which was coauthored with the music journalist Eddie Dean, was released by Gotham Books on October 15, 2009. On June 23, 2016, Stanley died from skin cancer at his home in Sandy Ridge in Dickenson County , Virginia ; he

224-476: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Ralph Stanley Ralph Edmund Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016) was an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing. He began playing music in 1946, originally with his older brother Carter Stanley as part of The Stanley Brothers , and most often as the leader of his band, The Clinch Mountain Boys . Ralph

256-763: Is in eastern Russell County , Virginia , United States. At 4,689 feet (1,429 m), it is the 7th highest summit in Virginia. It is the 41st highest County High Point of the Eastern United States. Beartown Mountain is in the 25,477-acre (103.10 km ) Clinch Mountain Wildlife Management Area . The ridgelines south and northeast of the summit are the approximate boundary for the Wildlife Management Area . This Russell County, Virginia state location article

288-764: The Grand Ole Opry in the third millennium. He joined producers Randall Franks and Alan Autry for the In the Heat of the Night cast CD Christmas Time's A Comin' , performing "Christmas Time's A Comin'" with the cast on the CD released on Sonlite and MGM/UA; it was one of the most popular Christmas releases of 1991 and 1992 with Southern retailers. He was featured in the Josh Turner hit song " Me and God " released in 2006,

320-545: The 1980s, it was necessary to cut a new gap into the top of Clinch Mountain, which lowered the original gap elevation by 200 feet. That realignment, along with the lowering of Interstate 26 -U.S. Highway 23 at Sams Gap on the Tennessee-North Carolina border, are the only instances of a highway gap in Tennessee actually lowering an original gap where a state or federal highway was built through. (Sams Gap

352-649: The 2012 Muddy Roots Music Festival in Cookeville, Tennessee and the 2013 FreshGrass Festival in North Adams, Massachusetts . In June 2013, he announced a farewell tour, scheduled to begin in Rocky Mount, North Carolina on October 18 and extending to December 2014. However, upon notification of being elected as a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (awarded on October 11, 2014)

SECTION 10

#1732800973733

384-773: The Trail of the Lonesome Pine were proposed to run along the ridgeline of Clinch Mountain from the Tennessee-Virginia state line in Hancock County to its terminus in Grainger County. The plans were met with extreme opposition from unwilling property owners , particularly those from Grainger County, as the project would be nearly complete in the Hawkins and Hancock portions of the trail system. With

416-696: The band name when he continued as a solo act after Carter's death, from 1967 until his death in 2016. After Carter died of complications of cirrhosis in 1966, after ailing for "a year or so", Ralph Stanley faced a hard decision on whether to continue performing on his own. "I was worried, I didn't know if I could do it by myself. But boy, I got letters, 3,000 of 'em, and phone calls... I went to Syd Nathan at King and asked him if he wanted me to go on, and he said, 'Hell yes! You might be better than both of them.'" He decided to go it alone, eventually reviving The Clinch Mountain Boys. Larry Sparks , Roy Lee Centers, and Charlie Sizemore were among those with whom he played in

448-544: The banjo. He graduated from high school on May 2, 1945, and was inducted into the Army on May 16, serving for "little more than a year." When he got home he immediately began performing: ... my daddy and Carter picked me up from the (station), and Carter was playing with another group, Roy Sykes and the Blue Ridge Mountain Boys, and they had a personal appearance that night. So I sung a song with Carter on

480-525: The icing on the cake for me," he said. "It put me in a different category." He was known in the world of bluegrass music by the popular title, "Dr. Ralph Stanley", having been awarded an honorary doctorate in music from Lincoln Memorial University of Harrogate, Tennessee in 1976. Stanley was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1992 and in 2000; he became the first person to be inducted into

512-453: The last lead singer and band leader for The Clinch Mountain Boys. About 1970, Ralph Stanley ran for Clerk of Court and Commissioner of Revenue in Dickenson County and said: What happened is, somebody traded me off— they used my popularity and money to elect somebody else . I was done dirty. And I'm so proud that I was done dirty, because if I had been elected ... I woulda had a job to do ... maybe woulda finally quit. So that's one time I

544-577: The late '50s, a record company which was so eclectic that it included James Brown at the time. In fact, James Brown and his band were in the studio when the Stanley Brothers recorded " Finger Poppin' Time ". "James and his band were poppin' their fingers on that" according to Ralph. At King Records, they "went to a more 'Stanley style', the sound that people most know today." Ralph and Carter performed as The Stanley Brothers with their band, The Clinch Mountain Boys, from 1946 to 1966. Ralph kept

576-727: The legion of " Bang Bang Lulu " variants. The Carter Family immortalized the American mountain in their 1928 "My Clinch Mountain Home." A fiddle tune called "Clinch Mountain Backstep" (attributed to Ralph Stanley [1] ) is in the Appalachian folk repertoire. Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, produced an original work in 2018 based on several individuals and families from this area. Bloodroot: The Ballad of Clinch Mountain ,

608-635: The radio before I even got home. After considering a course in "veterinary", he decided instead to join his older guitar-playing brother Carter Stanley (1925–1966) to form the Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946. Drawing heavily on the musical traditions of the area, which included the unique singing style of the Primitive Baptist Universalist church and the sweet down-home family harmonies of the Carter Family ,

640-555: The revived band. He encountered Ricky Skaggs and Keith Whitley arriving late to his own show, "They were about 16 or 17, and they were holding the crowd 'til we got there... They sounded just exactly like (the Stanley Brothers)." Seeing their potential, he hired them "to give 'em a chance", though that meant a seven-member band. Eventually, his son, Ralph Stanley II, took over as lead singer and rhythm guitarist for The Clinch Mountain Boys. His grandson Nathan Stanley became

672-557: The ridge is completely sliced in half and continues as Clinch Mountain on either side, divided by Big Moccasin Creek. It is named Moccasin Gap and runs between Weber City and Gate City, Virginia . The Norfolk Southern Railway and U.S. Highways 23 - 58 - 421 utilize that gap because there is no elevation in the division of the mountain. When U.S. Highway 25E was realigned into a four-lane highway northwest of Bean Station, Tennessee , in

SECTION 20

#1732800973733

704-719: The same year he was awarded the National Medal of Arts . On November 10, 2007, Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys performed at a rally for presidential candidate John Edwards in Des Moines, Iowa , just before the Democratic Party 's annual Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner. Between renditions of " Man of Constant Sorrow " and " Orange Blossom Special ", Stanley told the crowd that he had cast his first vote for Harry S. Truman in 1948 and would cast his next for John Edwards in 2008. In October 2008, he performed in

736-665: The southern terminus of Clinch Mountain, was used to signal troops during the Civil War. The mountains along the Clinch Mountain ridge played an important role in the Battle of Bean's Station . The mountains in Grainger County, Tennessee , had prominence in the late 19th century when the mineral springs in the area drew notable visitors from around the globe. Tate Springs , as the town and resort were named, included

768-567: The two Stanley brothers began playing on local radio stations. They first performed at Norton, Virginia 's WNVA, but did not stay long there, moving on instead to Bristol, Virginia , and WCYB to start the show Farm and Fun Time , where they stayed "off and on for 12 years". At first they covered "a lot of Bill Monroe music" (one of the first groups to pick up the new "bluegrass" format). They soon "found out that didn't pay off—we needed something of our own. So we started writing songs in 1947, 1948. I guess I wrote 20 or so banjo tunes, but Carter

800-476: The unwillingness from Grainger County property owners, the trail system would be abandoned all-together in 1981 despite the completion of construction outside of Grainger County. "Way Up on Clinch Mountain," a folk song based on a 17th-century Scottish ballad, was recorded by Woody Guthrie as "Rye Whiskey," and is included in Carl Sandburg 's American Songbag . The song is credited by him with inspiring

832-429: The way he did it. You see, I had recorded "O Death" three times, done it with Carter. So I went down with my banjo to Nashville and I said, "T-Bone, let me sing it the way I want to sing it," and I laid my banjo down and sung it a cappella . After two or three verses, he stopped me and said, "That's it." With that song, Stanley won a 2002 Grammy Award in the category of Best Male Country Vocal Performance . "That put

864-588: Was 89. Stanley created a unique style of banjo playing, sometimes called "Stanley style". It evolved from the Wade Mainer style two-finger technique and was later influenced by the Scruggs style , which is a three-finger technique. "Stanley style" is distinguished by incredibly fast "forward rolls", led by the index finger (instead of the thumb, as in Scruggs style), sometimes in the higher registers using

896-444: Was a better writer than me." When Columbia Records signed them as The Stanley Brothers, Monroe left in protest joining Decca Records . Later, Carter went back to sing for the "Father of Bluegrass", Monroe. Ralph Stanley gave his opinion on Bill Monroe's apparent change of heart: "He [Monroe] knew Carter would make him a good singer... Bill Monroe loved our music and loved our singing." The Stanley Brothers joined King Records in

928-524: Was also known as Dr. Ralph Stanley . He was part of the first generation of bluegrass musicians and was inducted into both the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor and the Grand Ole Opry . Stanley was born, grew up, and lived in rural Southwest Virginia —"in a little town called McClure at a place called Big Spraddle Creek, just up the holler" from where he moved in 1936. Before that he lived in another part of Dickenson County . The son of Lee and Lucy Smith Stanley, Ralph did not grow up around

960-658: Was created by the Women's Writing Project at Liberty. The play is based on actual events ranging from the 18th to the 20th century. Characters include Mary Draper Ingles , Orelena Hawks Puckett , the Carter family , and several others of note. The following crossings of Clinch Mountain can be made, from southwest to northeast: Beartown Mountain Beartown Mountain is in the Clinch Mountain range, which

992-486: Was done dirty and I want to thank them for it now. Stanley's work was featured in the very popular 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou? , in which he sings the Appalachian dirge " O Death ". The soundtrack's producer was T-Bone Burnett . Stanley said the following about working with Burnett: T-Bone Burnett had several auditions for that song. He wanted it in the Dock Boggs style. So I got my banjo and learned it

Clinch Mountain - Misplaced Pages Continue

1024-548: Was lowered by 150 feet to accommodate Interstate 26). Clinch Mountain is named after the Clinch River , which was named after an 18th-century explorer. The earliest known reference to the name is in the 18th-century journal of Thomas Walker : "Clinch's River, from one Clinch a hunter." The Wilderness Road to the Cumberland Gap crossed Clinch Mountain at Moccasin Gap. Signal Point peak situated near Kitts Point,

#732267