Sign-In
Cart
Man of Constant Sorrow: My Life and Times
Paperback
Biographies GeneralMusiciansCountry & Folk
Please select the version of book you would like to purchase.
ISBN10: 1592405843
ISBN13: 9781592405848
Publisher: Avery Publishing Group
Published: Nov 2 2010
Pages: 464
Weight: 1.10
Height: 1.10 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
ISBN13: 9781592405848
Publisher: Avery Publishing Group
Published: Nov 2 2010
Pages: 464
Weight: 1.10
Height: 1.10 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
A legend looks back on his six decades in music. Ralph Stanley was born in 1927 in a corner of Virginia known as Big Spraddle Creek, a place where music echoed from the ridge tops, was belted out by workers in the fields, and resonated in the one-room country church where Ralph first found his voice. For his eleventh birthday, Ralph was given five dollars, and had to chose between buying a sow or a banjo. He chose the banjo, which his mother taught him to play in the clawhammer style. In 1946, he combined his banjo with his brother Carter's guitar, and the two blended their voices into one as the Stanley Brothers. For twenty years the Stanleys chased the dream through good times and hard times, until the hard times caught up to Carter and he succumbed to liver disease at age 41. In the four decades since his brother's passing, Ralph has brought his music from the hills and hollows of southwest Virginia to the wide world.
Now in his eighties and still touring, Ralph has at last grown into his voice and is ready to tell his story. In Man of Constant Sorrow, Ralph looks back on his career in what most call bluegrass but what he prefers to call old time mountain music. He recounts the creation of hundreds of classic tracks, including White Dove, Rank Stranger, and his signature song, Man of Constant Sorrow. He tells tales from a life spent on road with his band the Clinch Mountain Boys, explains his distinctive Stanley style of banjo-playing, crosses paths with everyone from Bill Monroe to Bob Dylan, and reflects on his late-career resurgence sparked by an unlikely Grammy win in 2002 for his song O Death. He also raises a dirge for Appalachia, his mountain home that is quickly disappearing. Harmonized with equal measures of tragedy and triumph, Man of Constant Sorrow is the stirring testament of a giant of American music.
1 different editions
Also available
Also in
Musicians
Dolly Parton Songteller: My Life in Lyrics: My Life in Lyrics
Parton, Dolly
Oermann, Robert K.
Hardcover
$52.25
A Screaming Life: Into the Superunknown with Soundgarden and Beyond
Thayil, Kim
Tepedelen, Adem
Hardcover
$28.80
Where the Music Had to Go: How Bob Dylan and the Beatles Changed Each Other--And the World
Windolf, Jim
Hardcover
$28.50
The Little Guide to Dolly Parton: It's Hard to Be a Diamond in a Rhinestone World
Hippo! Orange
Hardcover
$8.50
A Life in Lyrics: The Official Creative Legacy of Freddie Mercury
Mercury, Freddie
Austin, Mary
Hardcover
$47.50
Mahalia Jackson, Moving on Up a Little Higher: The Story of an American Civil Rights Pioneer
Tyson, Timothy B.
Williams, Mary D.
Hardcover
$26.09
Is This It: The Never-Ending Rise and Fall of the Strokes (and Rock 'n' Roll)
Hyden, Steven
Hardcover
$27.00
Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days
Beard, Javon
Whitfield, Bill
Hardcover
$38.00
P Fkn R: Bad Bunny Y La Música Como Un Acto de Resistencia / P Fkn R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance
Díaz, Vanessa
Rivera-Rideau, Petra R.
Paperback
$21.80
David Bowie and the Search for Life, Death and God: A Spiritual Meditation on His Music and Creativity
Ormerod, Peter
Hardcover
$26.60
With a Little Help from Their Friends: The Beatles and the People Who Made Them
Maconie, Stuart
Hardcover
$27.00
Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm
Charnas, Dan
Paperback
$20.90
Little Book of Elvis Presley: Inspirational Quotes from the King of Rock 'n' Roll
Croft, Rod
Hardcover
$8.50
What Do You Do When You're Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle
Bernstein, Jonathan
Hardcover
$28.50
Bust a Move: Matt Dike, Delicious Vinyl, and the Hip-Hop Hits That First Conquered Pop
Relic, Peter
Hardcover
$26.10
Ain't Nobody's Fool: The Life and Times of Dolly Parton (Large Print Edition)
Ackmann, Martha
Hardcover
$55.10
Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of the Beatles
Emerick, Geoff
Massey, Howard
Paperback
From $11.99
Dolly Parton: The Stories Behind the Songs: The Very Best Tracks, Explored and Explained
Zaleski, Annie
Hardcover
$28.49
Lessons & Lace: Everything I Know about Dreams, Heartbreak, and Magic I Learned from Stevie Nicks
Brodsky, Rachel
Hardcover
$25.20
3 Shades of Blue: Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bill Evans, and the Lost Empire of Cool
Kaplan, James
Paperback
From $14.99
Where Are Your Boys Tonight?: The Oral History of Emo's Mainstream Explosion 1999-2008
Payne, Chris
Paperback
$19.95
It's No Wonder: The Life and Times of Motown's Legendary Songwriter Sylvia Moy
Christian, Margena A.
Hardcover
$27.00
Beyoncé-One of One: History Lessons, Love Letters, and Affirmations from a Cultural Icon
King, Antonia Jade
Hardcover
$26.96
Keep It Beautiful: Inside the Funkyverse of Shock G and Digital Underground
Jacobs, Gregory E.
Mbassa, Alexis Wolfe
Hardcover
$33.25
The Silver Snarling Trumpet: The Birth of the Grateful Dead--The Lost Manuscript of Robert Hunter
Hunter, Robert
Paperback
$19.79
What Happened to Your Hair?: How We Played Loud... Loved Proud... and Never Backed Down... Together
Nelson, Gunnar
Nelson, Matthew
Hardcover
$33.25
Jazz, TX: A Love Letter to Live Music, Community, and the Little Club That Could
Watkins, Doc
Hardcover
$33.24
Elvis and Me: The True Story of the Love Between Priscilla Presley and the King of Rock N' Roll
Harmon, Sandra
Presley, Priscilla
Paperback
$10.44
The Colonel and the King: Tom Parker, Elvis Presley, and the Partnership That Rocked the World
Guralnick, Peter
Hardcover
$36.10