Ralph stanley ii biography

American bluegrass musician and singer (1927–2016)

Musical artist

Ralph Edmund Stanley (February 25, 1927 – June 23, 2016) was an American bluegrass artist, known for his distinctive singing and banjo playing.

See full list on bluegrasshall.org

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 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.

Ralph stanley ii biography

Biography

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.^[1] The son of Lee and Lucy Smith Stanley, Ralph did not grow up around a lot of music in his home. As he sa