The Definitive Collection 1947-1966

Artist	The Stanley Brothers
Format	CD
Genre	Country
Label Name	Time Life
Release Date	2007 04 03
Song List	1: Little Glass of Wine (2:57) 2: The Old Home (2:21) 3: The White Dove (3:18) 4: The Fields Have Turned Brown (2:35) 5: The Lonesome River (2:46) 6: Get Down on Your Knees and Pray (3:02) 7: I'm Lonesome Without You (2:32) 8: This Weary Heart You Stole Away (Wake Up, Sweetheart) (2:41) 9: Our Last Goodbye (2:38) 10: (Say) Won't You Be Mine (2:49) 11: A Voice from on High (2:35) 12: I Just Got Wise (2:35) 13: Blue Moon of Kentucky (2:15) 14: Hard Times (2:47) 15: If That's the Way You Feel (2:33) 16: Orange Blossom Special (2:29) 17: Nobody's Love Is Like Mine (2:28) 18: Angel Band (2:18) 19: Who Will Call You Sweetheart (2:56) 20: The Cry from the Cross (2:51) 21: Gonna Paint the Town (2:21) 22: How Mountain Girls Can Love (2:08) 23: Think of What You've Done (2:08) 24: How Far to Little Rock (2:41) 25: Train 45 (2:46) 26: Ridin' That Midnight Train (2:05) 27: Man of Constant Sorrow (2:38) 28: Rank Stranger (3:11) 29: Jacob's Vision (2:17) 30: Little Maggie (2:48) 31: God Gave You to Me (2:07) 32: Let Me Rest (2:02) 33: Who Will Sing for Me (2:08) 34: Little Birdie (1:59) 35: Lonesome Night (2:21) 36: Don't Cheat in Our Home Town (2:36) 37: Stone Walls and Steel Bars (2:09) 38: Beautiful Star of Bethlehem (3:52) 39: O Death (3:00) 40: Soldier's Grave (2:57) 41: Theme & Cotton-Eyed Joe (1:50) 42: Mother No Longer Awaits Me at Home (2:42) 43: The Girl Behind the Bar (2:16) 44: Molly and Tenbrooks (2:25) 45: Are You Waiting Just for Me (2:19) 46: Will You Be Loving Another Man [Live][#] (2:47) 47: Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms (2:26) 48: Black Mountain Blues (2:01) 49: Meet Me Tonight (2:35) 50: Nobody's Business (1:58) 51: Sugar Coated Love [Live][#] (3:16) 52: Tell Me Why My Daddy Don't Come Home [Live][#] (2:34) 53: Hide Ye in the Blood (2:13) 54: East Virginia Blues (2:36) 55: Pretty Polly (4:03) 56: Pig in a Pen (1:48) 57: Will You Miss Me (3:13) 58: Where the Soul Never Dies (1:35) 59: Dust on the Bible (1:16) 60: Single Girl (2:58)
Style.Categories	Bluegrass-Gospel, Close Harmony, Bluegrass, Traditional Country, Old-Timey, Traditional Bluegrass

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There are scores of Stanley Brothers compilations out there, most of them label specific, but Time-Life's three-disc Definitive Collection is the one that die-hard fans have been dreaming of for a long time, a set that covers the brothers' entire 19-year recording career and includes tracks they cut for the Rich-R-Tone, Columbia, Mercury, King, and Starday imprints all collected side by side. Not that their legacy was ever in doubt, but it is still striking how remarkably consistent these Stanley Brothers sides are, and laid out like this, spanning 1947 to 1966, it's a body of work that is arguably the best that bluegrass has ever produced. Neither Carter Stanley or Ralph Stanley, of course, ever called what they did bluegrass, preferring to call it old-time mountain music or simply hillbilly music, and their sound was much closer to the old string band feel than either Bill Monroe or Flatt & Scruggs, and thanks to their unique vocal harmony approach (a tenor lead with a high baritone above that and an even higher tenor -- usually mandolin player Pee Wee Lambert -- above that), no bluegrass group has ever sounded more high and lonesome than the Stanley Brothers with the Clinch Mountain Boys. This set has it all, from songs of God, love, and family to the scores of songs about misery and death that gave the Stanley Brothers their edgy, almost desperate immediacy in performance. "Man of Constant Sorrow," from 1960, is here, as is "Rank Stranger," recorded that same year, and 1964's "Oh Death." There's a blistering version of the old horse race song "Mollie and Tenbrooks" from 1948 and an impressive instrumental version of "Train 45" from 1959. A rare Ralph Stanley original, "Gonna Paint This Town," is here from 1958, along with an ominously romping take on the traditional "Little Maggie" from 1961. Also included here is the brothers' rendition of Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky," a song they tracked at Monroe's urging in 1954 shortly after Elvis Presley's hit version was released, and it's interesting to note how their take on the song neatly bridges the stylistic gap between Monroe's and Presley's approaches. Also worth noting is a pair of guitar, banjo, and vocal duets between Carter and Ralph on "East Virginia Blues" and "Pretty Polly," both from 1966, which show that the brothers could have easily taken the pure folk route had they chosen to do so. Calling all of this material bluegrass seems almost too confining, although there's little doubt that Carter and Ralph profoundly influenced and shaped the genre. The Stanley Brothers, more so than Monroe or Flatt & Scruggs, were a clear extension of the mountain music they were born into, and in performance they were never truly more than a half-step away from the Appalachian string band tradition. They themselves called what they did hillbilly music, but as this wonderful career survey shows, whatever one calls it, it was soulful American music of the highest order. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide