Search - Ralph Stanley II :: Stanley Blues

While his dad, bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, is famous for his rustic, piercing mountain tenor, Ralph II, a longtime singer-guitarist in his father's Clinch Mountain Boys, possesses a rich, smooth voice that's far more reminiscent of his dad's former singing partners, Carter Stanley and Keith Whitley. Ralph II's third solo album is a low-key, soulful 12-song collection on which he's joined by members of the Clinch Mountain Boys. With John Rigsby shadowing him with hand-in-glove tenor accompaniment (and the elder Stanley joining him on a pair of cuts), the younger Stanley serves up moving renditions of everything from old Stanley Brothers favorites ("We'll Be Sweethearts in Heaven") and country standards (Mel Tillis's "Ruby, Don't Take Your Love to Town") to a heartfelt coal miner's ballad ("Daddy's Dinner Bucket") and a gospel ("Four Horsemen"). The Ralph II-penned title tune is a Stanley family anthem that sums up life on the road. --Bob Allen