even now

Description

Ralph Stanley, born in 1927, is now 85 years old and still on the road singing. In fact, he is touring in Indiana now, as I write this. He is is probably better known today, as an old man, than he was during his long career. Basically, singing and playing is all he has ever done since he got out of the army after WWII. He formed the Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946, and played with them for the next 20 years. After going it alone for a short while, he reformed the band and continued with them. While his themes are typical Bluegrass—trains, women, trouble, hard times, death, and salvation—it was essentially toward religious themes that Stanley has always tended. There is a heavy overlay of old time shout music in his style, sometimes done a capella. Stanley won world-wide acclaim in 2002, for his singing in the Coen Brothers' popular movie, O Brother, Where Art Thou? He was an instant hit from that time on, even now in his 80's, on college campus tours, folk festivals and abroad. He received a Grammy Award for his part in the movie, and was the recipient of a significant number of subsequent awards, including an honorary doctorate. He published his autobiography in 2009. His life story is easily consulted on the web. He lent his popularity to the support of Barak Obama during the 2008 election, and continues to this day to maintain an active schedule, at 85 years of age. Here he sings one of his most popular tunes, "I am a man of constant sorrow."