THE SOUTHERN THANG


Dr. Ralph Stanley Feb. 25, 1927 - June 23, 2016


Ralph Stanley, a patriarch of Appalachian music who with his brother Carter


helped expand and popularize the genre that became known as bluegrass, died Thursday, June 23, from difficulties with skin cancer. He was 89.


Stanley was born and raised in southwest Virginia, where he and his brother formed the Stanley Brothers and their Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946.


Heavily influenced by Grand Ole Opry star Bill Monroe, the brothers fused Mon- roe's rapid rhythms with the mountain folk songs from groups such as the Carter Family, who hailed from this same rocky corner of Virginia. He was the son of Lucy Jane Smith Stanley and Lee Stanley.


Ralph Stanley achieved legendary status in bluegrass music, and with the film O Brother Where Art Thou, his “Man of Constant Sorrow” cemented his legacy. Rest in Peace, Dr. Stanley. You will be greatly missed.


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