BG: Re: Re: Bryant

[E Bryant Holman]

Reneé -   Thank you for saying so.   My mother was born and raised in the Missouri Ozarks, near Joplin, and she used to sing a lot of old folk songs when I was a child, which she had heard from her grandmother and others. I felt like all of this is part of my heritage - it is in my blood. I remember now, that if there was one man who was most idolized as a musical personality by those people baqck then, it was Johnny Cash. I think that if anyone were to hold up just a handful of people who raised the "hillbilly" culture up as something worth looking into, exploring, defending, and even getting excited about, he would have to be counted in that number. Of course, it is important to recognize the importance of the Carter Family in all of this (since his wife was June Carter). They kept the music alive and revived it probably more than anyone else during the period when it still possible to get a wide range of songs that been played and sung for literally centuries with very little in the way of changes made to them. So in my little pantheon of folk music heroes and heroines, I would include both Cash and the whole Carter Family. But no one should ever overlook the work of Joan Baez. She is the one who took the real traditional music of the Appalachians (and, by extension, the Ozarks) and learned to play it and sing it right (she even managed to fake the accent with incredible accuracy) and to put it out to the public in a way that made it, at least during the beginning of her career, as popular as it has ever been. In short, you might say that it was Baez who did more to bring it to the public eye than anyone, or at least she had better results than anyone. Has the Stanley family ever had much communication with Joan? I saw her up close one time, in 1969, and she was far more beautiful than she ever was in any photo (I think she was just not very photogenic or something). She had true, heartbreaking beauty. I think that if there were to ever be a recording of her and Dr. Stanley singing some song like, for instance "Little Darling", it would be one of the classic recordings of this music of all time. I would bet anything that if Dr. Stanley were to try and get hold of her she would jump at the chance.   Thanks so much for your kind words. I really am honored by that. God bless Dr. Stanley and all of the Stanley family!   Bryant   ----- Original Message ----- From: Renee' To: bluegrass@drralphstanley.com Sent: Saturday, November 26, 2005 10:15 PM Subject: BG: Re: Bryant     Bryant Holman Presidio, Texas   I like the way you talk (write).  I really do. <smiles> You'd be fun to sit and converse with.  Thank you for everything you so wisely said. Renee'