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entertaining u newspaper: your monthly guide to entertainment
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One Small Step For Landmines
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by rick grant
rickgrant01@comcast.net
WHAT:
Palatka Bluegrass Festival
WHEN:
February 7-9th
WHERE:
Rodeheaver Boy’s Ranch on SR-19
“Hey, let’s go to Palatka for fun,” is a phrase one rarely hears. However, on February 7-9, 2008, “Let’s go to the Palatka’s Bluegrass Festival for fun” will be uttered by many fans of bluegrass and American roots music. This ambitious event will be held at the Rodeheaver Boys Ranch, in Palatka, featuring a host of bluegrass stars and legends, including Ralph Stanley, the 75-year old icon of the genre as the headline act.
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Bluegrass festivals are unique in that the attendees participate in impromptu jams around pickup trucks and camp fires. Everyone is packing a guitar, banjo, fiddle, or upright bass and some of these jams are well worth checking out or, better yet, joining-in. For this bluegrass bacchanal the booked performers include Nothin’ Fancy, James King Band, Blue Highway, Steep Canyon Rangers, The Isaacs, Carolina Sonshine, The Rascals, Marty Rayon & Full Circle, Goldwing Express, Paul Williams & The Victory Trio, The Gibson Brothers, The US Navy Band Country Current, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, The Lewis Family, Rhonda Vincent & The Rage, and Ralph Stanley & The Clinch Mountain Boys on Saturday, Feb. 9th.
The good folks promoting this event tell me it will go on rain or shine but there will be a covered pavilion in case it rains. Please bring your own lawn chairs and don’t forget your instruments. Music will be held on and off stage--continuously. There will be concessions with hot food, beverages, and camper hook-ups.
Of course, the big buzz is the legendary Ralph Stanley’s performance. T Bone Burnett (the mastermind behind the music of O Brother Where Art Thou) said “Stanley is one the two or three most important figures in roots and country music today. He’s a punk singer of rock’n’roll mountain music... he’s way closer to Elvis than the nation of ‘Dueling Banjos.’”
T Bone Burnett went on to say, “One of Ralph Stanley’s gifts is to be able to contain and express grief. There’s just such deep grief in his tone. That’s what we were looking for in all of these songs. The natural extension of what O Brother was doing.
“I sing many old songs,” Ralph observes, “I’d heard some of them when I was a boy. But some I’d never heard until T Bone sent them to me. He sent me 40 to 50 songs, I guess to choose from for the O Brother project.”
Ralph and his older brother, Carter, formed the seminal bluegrass ensemble the Stanley Brothers, who recorded with Columbia Records from 1949 until 1952. When Carter died, the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys became the most celebrated bluegrass groups in the world, ultimately rivaling in popularity with such titans as Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Jim & Jesse and the Osborne Brothers. Now, Ralph performs with the Cinch Mountain Boys.
As a band leader Ralph nourished young and promising talents such as Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, Larry Sparks, and Charlie Sizemore, all of whom went on to successful solo careers and credit Stanley as an influence and mentor.
In January 2000, Ralph became the first artist to be inducted into the historic Grand Ole Opry in the new Millennium. He holds the Living Legend Award from the Library of Congress and he was the first recipient of the Traditional American Music award for the National Endowment for the Humanities. In 2002, Ralph won multiple Grammys for Best Country Male Vocalist Performance and Album of the Year for his part in the O Brother soundtrack.
“Well, it’s true these awards have been coming pretty fast,” noted Ralph, “but I enjoy every one of them... I enjoy making albums and performing live. I liked the songs on the O Brother project and I think the music fits my voice. It’s a real good idea to do this old-time stuff. I don’t think there’s anything else like it.”
T Bone added that “When Ralph does what he does, it is what it is. And the sound of it is beautiful. Ralph has been keeping this flame for fifty-five years, an heroic task, and he has done so with humility and a deep love that has only gotten deeper over time.”
Yes, T Bone’s words ring true. The O Brother soundtrack reinvigorated Ralph Stanley’s career and he’s been busy ever since with his legendary back up band bringing true American roots music to a new generation.
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