Traveling the High Way Home: Ralph Stanley and the World of Traditional Bluegrass Music (Music in American Life) - Softcover

Wright, John

Softcover

ISBN 10: 025206478X ISBN 13: 9780252064784

Publisher: University of Illinois Press, 1995

Synopsis

John Wright's collection of interviews and stories about Ralph Stanley puts readers around a campfire at a bluegrass festival while old-timers weave yarns far into the night. Told by those who create, produce, stage, love, and virtually live for old-time mountain music, these tales come from the longtime coworkers, sidemen, promoters, friends, and others in the orbit of the music legend. The storytellers include a scholar who knew Stanley from the early days, the housewife who ran the Stanley Brothers Fan Club, and a souvenir seller for whom the discovery of Stanley's music was almost a religious experience.

Wright also uses these invaluable oral histories as a foundation to describe and evaluate Stanley's long career with the Clinch Mountain Boys and the development of his music after the death of his brother Carter. An appendix covers Ralph's prolific recording activity through the mid-1990s, including a breathtaking forty-five albums compromising more than 550 songs and tunes.

About this title

About the Author

John Wright is the John Evans Professor of the Latin Language and Literature at Northwestern University and a columnist for Banjo Newsletter.

From the Back Cover

'A very enjoyable book...makes you feel that you are listening to the persons Wright interviewed talk about treasured memories.' -- Suzanne Denison, Bluegrass Breakdown

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Illinois Press
• Publication date: 1995
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 025206478X
• ISBN 13: 9780252064784
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304