Sing Gospel Echoes of the Stanley Brothers

When lead singer Carter Stanley died, one of the greatest brother duets in the history of country music came to an end. But Carter’s tenor-singing brother Ralph went on to an illustrious career as a bandleader on his own, and made some of the most powerful bluegrass recordings of all time. His reedy voice and his penchant for melismatic melodic elaboration and raw, vinegary mountain harmonies could make your hair stand on end. And he never sounded better than when he was singing gospel music, as this 1973 recording makes clear. As the title indicates, it harks back to material the Stanley Brothers had recorded decades before, though here the lead vocals are handled by the young, brilliant, and doomed Keith Whitley (and that’s a young Ricky Skaggs on mandolin). Songs include classics like “The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn,” “Working on a Building,” and the marvelous “Daniel Prayed.” If someone asks you for a perfect introduction to Ralph Stanley’s solo work, start with this one.