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I’m on my way back to the old home

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The holidays always bring a sense to me within my soul. It’s a desire to go home and spend time with the family and old friends in familiar environs.

For me a peace comes over me when open horizons turn to mountain hillsides and tight roads winding between them back into the hollers. The farm houses stand upon the high points leaving what bit of flat there is for growing crops.

Smoke rises from the chimneys as I wind up through the valley to reach the old home place that sheltered our family for nearly two hundred years.

On the porch as I reach the drive are my grandmother and grandfather finishing the hanging of the greens to decorate the outside of the house.

The interior will already be filled with the smells and the vision of hundreds of Christmases – stockings on the mantle, a fresh cut tree with all types of handmade decorations hanging from the limbs.

Sadly, the vision I see today is only in my mind’s eye as the old home place is now someone else’s and the older generations that once gathered at it’s hearth are now resting beneath the family sod.

This year I chose to make my journey to my musical home place. So much of my life and mentoring came from the musical lineage of the Father of Bluegrass Music – Bill Monroe and his Uncle Pen Vandiver. The lineage is sort of mine as they both were my mother’s cousins. I was so blessed as a teen when Bill took me on to mentor my fiddling and my band leading.

So, I decided to go back to his hometown of Rosine, Ky. To visit. I was blessed in that my old friend Marty Hays and his wife Robin hosted my visit at the Bill Monroe Homeplace. The restored home has many of the aspects of the home that Bill knew as a boy. Each room offers a unique look into the warm fires that once burned in the fireplaces.

In one of his songs “I’m On My Way Back to the Old Home,” he tells a story of the Homeplace.

That today also hosts the annual Jerusalem Ridge Bluegrass Festival. I hope that you will take the time to add it to your plans for 2025. It’s a wonderful show with many of the top talents of bluegrass being there.

During my visit, I was blessed to also take in the Uncle Pen’s Cabin – owned by James Monroe, and the Bill Monroe Museum. I went to the Rosine Cemetery and paid my respects to Bill, Uncle Pen and all the Monroe clan.

To help make the visit a musical connection back to my time touring with his Blue Grass Boys, I celebrated my 40th Anniversary with a concert at the Rosine Barn Jamboree accompanied by the talents of The Rosine Sound. This talented group includes Marty Hays, Jasper Dale Beatty, Larry Hill and Dylan Lunsford. It was an uplifting show and with their help I played many of the tunes that I had shared with Bill.

Meeting the people of Rosine and enjoying the warm welcome they offered was similar to the mind’s eye vision I described at the beginning of my piece. I may not be able to recreate those days that stand in my memory, but I sure can make them over in news ways.

I encourage you, if your wishing to take a trip and find both good folks and some interesting places to see look towards https://www.ohiocounty.com/billmonroe . Learn more about my history with Bill Monroe at https://RandallFranks.com/Bill-Monroe-and-the-Blue-Grass-Boys/ .

Legendary American singer Earle Wheeler is called home

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So as best I recall, it was 1984 at Raccoon Creek Bluegrass Festival in Dallas, Ga., I took it into my head that the Marksmen Quartet needed a fiddle player, so I crawled up on stage fiddle in hand from the audience and joined in. I was surprised Earle Wheeler didn’t kick me right back off.

Already a legendary American music singer Dr. Earle Wheeler, of Murrayville, Ga. whose appearances on “The Gospel Singing Jubilee,” J.G. Whitfield’s “All Nite Sings,” and “The Warren Roberts Show” greatly impacted Southern gospel and now he was making strides in bluegrass music. He would go on to add country music as another musical genre among his conquests.

Dr. Earle Wheeler (Marksmen Media: Leslie Laurendeau Abby-J Photography)

He contributed over 500 career recordings to American music and amassed over 20 career award wins across the three musical genres plus three Dove Award nominations for “God’s Masterpiece” and “Blue Ridge Mountain Memories” and “This My Crowd” in 2008, 2010, and 2013. He attained numerous chart songs including several #1 songs, some of those were “Sound the Battle Cry,” “He’s Still Setting My Place at The Table,” “Potter’s Wheel,” and “Preach the Cross.”

Earle left this world doing what he loved while on tour in Texas at the age of 84, (1940- 2024). An accidental fall caused a broken second vertebra requiring his hospitalization prior to his passing from heart failure on Oct. 31.

Earle had led the Hall of Fame and multiple-award–winning Marksmen Quartet since 1967, a re-branding from his group The Gospel Hearts that he began in 1961.

My intervening in their performance 40 years ago, began friendships and musical collaborations that remain to this day.

My early years in music, I spent countless nights in their home. I slept in a bunk pulled out from under guitarist and vocalist Mark Wheeler’s bed when we were youth. Mark is Earle’s only son and a mainstay of the quartet. I ate many meals prepared by his wife Shirley at their dining room table.

When I graduated, Earle helped me get my first record company job. Of course, they would soon sign with that label and I promoted their music. While there I played on my first chart record for Earle “Meet Me in Heaven” which featured a fiddle solo in it.

That was one of a long list of chart songs in the three genres Earle would bring to music fans.

I stood on stage beside Earle for many years watching him move an audience with his master level skills of emceeing a show. His performances often brought explosive response from audiences was when he led “Get Away Jordan” and “I Want to Go There.” I saw long-time stars express their frustrations to follow Earle on stage because he would wear out an audience through his ability to move them emotionally.

The Marksmen joined me in my performance for the Grand Ole Opry’s 63rd Birthday Celebration in 1987 electrifying the audience. Within a year, they were included in a performance for the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Legends of Bluegrass Concert in 1988 alongside Bill Monroe, Ralph Stanley, Jim and Jesse, The Lewis Family, and the Osborne Brothers. Their efforts garnered them nine Gospel Bluegrass Band of the Year Awards once such an award was created.

I was honored to be there for many of those great achievements with Earle and appear with them on shows such as “The Huff Cook Gospel Sing” from Bristol, Va.

Beginning in 1988, I joined the cast of “In the Heat of the Night,” and when the opportunity arose, I included Earle and the group to sing on “In the Heat of the Night” “Christmas Time’s A Comin’” CD with Anne-Marie Johnson and featured them with Carroll O’Connor, the cast and country hall of famers.

In later years, when ever I appeared Earle used to joke I left the Marksmen because Carroll O’Connor paid me more than he did.

His acceptance in bluegrass also yielded his transition and acceptance into the country genre performing side by side with that genre’s biggest stars. Still performing in the same fashion, just finding new audiences for four voices and their unique songs. The group would win Five Country Gospel Group of the Year Awards. They won Two Country Music Video Awards for “Grandpa Was a Farmer” and “Wagon Tracks.”

From our first concert to raise funds for the Pearl and Floyd Franks Appalachian Music Scholarships for the Share America Foundation, Inc., Earle and the Marksmen Quartet were there and made our efforts a success each year joining us for the last time in 2023 on the Hollywood Hillbilly Jamboree.

Earle and his wife Shirley were an extra set of parents who have checked in on me throughout my life. Earle was there supporting me when I lost both my dad and mom. He is survived by his wife Shirley, his son Mark (Joy), and his grandchildren Will, Sarah Grace, and Cana and current and former members of The Marksmen Quartet.

Rest in Peace Earle… Well done good and faithful servant!

                            The Marksmen – 1987

 

American music brings smiles

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When the sounds of Southern gospel music fill Pigeon Forge, Tenn., it must be time for the National Quartet Convention.

The LeConte Center hosts the annual event each September providing an opportunity for fans of all ages to hear and meet their very favorite traveling gospel singers since 1957.

I was able to attend this year and enjoy some of the most talented stars and up and coming performers on the main stage and on showcases at the event.

Jeff & Sheri Easter, the Troy Burns Family, the Inspirations, Jeff Tolbert and Primitive Road, the Kingsmen, the Down East Boys, the Dixie Echoes, the Perrys, Gold City and many others that play a part in Bill Gaither’s Homecoming Friends kept the attendees smiling, laughing, tapping their toes and praising the Lord for show after show.

Radio and television personalities catch them for special interviews and they spend hours around their merchandise tables talking with friends.

The Singing News Fan Awards – seeing groups such as the Inspirations sweep many categories, Ray Dean Reese honored for Lifetime Achievement and Karen Peck Gooch as Favorite Soprano and the Southern Gospel Music Hall of Fame inductions honoring Herb Henry, Mike Holcomb, Kelly Nelon Clark and Jeff Stice are major highlights of the week.

I remember the earliest conventions I attended in Nashville, then Louisville and now Pigeon Forge. The genre still allows for the personal touch between the music stars and the fans, much as it has been done throughout its history. Don’t miss your chance to be part of the tradition in 2025, visit https://www.natqc.com/ to watch for future events.

Another destination of my recent travels was to participate in the IBMA World of Bluegrass in Raleigh, N.C. where I was enthusiastically impressed with the large number of youth I found smiling and jamming in corners around the convention center between special conference events, concerts, the annual awards and exhibition hall where current performers share their latest and talk with fans. I was honored to direct segments of the award show this year working with my talented hosts Mike Compton and Joe Newberry. Compton’s work is well known for his many associations in numerous genres and for the hit film and recording “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

The annual IBMA Awards saw the Del McCoury Band win Entertainer of the Year; Deanie Richardson as Fiddle Player of the Year; Album of the Year by Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway; Vocal Group of the Year is Authentic Unlimited; among other award winners and Laurie Lewis received a Distinguished Achievement Award; Wyatt Ellis received the Momentum Instrumentalist of the Year and Dobroist Jerry Douglas, banjo player Alan Munde and Radio Host Katy Daley were inductees into the Bluegrass Hall of Fame. For 2025, the IBMA World of Bluegrass will move to Chattanooga, Tenn. Watch www.IBMA.org for future news.

On the heels of both these amazing events, many of the musical participants and attendees returned to their homes across the Appalachians and the South finding devastation in their communities brought on my Hurricane Helene. I encourage any of you reading these words to seek out local organizations across Western North Carolina, East Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida in the affected areas. Send monies to those that are closest to the victims that can make the greatest difference in the recoveries and eventually rebuilding of these communities. I pray for all affected. I fear the story to be told in the future will be one of greatest loss and sadness seen across these regions since the Civil War. That sadness will likely be recorded as not only from the impact of the storm but also from the lack of early response from authorities and others outside the region after the fact.

David Davis, a bluegrass mandolin stilled

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The rained poured down on the fairgrounds at the Cedartown Georgia fairgrounds. It was the site of a new bluegrass festival including many talented acts. I was there with my youth group, the Peachtree Pickers. We were dodging mud puddles from the rain that had already come in to get to the stage.

When another storm front came through, my father and I sought refuge in a cattle barn on the grounds. Inside, we found David Davis of the Warrior River Boys (www.DavidDavisandWRB.com) and his father also dodging the bad weather. They were also on the bill that day.
This deluge created an opportunity for us to meet and talk. That day began a four-decade long friendship that led David and I into an unusual musical creative partnership.

As we both plotted the course for our future careers in Bluegrass and beyond, we saw the opportunity to be cheerleaders, counselors, and sounding boards for ideas and opportunities as they came to us. Our talents and our styles were different, so we didn’t see each other as competing for the same ground and jobs, however we believed in each of our strengths we could compliment what was ahead.

Doors opened for both of us as David landed on Rounder Records and created critically acclaimed albums and a widening festival audiences with his Monroe-infused Appalachian roots sounds.
I shifted to guest starring for the Grand Ole Opry and crossed over to acting in network TV reaching large country music audiences.

Whenever David needed a musician, all he had to do was call and went to help. When I began mounting my country variety shows – The Hollywood Hillbilly Jamboree, I asked David to join me and provide the bluegrass portion and do some songs with me as I moved from country, to bluegrass, to gospel on my shows.

He moved along to Wango and Rebel Records and even had some Time-Life recordings as the years ticked off before returning again to Rounder.

As I was focusing more closely on my Appalachian roots, I asked David to record a brother-duet album with me called “God’s Children.” He didn’t hesitate and we created some eclectic sounds with pioneers “Doc” Tommy Scott, Cotton and Jane Carrier, and my television friend Sonny Shroyer “Enos” from “The Dukes of Hazzard” as special guests.

Through much of what we considered the ups and downs of the music industry, we held on, grew, learned, and tried to remain relevant, reinventing and creating opportunities to leave a mark. There was not much that either of us did in the music business, that the other didn’t chime in his thoughts.

I know these memories are probably not of much interest, but I received the sad news before writing today that my friend David died due to injuries sustained in an auto accident Sept. 15 in his home state of Alabama. His wife Cindy was injured but is recovering.

The news has rocked the worldwide Americana and bluegrass music community as he was widely respected and admired. He had also become a mentor to many talented young artists now finding their place in the larger music scene such as Wyatt Ellis, The Price Sisters, Jeremy and Corrina Rose Logston Stephens of High Fidelity, Kody Norris of the Kody Norris Show and RFD-TV star Alan Sibley and so many more.

I helped his family prepare a press release about the Alabama Bluegrass Music and National Old Time Country Music Hall of Famer’s amazing life and his extensive musical catalog that has touched millions through performances, television and radio.

We will soon gather in Cullman, Ala. to remember and celebrate the life of a true Southern gentleman whose mandolin playing and vocal stylings have touched two generations of music fans.

I hope you will celebrate his talents by finding his music, download or buy an album, or listen on YouTube and share it with friends. You may also donate to support Appalachian music scholarships in memory of David Davis at www.ShareAmericaFoundation.org or by sending to Share America Foundation, P.O. Box 42, Tunnel Hill, Ga. 30755. Rest in peace David. You are missed.

A bluegrass era nearing its end

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When I reflect upon my life, some of my greatest joy came upon the grounds and on stages of bluegrass festivals across the country.
My youthful days brought a desire to throw an instrument in the car, a tent, sleeping bag and enough clothes and food to get by while I took in day and evening shows and late night jam sessions.
The people attending, the performers became my family. I once compared the experience to living in Mayberry. We had a small town that each weekend moved to a new location with many of the same lovable characters making up our world.
All we did circled around a group of established and much loved performers whose talents surpassed all we knew and who could keep us mesmerized again and again as they flowed onto the stage and sang the songs that touched our hearts. The first generation of those performers were the kings and queens of our world. As fans we shared their lives in ways no other music industry ever afforded. We actually came to know them, their families, we often shared meals and laughed around the record tables to endless stories.
Most of that first generation has stepped off the stage. In recent weeks, the heavenly bluegrass band expanded by two more mandolin players and lead singers whose sound and songs were known around the world. First, Jesse McReynolds of Jim & Jesse and the Virginia Boys. His career spanned from 1947 until 2023. He and his late brother Jim joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1964. Their career was infused by breaking musical barriers and taking their unique bluegrass style across genres. They turned heads in the 1960s dedicating an entire album to the songs of Chuck Berry in bluegrass style. Johnny B. Goode became a career-long fan favorite. Jesse could as easily play with a Rock and Roll star as a Jazz virtuoso innovating his instrument with two distinct approaches including split-stringing and cross-picking. Both of which made him the envy of every player and an inspiration for generations.
He and his brother created bluegrass hits such as “Cotton Mill Man,” “Paradise,” “Sweet Little Miss Blue Eyes,” “Hard Hearted,” “Pardon Me,” “Border Ride” while adding hundreds of songs to America’s music catalog.
Of course, with their distinguished career came International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame induction, America’s highest musical award – National Heritage Fellowship, Grammy nominations, and countless other awards.
I first saw them as a youth at one of those festivals, and I was blessed to have them both a mentors in my life and career. I appeared both as a Virginia Boy and as a guest star on the Jim and Jesse Show. I slept in their bus and Jesse’s house many times. No bluegrass legend invested more in my life than Jesse. He and Jim were my family, so with Jesse’s passing I lost an adopted father in many respects. But the world lost a vital link to a generation of music performance which will never be again.
Another legendary figure, who I was also blessed to be friends with who died four days after Jesse was Bobby Osborne. Beginning as part of the Hall of Fame Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in 1949, he and his brother Sonny – The Osborne Brothers, also joined the Opry in 1964. Before that they performed with the Stanley Brothers, Red Allen, Jimmy Martin and others. Their vocal blends combined with the coordination of their banjo and mandolin talents endeared them to worldwide audiences. Their albums were an annual feast of what was going to be the next hot song heard in jam sessions. On stage, they were unmatched in their ability to entertain. If you are from America, you probably heard their big hit “Rocky Top,” which they popularized. Bobby could sing “Ruby, Are You Made At Your Man” with a voice so high he could catch the birds in flight above the stage he was singing upon. They also added hundreds of stylistic performances to the American songbook – “Big Spike Hammer,” “I’ll Be Alright Tomorrow,” “Up This Heal and Down,” “Pain In My Heart,” “Me and My Old Banjo” and others.
They also were International Bluegrass Hall of Fame inductees. Among their awards were major ones in both country and bluegrass. And they also received the National Heritage Fellowship Award. I was honored to feature The Osborne Brothers on shows I produced. I will add my sorrow among the many fans who will miss Bobby. There are only a handful of the first generation performers remaining. These were the last two among the Opry family, which added to their legacy. I wish I could once again throw my fiddle in the back of the station wagon and head down some old dirt road to a pasture by a creek where in front of a stage thousands were gathered around to hear Jim & Jesse and the Osborne Brothers and so many other legends once more. We sure were blessed to know them!

Bluegrass is in the air

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I pulled into the gates of the festival grounds and before I pulled even a few feet beyond the entrance, I could hear the musical notes flowing on the wind from the distance of the trees.

I could see people carrying their guitars, banjos and other instruments along the dirt road as I slowly made my way through the parking field and into the campground.

I passed jam session after jam session in the campground, “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” emanated from one, “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” from another. Folks smiled and waved as I went by, as I neared the artist parking area. Those greetings made me feel right at home.

For years, this experience is one which I looked forward to almost every weekend once Spring arrived and throughout the year until the fall.

Bluegrass Festivals became a way of life and the people who attended week after week became extended family as we shared laughs, meals, talks, jam sessions and shows.

I once compared the experience like visiting Mayberry – we had our Aunt Beas, our Opies, Andys, Barneys, Gomers and Goobers.
I grew up performing at these types of events across the United States. It didn’t matter where we came from, what we believed, we were all part of the bluegrass family. We either played it or loved to listen to it and as long as we treated each other with respect, helped one another when needed, we were welcomed with smiles and usually an offer of hospitality where ever we went.

It was in this environment that I learned so much about music around campfires, listening and playing with pickers who just loved to play and occasionally the professionals who joined in the fun. As my stage opportunities grew and I performed at more and more events, I learned so much about performing and entertaining audiences. Those lessons only come by standing in front of an audience and learning what makes them smile, applaud, laugh or move to any variety of emotions.

This time of year always gets my feet to itching wanting to return to these type of environs. While these types of events are fewer and farther between than in my youth, they are still scattered across the United States. There are dozens of talented bluegrass artists entertaining audiences traveling across the country which fill the stages at these events.

If you have never attended a bluegrass festival, I encourage you to go outside your comfort zone and take one in. One you might try is the 51st Dr. Ralph Stanley Hills of Home Festival in McClure, Va. https://drralphstanleyfestival.com/ or check out https://ibma.org/ for other bluegrass info.

Bring your lawn chairs, pay your admission and a little money to buy something to eat from the concession stand, and enjoy the music. If you play, bring your instrument and find a jam session. Be friendly while there and you may just make some new friends. Bluegrass blessings!

Reaching and creating goals

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Reaching lifetime goals often means it is time to reformulate your life and create new goals. As time passes, these goals seem to race by like fence posts but each one is a marker I look on fondly. I reached a career goal in 1993 that I had pursued since I was a little child.

Since the first time I watched Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs sing “Little Girl of Mine In Tennessee” to “Granny” and “Uncle Jed” on “The Beverly Hillbillies;” since the first time I saw Wayne Newton play a down home country boy who could really saw the fiddle; or since the first time I watched Doug Dillard and all the Dillards entertain “Sheriff Andy Taylor” as “The Darlings” on the “Andy Griffith Show” with his up tempo banjo tunes; I dreamed of walking on network television to pick and grin.

I always figured that such national exposure for a young boy from Georgia had to come through music. There were just not that many other avenues at that time. So I worked and studied to improve my music, working to create and market our youth group, The Peachtree Pickers®, by working flea markets, churches and schools. We began competing at fiddler’s conventions and then moved up to entertaining larger and larger audiences at bluegrass festivals and fairs. The support of my late parents Pearl and Floyd Franks and those of the other group members helped to move our joint goals forward. We reached network cable in its infancy with a children’s show called “The Country Kids TV Series,” essentially a children’s “Hee Haw” which aired in the United States and abroad. Our growth would eventually lead us to performances for the Grand Old Opry ® and some acceptance by the more mainstream music industry.

In 1987, members of our youth act decided to go their separate ways, partially due to new college obligations. I was at a new point in my life, trying to decide what is next. I had not yet reached my childhood goal, but without a group, which was still the foundation of bluegrass and southern gospel music at that time, I did not know what my next step would be. I decided to make some solo appearances pulling together musicians when needed and continued appearing with other acts such as The Marksmen Quartet and Doodle and the Golden River Grass.

I began work at the Atlanta-based MBM records in 1987 helping to guide the careers of several artists signed with the label while still performing every opportunity I had. In 1988, the label changed hands and my job was eliminated. So, once again, I found myself searching. While I had enjoyed doing some minor acting in school, I decided in order to reach my television goal, I would have to begin a more intensive study of acting and take any opportunity, which were not many at the time, I could to get to be on screen in Georgia.

But God seemed to immediately open the doors, giving me opportunity after opportunity. The music talents God gave me seemed to put me where I needed to be. It would not be music that landed me my role as “Officer Randy Goode” on “In the Heat of the Night,” but it would be the many friends I developed from years of touring and recording that would share their exuberance about my presence on the show. After countless requests from those who cared about my music asking for me to perform on the show, Carroll O’Connor wrote a uniquely designed scene in an episode entitled “Random’s Child” which would set up a reason and purpose for “Officer Randy” to be pickin’ and grinnin’ just to frustrate the bad guys in that episode. One of those bad guys was Robert O’Reilly, “Gowron,” leader of the Klingons, from “Star Trek, Deep Space Nine.” I bet that is the only time in my life I will get to aggravate a Klingon.

Anyway, Carroll wrote a little piece entitled the “Sparta Blues” for actor Thomas Byrd and I to perform at the Sparta Police impound yard when the bad guys came to claim their car.

I have always jokingly called it my biggest hit since millions saw and heard it on CBS and millions more around the world have heard it since. I’ve often wondered what it sounded like when translated into Chinese or Italian. Recently, one of our Italian fans actually sent me some Italian performances, they were interesting. I didn’t know I spoke Italian so well.

It took years but the childhood dream was reached, and the goal I had chased for years was accomplished.
Then I had to decide what was next. Life is a constant re-evaluation of where you are and where you are going. We can’t just simply drift or what service will that be to God and our fellow man? He has a purpose for everyone’s life. It is up to us to make His vision for us happen. He will open the doors; we must simply study and be prepared to walk through. But at the same time, as we walk with the confidence He gave us we must always be mindful of whether what we are reaching for is His will or one we have created. Only time will tell.

Mountain Sounds from Ralph Stanley II

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Ralph Stanley II

The sounds of banjos and fiddles have kept my heart singing since childhood. From jam sessions to stage shows entertaining thousands, America’s music has charmed people around the world. One of the greatest stalwarts to forge the genre was the late Dr. Ralph Stanley, who I had the great honor to perform and record with. His son Ralph Stanley II continues the musical legacy with the Clinch Mountain Boys. He will welcome fans from around the world to the 50th Anniversary Dr. Ralph Stanley Hills of Home Festival in McClure, Va. May 25 through 28, 2022. I have been blessed to entertain there and it is a wonderful setting to hear bluegrass played the way it should be.
“The festival is always exciting because it’s held at the home place of the Stanley Brothers,” Ralph II said. “Being the 50th and having Ricky Skaggs returning makes it very special. He is the last of the original Clinch Mountain Boys that was there for the first festival appearing with dad, Jack Cook, Roy Lee Centers, Keith Whitley, and Curly Ray Cline.
“We want everybody to come out and enjoy the festival and help us keep it growing,” he said.
I spoke with the Grammy winning artist as he was doing performances in Florida. He is sharing songs from his latest albums “Lord Help Me Find the Way” and their self-titled album. Ralph has enjoyed three #1 songs in his career including “Beautiful Hills of Home”
“This is our 75th Anniversary Tour of the Clinch Mountain Boys and we are keeping it going on down the line,” he said. “We keep it true to where it began with the Stanley Brothers but I have more of a country feel to my vocals.”
He shared his vocal sound may reflect what the band might have had with his late uncle Carter at the helm without his dad.
In addition to Ralph, the Clinch Mountain Boys, currently includes banjoist Landon Fitzpatrick, fiddler Stanley Efaw, Caleb Shifflett on guitar and Randall Hibbitts on bass. To check out his latest music or other upcoming events, visit Ralph2.com .
“I think Bluegrass will always be around. I don’t think it will ever die,” he said. “As folks get older they go back to their roots and often that’s the music that they want hear.”
The week at McClure, Virginia features a who’s who in bluegrass with performances by Stanley, Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Larry Sparks & The Lonesome Ramblers, Little Roy & Lizzy Show, David Davis and the Warrior River Boys, the Larry Stephenson Band, Joe Mullins & the Radio Ramblers and many more. Weekly passes are $130. Most day tickets are $35 with Saturday being $40. Kids 12 and under are free. College students with college I.D. receive a 20% discount.
If you can make the trip to participate in this historic festival, visit drralphstanleyfestival.com to find out more. 

Being brought into focus by Bill Monroe

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As I stepped on the blue bus, I wondered whether I could measure up to the task ahead.
I had spent much of the last decade learning to play the fiddle and violin. I listened to every record and learned hundreds of fiddle licks that helped me take these steps. I had already performed for the Grand Ole Opry.
Nevertheless, despite years of performing and endless hours of preparation, still in my teens, I was scared.
Already, I had the distinct honor of being a regular show guest of one of music’s greatest innovators, the Father of Bluegrass music, Bill Monroe.
But now instead of just walking out on stage, shining in his accolades of my talent, the duties of carrying long-time fiddler Kenny Baker’s parts fell on my shoulders.
While I had listened to the recordings, I knew that the dynamic of Mr. Monroe’s stage show was a bit different than those sounds emanating from the vinyl.
In many ways, I believe this monumental band leader, who had coached some of bluegrass and country’s biggest stars such as Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, Mac Wiseman, Jimmy Martin, Benny Martin and so many others, sensed my concerns of filling such a giant fiddler’s shoes.
Baker had just quit a few weeks before, after 22 years with the Blue Grass Boys.
Mr. Monroe, being a stickler for detail, did not have a reputation for giving musicians in his band much slack to carry their weight.
Therefore, although we were friends, I think my feelings were appropriate.
This trip was already full of firsts for me; I was now an official member of the Blue Grass Boys, and I was taking my first airplane flight.
In the process of the flight, I got to move from each leg of the journey to a smaller and smaller plane as I moved closer to Yakima, Wash., where I met the band on their return from Japan. Baker had quit just before that trip.
I am just glad there wasn’t one more connection, or I would have been out in the air flapping my arms. That last plane was awfully small.
After taking those four steps onto the bus off the gray sidewalk, Mr. Monroe and the rest of the Blue Grass Boys — Wayne Lewis (guitar), Tater Tate (bass and fiddle), and Blake Williams (banjo) — greeted me.
Mr. Monroe’s first words were: “Thank you for coming, glad you could be with us.”
Blake showed me to my bunk, and then I had to sit down with Mr. Monroe to discuss the evening’s show.
While we had played together, and he had faith in my abilities, there is a big difference between jamming and carrying a stage show. Especially when the fiddle often began each song, set the tempo and could make or break a show.
As an experienced band leader, I think he sensed my concerns of not measuring up to the task of filling not only Baker’s shoes, but those of the dozens of other fiddlers from Bobby Hicks to Byron Berline and even current band member Tater Tate.
“Do you know my material?” he asked.
“Yes sir, I know a lot of it — “Jerusalem Ridge,” “Road to Columbus,” “Lonesome Moonlight Waltz,” — but I do not really know what you regularly include in your stage shows,” I said.
That evening, we were scheduled to appear at the Capital Theatre, a 1920s-era grand movie house that was now Yakima’s crown jewel of entertainment.
Mr. Monroe talked with me a few minutes and called Tater to the front of the bus.
“Do you play the big fiddle?” he asked me.
I said, “A little.”
“I think for tonight, Tater, you should work with him on the big fiddle, and you play the little fiddle until he is comfortable,” he said.
So, I was off the hook. The fiddling fears went away for a moment.
In one decision, Mr. Monroe had figured out a way to ease me into my new responsibilities a bit at a time, much like you would test the water as you were going in wading one foot at a time.
This also gave me the chance to learn the ropes from Tater.
But now, rather than walk on stage my first time as a Blue Grass Boy with my then constant companion, my Guarnerious violin, I would step on stage with its older brother, Tater’s “doghouse bass.”
In my life, I had held one only a few times, but I did know some of the basics.
Tater gave me a 20-minute crash course on what I needed to know to get through the 75-minute show.
As we prepared for the show that evening, I dressed in my gray Blue Grass Boy suit, put on my gray Stetson Blue Grass Boy hat, grabbed the bass fiddle and an arm full of my records and headed to the dressing room backstage.
I had traveled in music for years, but until I stepped through that door as a member of the Blue Grass Boys, I really did not know what it was like to be treated as a star.
As the set grew near, I was putting thick white tape on my fingers to protect the skin from the blisters that would come from playing the bass.
I peaked out from behind the red velour curtains, which seemed to reach for the sky, to see every seat full, with people seemingly hanging from the rafters.
As the master of ceremonies was preparing the audience, the Blue Grass Boys took our places on stage and waited for the emcee to reach a crescendo.
As soon as Mr. Monroe took his first steps on the stage, the entire audience was on their feet with a standing ovation.
As Tater and Blake hit the first notes of “Sweet Blue Eyed Darling,” I grabbed a hold and held on for dear life, doing my best to hold the rhythm together. The show began to roll and did not stop until the audience called us back for encore after encore.
It really did not seem like an hour and 25 minutes; it just flew by, as did all of my performances with Mr. Monroe.
As I stepped off the stage, Mr. Monroe stopped, smiled and patted me on the back and said, “Thank you.”
I had made it through and the ride was just beginning. I was really a Blue Grass Boy.
After that first show, Tater and I began swapping fiddle and bass duties, easing me into the shoes of all those that came before.
Even today, after walking in them for years, there sure is a lot of room left in those shoes, but I just keep trying to fill them.
Thanks to my work with Monroe and other bluegrass legends I was honored as a Bluegrass Legend in 2011 at the Monroe Centennial Celebration at the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Owensboro, Ky. and am blessed to part of a unique brotherhood that includes many of bluegrass music’s greatest musicians.
(This feature appeared in Randall Franks book series Encouragers)

Bluegrass music comes together to honor its best

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The International Bluegrass Music Association hosted its annual week-long celebration of the genre in Raleigh recently.
Thousands poured into the city’s clubs, venues and hotels to see countless concerts by established artists such as David Davis and the Warrior River Boys of Alabama, hopefuls such as the Baker Family of Missouri, and Rebekah Long of Nashville, who desire to expand their career success into national and international strides.

I visited with Davis in his band’s booth (http://www.daviddavisandwrb.com/).
“It’s been an amazing week,” Davis said, who is riding high on the success of his latest Rounder release “Didn’t He Ramble : Songs of Charlie Poole.” “We have met with fans, event promoters, disc jockeys and all types of media folks. It’s like a musical family reunion with old friends and new ones.”

I ran across Trustin Baker, the 2018 Grand Master Fiddler Champion, in the hallway of the Marriott. He had traveled from Missouri to perform with his family (thebakerfamilybluegrass.com/).  He actually joined in a jam session playing a tune with my fiddle.
Rebekah Long told me she was having a great time at the event appearing on numerous showcases with her band with her producer Donna Ulisse in tow. Long’s recent CDs include “Run Away” and “Here I Am” (www.rebekahlong.com).
Awards were handed out highlighting the greatest successes of the past year. Some of the winners include: Balsam Range as  entertainer of the year; Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver as vocal group; The Travelin’ McCourys as instrumental group; Buddy Melton as male vocalist; Brooke Aldridge as female vocalist; Sierra Hull as mandolin player; Molly Tuttle as guitar player; Michael Cleveland as fiddle player; The Po’ Ramblin’ Boys as emerging artist; Becky Buller brought home gospel recorded performance with “Speakin’ to That Mountain;” “Swept Away” with Missy Raines, Alison Brown, Becky Buller, Hull and Tuttle won recorded event.

Hall of Fame inductees included Ricky Skaggs, Paul Williams and Tom T. and Dixie Hall.
I applaud these additions to the hall. All have contributed amazingly to the genre!

I was privileged to return to direct a portion of the awards welcoming multi-Grammy winner Jerry Douglas to host the Distinguished Achievement Awards and several special awards. The IBMA’s second highest honor went to Curtis McPeake, Walter Saunders, Chris Thile, Christopher Howard-Williams, and George Gruhn. My old friend Jerry Salley was awarded as bluegrass songwriter of the year.

Learn more about the music and the organization at ibma.org.