DR RALPH STANLEY AND HIS CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS.

A few weeks ago I emailed FlopearedMule about some Bluegrass guy coming to play, he seemed all "O Brother Where Art Thou" but had no idea. Well her prompt reply went a little something like this
"OMG!
RALPH STANELY!!
THE DR RALPH STANLEY!!!
OMG I HATE YOU, AND YOU BETTER GO SEE HIM!!!!.
He practically spawned the "O Brother sound' OMG!!"

So last night 7 of us wandered down to The Orpheum in Downtown to check this living legend out.
The venue is really cool, big open seat area, a upper balcony and in between a bar area. There are no bad seats in the house. So we settled in with a beer or two and was highly entertained.
The opening band were The Burnett Family, Ma, Pa 2 daughters and a son who was 17 the girls probably a bit older. Home schooled and can play about 4 instruments each. They rocked on with Double Bass, Gitar, Fiddle, Mandolin and Banjo. There is something very infectious about that combo. Even if you are not huge fans of the genre there will be some top tapping whether you want it or not.


Then came Dr Ralph "If I live till Feb 25th I'll be 80 years old" and his Boys, all seven of them, including his son and 14 year old Grandson.
They were great. The skill and respect and their enjoyment coming from the stage was a lot of fun to see. They all have their own albums outs so all had turns doing their thing intermixed with banter and laughs.
Dr Stanley sung "Man Of Constant Sorrows"- first recorded by him in 1948 and "O Death" with no accompaniment. The movie version with the men singing it sent shivers down through the feet but his version really showed the strength and timbre of his voice still going after 80 years.
A good time was had by all, and I may have bought a couple of items and I may have got them signed by the Man Himself and I may send them to Floppy for her birthday but shhhhh.

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