There have been several bluegrass artists who have done work that pays tribute to one of the greatest forces in bluegrass music: Ralph Stanley. Several years ago, Doobie Shea Records owner Tim Austin produced two substantial tribute albums, The Stanley Tradition<\/i> and The Stanley Gospel Tradition<\/i>. A bevy of artists have covered individual tracks with the intent of memorializing the Stanley sound, and still more have been able to team up with Ralph for duet tunes.\u00a0 What makes all of these tributes more amazing is that Ralph Stanley is not a dead man. He is alive, in his mid-eighties at this writing, and still producing a steady stream of music and live shows fronting his own band. So it is incredible that so many have lined up to honor him while he is still with us; it is possibly a foreshadowing of things to come when he does pass into the great beyond. <\/p>\n
But here we are in 2013, and another bluegrass artist with his own substantial r\u00e9sum\u00e9 has put forth another Stanley tribute album. This time it is Don Rigsby, who for Doctor\u2019s Orders<\/i> forsook his usual recording and touring band Midnight Call to assemble a crack team of bluegrass pros and Stanley Clinch Mountain Boys alumni as a backing group.\u00a0 The core of this ensemble is Stanley\u2019s phenomenal crosspicking lead guitarist, James Alan Shelton, Stanley banjoist Steve Sparkman, The Boxcars\u2019 Ron Stewart, and Alison Krauss and Union Station bassist Barry Bales.\u00a0 As if that weren\u2019t enough, alumnus Ricky Skaggs, Larry Sparks, and Charlie Sizemore chime in to help on some vocals. Even the honoree, Ralph Stanley himself, participates.\u00a0 The result is a solid, timeless collection of Stanley favorites and one original, \u201cThe Mountain Doctor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rigsby hews close to the most popular standards in the Stanley catalog, but not so close as to be predictable.\u00a0 In fact, of the tunes that I would have expected to be on this disc, only \u201cLittle Maggie\u201d and \u201cTraveling The Highway Home\u201d made it.\u00a0 Nevertheless, tunes like \u201cHome In The Mountains\u201d and \u201cBrand New Tennessee Waltz\u201d are pure Stanley brothers vintage.\u00a0 The haunting tune\/lyric combinations of \u201cWalking Up This Hill On Decoration Day\u201d and Tom T. Hall\u2019s mesmerizingly sad \u201cWater Lily\u201d will stick with you even though the depressing subject matter is such that it will drive you crazy.\u00a0 But they are right in step with the Stanley tradition: part depressing these-are-the-facts-of-life songs, part front porch feel-good tunes and spirituals.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, the presence of Stanley himself on this tribute seals the deal, but Rigsby\u2019s use of past and present Stanley band members gives this disc a real air of authenticity.\u00a0 Doctor\u2019s Orders<\/i> is just what the doctor ordered for a tribute to the career of a man still living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":31410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[9097],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-43112","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-don-rigsby","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43112","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43112"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/43112\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43112"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43112"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=43112"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=43112"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}