> ... well..... I don't think I like that. Nothing > against lead guitar's. But fiddle's are well > loved instruments with a beautiful song of > their own. What did Sid replace the banjo > with?! (rhetorical question... no comment > necessary there buddy) (sigh)
They still used a fiddler live...when they could afford to take one on the road (often it was just Carter, Ralph & George). Syd Nathan hated fiddle in general, & he was trying to boost the Stanley's sales by updating their sound to bring them more in line with the tastes of the college folk boom audience...he also convinced them to drop the cowboy hats for the same reason. Truthfully, their record sales never were that impressive, which is why they got dropped from two other labels previous to King (Columbia, & Mercury), so from a marketing standpoint it made sense to Nathan. To be fair, he did them a great favor by insisting that they feature the cross-picked guitar so prominently, it certainly made their music stand out from the others, rather than (instrumentally at least) being a carbon copy of every other bluegrass band of the time...when the Stanleys started playing bluegrass in the 40's they were basically copying Bill Monroe's format, even to the point of doing his material. Syd Nathan helped give them their own musical identity. Of course Carter's wonderful singing & songwriting, & the harmonies between him'n Ralph, had an awful lot to do with that as well... bw ****************************************************************** BUDDY WOODWARD - [EMAIL PROTECTED] - - - - - - THE DIXIE BEE LINERS - bluegrass with a buzz http://www.dixiebeeliners.com - - - - - - BUDDY WOODWARD & THE NITRO EXPRESS http://www.buddywoodward.net ****************************************************************** Bluegrass Bulletin Board brought to you by the fan club of Dr Ralph Stanley & His Clinch Mountain Boys subscribe or unsubscribe at http://drralphstanley.com/email.shtml
