Search - Stanley Brothers :: Long Journey Home

Think you know these songs?

Kathy L. Holmes | 01/11/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Think again. Shuffler's picking brings a whole new dimension to these familiar classics. As casual as a glass of tea on the porch, precise as a carpenter's rule, Shuffler's 6-string work cascades up and down, round and round, like a mountain road. There's no fiddle, so this makes for a unique Stanley Brothers band. They had just come off a week-long stint at Johnny's Used Cars near Baltimore, and the owner, Johnny Willbanks, was also the 'CEO' of Wango Records, and got this version of the band to record four albums for him. This is the second in the series (Wango 104), and was the only album to feature purely secular material. Carter sounds very strong on this, invested you might say; and Ralph's unmistakable tenor adds the mountain soul that the Stanley Brothers have always been famous for, and his banjo picking is superb. The recordings sound great, and are a welcome addition to my Stanley collection."