RALPH STANLEY & THE CLINCH MOUNTAIN BOYS

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President Bush Honors Ralph Stanley With National Medal of Arts, November 2006-

President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush stand with recipients of with National Endowment of the Arts 2006 Medal of Arts in the Oval Office Thursday, Nov., 9, 2006. Pictured from left, they are: Ben Jaffe and his mother Sandra Jaffe, director and co-founder of the Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Literary Translator Gregory Rabassa; Dancer Cyd Charisse; Photographer Roy DeCarava; Industrial Designer Viktor Schreckengost; Musician Dr. Ralph Stanley; Arts patron Billie Holladay; Composer William Bolcom; Interlochen Center for the Arts CEO Jeffrey Kimpton; and NEA Chairman Dana Gola. White House photo by Paul Morse

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President Bush Honors Ralph Stanley With National Medal of Arts

Award is Nation’s Highest for Artistic Excellence

Nashville, TN (November 10, 2006) - President George W. Bush presented Ralph Stanley the National Medal of Arts Thursday (Nov. 9) at a ceremony in the Oval Office of the White House. The medal, which is awarded through the National Endowment for the Arts, is the nation’s highest honor for artistic excellence.

The 79-year-old Stanley has been performing and recording professionally for more than 60 years—the first 20 as co-star of the Stanley Brothers mountain and bluegrass music team. He has recorded approximately 200 albums, is a multiple Grammy Award winner, a member (with his late brother Carter) of the International Bluegrass Music Association’s Hall of Honor and a member of the world-famous Grand Ole Opry.

Also receiving medals during the ceremony were classical composer William Bolcom, dancer Cyd Charisse, photographer Roy R. DeCarava, arts patron Wilhelmina Holladay, orchestra conductor Erich Kunzel, literary translator Gregory Rabassa, industrial designer and sculptor Viktor Schreckengost, the Interlochen Center for the Arts and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

KCA Artists:
Alison Krauss and Ralph Stanley
Featured in Vanity Fair Magazine
Photo spread in November "Country Music Spectacular” issue celebrates acclaimed artists

KCA artists Alison Krauss and Ralph Stanley Featured in Vanity Fair Magazine -Photo spread in November "Country Music Spectacular” issue celebrates acclaimed artists-

Nashville, TN, October, 2006- Mountain music maestro Ralph Stanley and bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss are among the new and classic artists celebrated in Vanity Fair’s “Country Music Spectacular” November issue. The 33-page photo spread in which the KCA artists appear is timed to coincide with the annual CMA Awards Show (Nov. 6 on ABC-TV) and focuses on 47 of the most critically lauded country and Americana music personalities.

Stanley and Krauss were photographed at Nashville’s historic Hatch Show Print poster shop. Stanley is dressed in an vintage 19^th century suit and cradles his ornate Stanleytone banjo. The full-page color photo was taken by Mark Seliger, who also has photos of Willie Nelson, Gretchen Wilson, George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Keith Urban and others in the collection.

Stanley is currently touring in support of his new tribute album to the Carter Family, A Distant Land To Roam (DMZ/Columbia). Krauss recently produced the new release "Like Red On A Rose" by country music icon, Alan Jackson and will be touring in 2007 with her band of ace musicians, Union Station.

Nashville, TN, August 7, 2006 - Famed choreographer Trey McIntyre is using songs recorded and made famous by Ralph Stanley in his new dance production, Go Out, which has just concluded a five-day showcase at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, MA. The production ran August 2-6 at the Festival's Ted Shawn Theatre.

Described as a "rumination on mortality," Go Out includes the somber Stanley classics "Little Maggie," "I'll Remember You Love In My Prayers" and "O Death." In its review of the opening night performance, the Boston Globe said, "the work casts death as a cold-hearted woman in a red dress (Alison Roper) who calculatedly menaces a community. . . . Most memorable is the final duet between Roper and John Michael Schert, she threatening his life, he straining for survival, pleading for mercy as Ralph Stanley sings the dirge-like ‘O Death.' The ending tableau is a stunner."

A thematic keystone of the movie Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?, "O Death" earned Stanley his 2001 Grammy for best male country vocal performance.

In addition to the three Stanley cuts, McIntyre's production also featured recordings by John Hartford and Nina Simone.

Besides dances for his own company, McIntyre has created commissioned works for the American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet and the Moscow Ballet Theatre.

Stanley recently released the much-applauded tribute album, A Distant Land To Roam: Songs of the Carter Family, for Columbia/DMZ Records.

David Gates, a senior editor of Newsweek who also profiled Stanley for The New Yorker, says "A Distant Land to Roam is indispensable: [Here is] the foremost interpreter of traditional country music singing some of the great canonical songs. . . . [This is] one of his most moving recordings." Notes Jon Weisberger, contributing editor to No Depression: "Ralph's stirring, mournful voice is a perfect match for the Carter Family's songs." Click Here for more.

ONE COUNTRY OVER
RALPH STANLEY SINGS THE MUSIC OF THE CARTER FAMILY
by Derek Halsey

AP, Sara, and Maybelle Carter did not invent country music. The music had been evolving in the Appalachian Mountains for generations before the trio made their fateful trip to Bristol, Tennessee in 1927 to record their first sides. While there had been recordings made of country and string band music earlier, Charlie Poole’s recordings in New York City in 1926 and Cal Stewart and Fred Van Eps recordings in 1907 and 1911 respectively come to mind, it was the Bristol sessions that changed the face of the genre. Click here for more.

An Appalachian Summit: Ralph Stanley Sings The Carter Family
DMZ/Columbia Unveils 13-Song Tribute Album May 30

Nashville, TN--Two of the greatest talents in the history of Appalachian music converge May 30 when DMZ/Columbia Records presents Ralph Stanley: A Distant Land To Roam—Songs Of The Carter Family. Still a commanding presence at 79, Ralph Stanley re-ignites the drama of these Depression-era classics that first thrilled him as a boy. Click here for more.

April 19, 2005
Boston Globe Live Review:
MUSIC REVIEW
Mountain music icon shows peak form
By James Reed, Globe Correspondent | April 19, 2005
''This great man," Ralph Stanley said in his tongue-in-cheek introduction, ''was given the Living Legend Award by Congress." There was a moment for applause, and then the list of accolades went on for a few minutes -- reminding the audience that during a 59-year career, Stanley has become bluegrass's ultimate icon. Click Here for more.

Ralph Stanley Career Highlights Born February 25, 1927 in Dickenson County, Virginia; lives in Coeburn, Virginia

Honors and Acknowledgements

2003 -Grammy - Best Bluegrass Album-Lost In The Lonesome Pines (Jim Lauderdale, Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys)
2003 -Lifetime Achievement Award, North American Folk Alliance
2002 -Grammy (2):Best Male Country Vocal Performance - "Oh Death"Album of the Year - for his contributions to the album O Brother Where Art ThouReceived his first Grammy at age 75; numerous nominations
2002 -IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Assoc.) Recorded Event of the Year- Clinch Mountain Sweethearts
2001 -CMA Award, Album of the Year - for his contributions to O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2001 -ACM Award, Album of the Year - for his contributions to O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2001 -Ralph J. Gleason Award from the Rex Foundation - "outstanding contributions to culture"
2001 -Platinum Album - Mercury Records O Brother, Where Art Thou. He is featured in two performances on the soundtrack album for the Coen Brothers' film-"Oh, Death" (Stanley's classic a cappella solo) and "Angel Band" (The Stanley Brothers).
2001 -Ralph Stanley Day in San Francisco - February 6, 2001, declared by Mayor Willie Brown
2001 -IBMA Album of the Year - for his contributions to O Brother, Where Art Thou?
2000 -Library of Congress "Living Legend" Medal
2000 -Grand Ole Opry Induction - first of the new century
1999 -IBMA Album of the Year - Clinch Mountain Country, Ralph Stanley & Friends
1999 -IBMA Recorded Event of the Year - Clinch Mountain Country, Ralph Stanley &. Friends
1993 -IBMA Recorded Event of the Year - Saturday Night/Sunday Morning
1992 -IBMA Hall of Honor Induction
1985 -National Endowment for the Humanities "Traditional American Music Award" - First recipient ever, presented by President Ronald Reagan
1976 -Honorary Doctorate of Music - Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, TN

Noteworthy appearances

CBS Grammy Awards Show performance
CBS "Late Night w/David Letterman"
CBS "The Early Show"
ABC "Good Morning America"
NBC "The Tonight Show"
TNN "The Life and Times of Ralph Stanley"
Performed at Library of Congress Bicentennial Celebration in April 2000.
Stanley is the centrally featured artist in D. A. Pennebaker's Down From The Mountain, a documentary on the making the O Brother soundtrack--shown in art theaters around the country and available on video.
The Ralph Stanley Story, a documentary directed by Herb E. Smith for Appalshop Film and Video is available on video.
"Salute To Ralph Stanley," a live five-hour music and interview show, was broadcast March 21, 2001, on WSM-AM, the Grand Ole Opry station. Involving Stanley's musical recollections of the past 55 years, it was designed and hosted by DJ, musician and music scholar Eddie Stubbs. The entire show can be heard at www.wsmonline.com.
Featured in the bluegrass segment of "A Century of Country," 13-show series aired on TNN.
Performed for Presidents Carter and Clinton's Inaugurations (1977 & 1993).
Performed The Queen Elizabeth Hall in London; two extensive tours of Europe; three tours of Japan and the Far East.
Numerous appearances at the Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, Ryman Auditorium, Grand Ole Opry, PBS's "Austin City Limits," Hollywood Palace, Greek Theatre, Tramps (NY), among many others.

Musical Accomplishments

Performed continually since 1946. The patriarch of traditional and bluegrass music still does over 150 dates a year.
Has recorded over 170 albums, more than 30 albums in over 30 years with Rebel Records.
Has written and recorded many songs that have become bluegrass standards.
Has unique style--unlike Bill Monroe's style or Flatt & Scruggs'.
He is one of the last living founders of a distinctly American art form, which blends rural-based lyrics with fluid, jazz-like instrumental improvisations.
Stanley's music--particularly his high, mournful vocals--is so raw, powerful and authentic that it has moved and inspired performers from all musical genres. Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Dwight Yoakam, Vince Gill, Jerry Garcia, Hal Ketchum, Patty Loveless, John Anderson credit Stanley as a major inspiration.
He has a "cool factor" among younger musical stars unmatched by anyone else in the country/bluegrass scene.
Stanley's band, the Clinch Mountain Boys, has been the incubator for two generations of country and bluegrass superstars, including Ricky Skaggs and the late Keith Whitley.
Ralph Stanley continues to live in and draw strength from the country, in his case the remote mountainous region of southwestern Virginia.