Ralph Stanley
A Distant Land To Roam: Songs of the Carter Family (Columbia/DMZ)
Ralph Stanley was an infant in 1927 when Ralph Peer first recorded A.P. Carter; his wife, Sara Carter; and their sister-in-law, Maybelle Carter, in Bristol, Tenn. Consequently, the Carter Family, as they soon became known, provided part of the soundtrack that Ralph and his brother Carter grew up with, and when the brothers began their music careers, those songs, the beginnings of country music, were an important part of their repertoire. It’s surprising, then, that at the age of 79 Stanley is recording a full album of tunes associated with the Carters for the first time. While his voice isn’t as strong as it once was, its tattered nature lends the music a depth and desolation that amplifies the subject matter: trains (“Engine 143”), life at sea (“Waves on the Sea”), life in prison (“Worried Man Blues”), and spirituals (“On a Hill Lone and Grey”). The showstopper is a remarkable version of “Motherless Children.” Beginning with Stanley a cappella for the first verse, then adding a doleful fiddle for the rest of the tune, the song is a sad, incomparable moment that will leave the hair on the back of your neck standing on end, no matter how many times you’ve heard the traditional melody performed.
This article appears in July 14 • 2006.