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It's been a whirlwind week, folks. First I want to catch up on some past news with new photos. [Click on any image to enlarge]  Here's one of the marquee over the Jettie Baker Center in Clintwood:
...& Ginger & the gals at the Ralph Stanley Museum ...a couple of Ralph & Carter's stage outfits (dig the jacket on the right!), with Carter's first good quality guitar. Here's Nick Piper getting a feel for the house before our afternoon show in Grundy. The BIO HAZARD warning on the door across from our dressing room! Kimberly Mays going back for thirds at the New Hope Christian Church in between shows. ...& me & the boys rehearsing for the Hurricane Relief benefit show. On Friday Ginger Morelock from the Ralph Stanley Museum took me down to the Clinch Mountain MusicFest in Kingsport, TN. First we bumped into old time 2-finger banjo man, Lee Sexton & got into a little jam session with him, Rich Kirby from Appalshop, & Doug Dorschug.
I was playing Doug's old Gibson A-style mandolin, which looked like it was made sometime during WWII, because, as Doug pointed out, it had stamped tuners, as opposed to cast metal parts. After about an hour, we went over to the main stage site just as Ralph Stanley's bus was rolling into the parking lot. They invited us in, Ralph greeted us warmly (saying, "you ain't hardly ugly enough to play George Shuffler!" to which bassist Jack Cooke ventured, "yeah boy, that George, he got hit by an UUUUUUGLY stick!" followed by much laughter), gave us artist passes, & invited us to have dinner with them in the hospitality building. After which we repaired back to the bus where Ralph pulled out a new banjo Frank Neat made for him, a new Stanleytone with his name inlayed in the fretboard in pearl. Ralph played some clawhammer, showed me a few of his techniques, then handed it over to his banjo man Steve Sparkman for a quick lesson on how to play "How Far To Little Rock".. Ralph's guitar player, James Alan Shelton, brought a young man on the bus who wanted to sing with Ralph. They launched into "Stone Walls & Steel Bars" but Ralph stopped him & corrected him on the melody, then showed him how his harmony was supposed to fit over the top of it...so basically I got a banjo lesson & sat in on a singing lesson with Ralph. They hit it again, & I automatically plugged in a baritone harmony, so there I was, singing with Ralph, who winked at me. Unfortunately we had to leave at 6pm to run back to the Barter to get ready for that evening's performance, so we missed Ralph's show...but from a comment he made to me I definitely got the impression I would've been asked to sit in on stage with him if I didn't have to leave. Believe me, that was hard to tear myself away from!. Speaking of James Shelton, he was nice enough to give me a copy of his instructional video (with George Shuffler) "Clinch Mountain Guitar," which you can find on James' swag page, & tells you everything you want to know about crosspicking from the past & current masters of the genre. James has been a great guy over the last couple months, answering any questions I might have, correcting some of my misconceptions & just being an all-around nice cat...thanks, man! Be sure to visit his website.. Thanks again to Ginger Morelock for letting me tag along!. Last night after our show we played our Hurricane Benefit concert, featuring some of our favorite Stanley Brothers songs that didn't make it into the show, like "The Memory of Your Smile," "Riding That Midnite Train," & others, to a packed house...pictures coming soon (BOY do I need a digital camera!). Tomorrow we're off to Covington, VA, for a show put on by the Alleghany Highlands Arts Council.. | |||
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