Tag Archives: Keith Whitley

Dr. Ralph Stanley Announces Final Tour

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The website for the legendary Bluegrass stalwart and banjo innovator Dr. Ralph Stanley has announced the Man Of Constant Sorrow Tour: The Dr.’s Farewell. His final tour beginning in October 2013 to run through run through December 2014. The site states that the event is projected to cover more than 80 shows at festivals, folk clubs and performing arts centers.

Accompanying the multiple Grammy winner and Grand Ole Opry star will be his band, the fabled Clinch Mountain Boys. Various country and bluegrass artists will appear as supporting acts along the way. The start of the tour coincides with Dr. Stanley’s 67th anniversary as a professional performer. He began his career in 1946 with his older brother Carter, touring and recording as the Stanley Brothers. Carter died in 1966, after which Ralph moved to center stage as a solo artist.

From the site ” “What an honor it is to be a part of a musical legend and to work with my all-time hero’s final musical journey,” says Josh Trivett, Stanley’s co-manager. “Dr. Ralph is an American and an international musical icon who has influenced so many modern stars with his trademark mountain sound. Man of Constant Sorrow Tour: The Dr.’s Farewell will be a fantastic celebration of the life of Dr. Ralph, the mountain music he’s made famous and his legacy that will endure through the course of time.” (Photo by Will McIntire)

Over his historic career, Dr. Stanley has won virtually every honor America has to bestow on its master musicians. He has three Grammy awards, one as best male country vocalist, a category in which he competed with Tim McGraw, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Lyle Lovett. His was the distinctive sound behind the seven-million-selling O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack album. He was the first performer to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in the 21st Century. Dr. Stanley is a member of the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts.”

As a bandleader, Dr. Stanley mentored the careers of Ricky Skaggs, Keith Whitley, Larry Sparks and Charlie Sizemore, among others.”

The following dates for the opening weekend of the Man of Constant Sorrow Tour: The Dr.’s Farewell are:
Oct. 18 The Dunn Center – Rocky Mount, NC
Oct. 19 Morehead Center – Morehead, NC
Oct. 20 The Birchmere – Alexandria, VA
Oct. 21 The Arts Center – Carrborro, NC

I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive. – ragid Deaths in Americana & Country Music

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Neo-soul chanteuse Amy Winehouse’s death at 27 was a tragedy everyone had predicted for years. Some say that the self-imposed drama and lack of self-control fed the creative muse that led to great art. Mostly it saps the performer’s soul and robs them, and their fans, of their future greatness. Country music has no shortage of self destruction and many, Waylon, Haggard, Cash, Jones  to name the most famous names gave it their best shot but lived a while longer to tell their tale.  Here are a few that pushed it so far to led them to the last round-up.

  • Keith Whitley’s drinking habits rivaled his influence on Music City. Whitley was a longtime alcoholic beginning before he was of of legal age and continuing through his early career as a bluegrass performer. Many times he had tried to overcome his alcoholism, but failed. While married to country singer Lorrie Morgan she would try and hide alcohol from him, even going as far tying their legs together before bed to ensure Whitley would not wake up in the middle of the night to drink. She would discover later that he was drinking perfume and nail polish to get get loaded. At the time of his death his blood alcohol level was .477 (the equivalent of 20 1-ounce shots of 100-proof whiskey and almost five times over the then Tennessee level of 0.1 legal intoxication limit (wikipedia)
  • Gram Parsons not only brought country music to the 60’s culture that had largely shunned it, he also was was one of the first to die from a a occupational hazard of living the high-life of the era including being a jamming, and heroin using, buddy of Keith Richards. Parsons was a founding member of the Americana movement and his solo work, work with the Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers and his collaborations with protege Emmylou Harris is legendary. Parson’s career was plagued by drugs and alcohol use and before a tour was scheduled to commence in October 1973, Parsons decided to go to Joshua Tree National Monument in southeastern California. Less than two days after arriving at the park, Parsons died on September 19, 1973 at the age of 26 from an overdose of morphine and alcohol
  • Hank Williams did more that just lay down the template for all country music to follow, but also the hard living that has become it’s legacy. An undiagnosed case of spina bifida occulta is beloved to have caused of his life-long abuse of alcohol and drugs. Dispute warnings from his boss and co-writer Roy Acuff, William’s demons worsened and led to his firing from the Grand Ole Opry for habitual drunkenness and, ultimately leading to his death at the age 29 on on January 1, 1953  in the back of his ’52 Cadillac on his way to a show in Charleston, West Virginia.