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Ralph
Stanley II Sets Traditional Country Benchmark With
Stunning New Album: This
One Is Two
Features Songs by Lyle Lovett,
Townes Van Zandt, Tom T. Hall, Elton John,
Fred Eaglesmith and Stanley Himself
Ralph Stanley II sets a new benchmark for traditional country
music with the September 23 release of
This One Is Two on Lonesome Day Records.
With Grammy nominations for his last two albums and a Grammy award
for his contributions to the album Lost
In The Lonesome Pines, Stanley boasts one of the most moving
and dramatic voices in country music, an instrument he polished
and perfected during his 14 years as lead singer for Ralph Stanley
& the Clinch Mountain Boys.
This One Is Two (a reference
to Stanley’s nickname) showcases 11 emotionally probing
songs by the best writers in the business, among them Lyle Lovett,
Townes Van Zandt, Fred Eaglesmith, Tom T. Hall and Elton John.
Stanley co-wrote two of the songs: “Honky Tonk Way,”
a tough, grimy, up-close look at a country singer’s life
on the road, and “Lord Help Me Find The Way,” a cry
from the heart he composed when he was suddenly forced to stand
in for his famous father.
A particular jewel in this musical treasure chest is “Carter,”
Fred Eaglesmith’s mournful valedictory to Stanley’s
uncle, the late Carter Stanley of Stanley Brothers fame. In “Cold
Shoulder,” Stanley immerses himself in the mind and heart
of a lonely trucker who’s snowbound at night miles away
from his lover. He resurrects Lyle Lovett’s chilling murder
saga, “L. A. County,” a song he refers to as “my
‘Pretty Polly.’”
Stanley turned to ace storyteller Tom T. Hall for the album’s
first single, the high-velocity, relentlessly clacking “Train
Songs.” From Elton John he borrows the lyrical and sun-loving
“Georgia.” Songwriter Elmer C. Burchett Jr. brought
Stanley the sweetest “mother” song of recent memory,
“Moms Are The Reason Wild Flowers Grow.”
Produced by Mike Latterell and A & R-ed by Lonesome Day president
Randall Deaton, This One Is Two
features background vocals by former Shenandoah lead singer Marty
Raybon, Grammy-winning Jim Lauderdale, Darrin Vincent (of Dailey
& Vincent), Dale Anne Bradley and Steve Gulley. The musicians
are Tim Crouch (fiddle, guitar), Cody Kilby (guitar), Randy Kohrs
(dobro), Harold Nixon (bass), Adam Steffey (mandolin) and Ron
Stewart (banjo). This One Is Two
is Stanley’s fifth solo album. It is preceded by Carrying
On (2004), Stanley Blues
(2002, a Grammy nominee for best bluegrass album), Pretty
Girls, City Lights (2000) and Listen
To My Hammer Ring (1999).
Contacts:
Norma Morris / Erin Morris
Morris Public Relations
615 952-9250
norma@morrispr.biz
www.morrispr.biz
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