Jim Lauderdale and Ralph Stanley
Lost in the Lonesome Pines
Dualtone Records

by Carter Monroe

In the beginning, I had trouble with this record. I don't mean I didn't like it. I just had that same feeling that kept me from buying their first collaboration as well as the bluegrass effort of Del McCoury and Steve Earle. The fact is that I like both performers so much that I couldn't visualize how they could complement each other. Add to this mix a kind of ultimate reverence I've held for the Stanley Brothers for almost 30 years and maybe you can understand my trepidation.

Even after acquiring the disc, I procrastinated. Maybe it was that cynical monster that I can't always repress. The one that remembers what happened to the world in the early 70's when "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" was released. The one that has lived through the changes in the record industry and seen music executives scamper to take immediate financial advantage of perceived trends. The one that knew to expect a rash of mediocre, soulless efforts to flood the market on the heels of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou. I knew that once I clicked the remote, there'd be no turning back. If my old hero and one of my new ones had sold out, I'd have to live with a disappointment I didn't need or relish.

What an idiot I was. Didn't I know that when he was in his teens, Jim Lauderdale heard the Stanleys singing "Rank Stranger" and freaked out? Didn't I realize that he'd had the same experience as mine when David Long (lead singer of the Winston Salem based band, Man Alive!) said to me in 1973, "Hey, man, I've got this song you need to hear by the Stanley Brothers." It was almost like a religious conversion. In my mind I kept thinking, "Jesus, Otis Redding ain't got a patent on soul."

If innocent jackleg poet me experienced this profundity, how could someone as talented as Jim Lauderdale not? After all, the same thing had happened to Dwight Yoakam as well as Gillian Welch, two mainstays in my record library. Don't you hate it when your heart jumps out and barricades your logic?

This record is a multi-level success. It's a great Lauderdale effort and a great Stanley effort. Not only has Lauderdale written some absolutely classic songs such as "Zaccheus" and "Deep Well of Sadness," but he has thoroughly understood and portrayed the true mood of a Stanley Brothers concert in this wonderful collection. Songs like "She's Looking at Me" have that humorous edge that always came out in the old days when Carter and Ralph would banter with the band during songs such as on "How Far to Little Rock." Therefore, the true Stanley fan can close his eyes and remember, while the Lauderdale admirer can simply smile and say, "I told you so."

There is a labor of love aspect to this record that is undeniable. It's not something Jim Lauderdale did in some muse-driven spurt, but rather an almost solemn period of creativity. A lot of people have talent. Jim Lauderdale understands respect and is, himself, very worthy of same.

If any Lauderdale or Stanley fan is disappointed with this effort, don't tell them to call me. I don't have time.

*Read all about it at www.dualtone.com


Contact Carter Monroe at: cm-at-rockzilla.net

 
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