Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys at Banjo Stage, October 5, 2014

Hardly Strictly Bluegrass 14 presents Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys
2014-10-05
Banjo Stage, Hellman Hollow
Golden Gate Park, 50 Overlook Dr, San Francisco, CA 94122
2:45 PM, Sunday, October 5, 2014

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[2:43 PM announcements]

1. [2:44 PM] Man of Constant Sorrow
2. [2:46 PM] Little Maggie
3. [2:47 PM] Meet Me By the Moonlight (NS)
4. [2:50 PM] ? “I promise you darling” / “someday you'll pay”
5. [2:54 PM] Worried Man (NS)
6. [2:58 PM] Never Seen the Face of my Savior (NS)
7. [3:02 PM] ? “Make Hay in Dixie”
8. [3:05 PM] Oh Death (RS solo a capella)
9. [3:09 PM] Bound to Ride (RH)
10. [3:11 PM] Lee Highway Blues
11. [3:13 PM] Loving You Too Well (NS)
12. [3:17 PM] Pretty Polly
13. [3:20 PM] ? I'm Sure They Called Him George ?Joe (JB)
14. [3:25 PM] I Feel Like Singing Today (RS/JL) £
15. [3:32 PM] ? Papaw I Love You (NS)
16. [3:34 PM] ? “girl so fair”
17. [3:38 PM] ? (shofar solo)
18. [3:40 PM] Orange Blossom Special [set ends 3:41 PM; announcements to 3:44 PM]

• Dewey Brown: violin;
• Randall Joe Hibbitts: contrabass;
• Nathan Stanley: lead and harmony vox;
• Ralph Stanley: banjo, lead and harmony vox;
• Junior Blankenship: acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vox;
• Mitchell Van Dyke: banjo;
  - £ with special guest -
• Jim Lauderdale (t14 only): acoustic guitar, vox.

I think I should start by mentioning the at 87 years old, Ralph Stanley is doing pretty darn well! He stopped picking awhile ago, and his voice is getting a little scratchier with every tour – just like Dylan! – but he appears happy to be trooping onward from show to show instead of fading away back home in Haysi Virginia (check that!). His grandson Nathan does a decent job with lead vocals, harmonizing with his papaw on a good fraction of the choruses, and generally handling leadership duty as the public face of the band. Lots of glorification of Ralph (and Carter too) as well as a fair bit of proselytizing on behalf of our dear Lord Jesus Christ, who apparently encourages the entire band in this regard. It's a little much, sometimes, but I suppose that they're sincerely harmless enough.

While the picking was generally darn good, there were at least three or four occasions where I thought they hiccuped a little – some awkward transitions or missed choruses or something. Nothing too embarrassing, but it made me wonder if that wasn't due to Ralph loosening the reins a bit too much. Or maybe being secure enough to be sloppy. I dunno.

Anyways, while I'm glad too have seen Ralph one more time, I'm inclined to think that next time I'll check the alternate schedule choices a little more carefully.

I'd like to thank the folks posting at setlist.fm for the help correcting and confirming some of my guesses, but no one's contributed anything so far! I suppose I'll just have to check back on them a little later…

Back to the previous event! ☸ Up to the 2014 yearbox! ☸ Up to the 2014 event list! ☸ On to the next event! ☸