Gary Reid’s taste for bluegrass was whetted almost by accident. In his foreword to the book, Neil Rosenberg tells how as a teenager, Reid refused to attend bluegrass camping events with his parents, and was only mildly interested in the music he experienced on a trip to the Grand Old Opry. But that changed in 1973 when a high school teacher came up with a pile of current country music LPs and made them available to students for thirty-three cents each. Reiny went through them and found that three of the artists on the LPs called out to him: Bill Monroe, Flatt and Scruggs, and, most emphatically, the Stanley Brothers, Ralph and Carter.
At the time, progressive bluegrass was taking hold in the Washington, D.C., area. However, Reid became part of the national network of young people interested in the pioneers of bluegrass music. Reid graduated from high school and entered the world of work. However, regardless of his official employment, his real work was documenting the Stanley Brothers. Reid’s vacations from his job were consumed with research into the Stanley Brothers. His interest expanded to include other aspects of the music business. He later started the Copper Creek record label, whose first release concerned his greatest interest, the Stanley Brothers.
The book is the culmination of thirty-some years of research. It is organized sequentially and anchored by the Stanley Brothers’ label affiliations. For example, the focus of chapter 2 is on the years that the Stanley Brothers were under contract to Columbia Records, 1949-1952. Each chapter concludes with a discography for the period covered by that chapter.
Discographies are documents which contain such details as titles of songs performed, where the songs were recorded and on which dates, composers, and players and singers. This information allows readers to track the development and evolution of the music and artists represented. The discography in this book represents the most accurate and complete Stanley Brothers discography known. The brief guide to reading the discographies placed before the chapters demystifies the discography listings and is likely to draw more readers to them. But it is Gary Reid’s narratives that precede the discographies that make The Music of the Stanley Brothers stand out.
The audience of music fans, informally and formally trained music scholars, and media people are well served by the book, which exudes having been put together with painstaking and loving attention to detail. Quotes from numerous interviews with Ralph Stanley and others conducted by Gary Reid over the years lend credibility to the narrative. Many of the details relating to the recording sessions, players in the Clinch Mountain Boys, figures in the music business, and performances represent the kinds of details the multiple audiences for the book will enjoy. For example, on page 29, Carter Stanley is quoted as saying that the brothers’ father sang “Pretty Polly,” “Man of Constant Sorrow,” and “Little Bessie,” all songs later recorded by the Stanley Brothers. The family connection between the Stanley Brothers and the group’s repertoire is one that would interest fans and folklorists alike. It speaks to the Stanleys’ act as one grounded in home and family. But both types of audience members also know that bluegrass music operates in a commercial world that is removed from home places where songs are learned informally. The book provides many examples of the connection between the bluegrass tradition and the commercial world. For example, on page 100, there is a quote from Ralph Stanley saying that the lead-guitar playing featured on many of their recordings for King Records was a concession to the owner of King Records, Syd Nathan. Syd thought that guitar solos would give Stanley Brothers’ recordings a unique sound. As far as repertoire, many of the songs the Stanley Brothers would record were chosen by Syd, all songs which had been popular when recorded by other King artists.
The musical career of the Stanley Brothers was touched by many kinds of influence: record labels, commercial supporters for whom they performed, and fan clubs, for example. Frequently, these kinds of forces cause the musical and business wheels to turn in unexpected ways. For example, we learn on page 173 that the Stanley Brothers recorded under the name of John’s Country Quartet to record LPs for the Wango label. The name of “John’s Country Quartet” was chosen by Wango’s owner, Ray Davis, to honor one of his radio sponsors, John Wilbanks. The reason for the subterfuge was that the group was already under contract to a different label. On some of the Wango recordings, Carter Stanley played a reduced role because of laryngitis. To lovers of the Stanley Brothers’ music, this type of information lends real-world feel to the Stanley Brothers’ musical career.
Gary Reid’s Music of the Stanley Brothers brings together a lot of information about one of the most important first-generation bluegrass groups. The level of detail and completeness of the discography make the listings authoritative. The book’s extensive use of interviewees who participated in the events depicted contributes a palpable credibility to the narrative. With its publication, Music of the Stanley Brothers becomes one of the most important sources about one of history’s most important bluegrass groups.
--------
[Review length: 868 words • Review posted on September 1, 2015]