pampelmoose Dave Allen of Gang of Four’s Music and Media Blog

Ralph Stanley - Obama Radio Ad for West Virginia

This is a radio ad that was recorded by Ralph Stanley for the Obama campaign in West Virginia. Feel free to download it and send it to your friends.

Ralph Stanley is the last remaining survivor of the Stanley Brothers, and as such is one of the few remaining figures of the first generation of bluegrass musicians. He’s from the part of the mountains the Carter Family came from, and has had a recent career revival for his part in the Oh Brother Where Art Thou movie.

Stanley’s work was featured in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, in which he sings the Appalachian dirge “O Death,” perhaps the most memorable scene. It came about in an interesting way. The soundtrack’s producer was T-Bone Burnett. Stanley said the following about working with Burnett:

“T-Bone Burnett had several auditions for that song. He wanted it in the Dock Boggs style. So I got my banjo and learned it the way he did it. You see, I had recorded ‘O Death’ three times, done it with Carter. So I went down with my banjo to Nashville and I said, ‘T-Bone, let me sing it the way I want to sing it,’ and I laid my banjo down and sung it a cappella. After two or three verses, he stopped me and said, ‘That’s it.’

And now he’s an Obama supporter.

[Found on Folo]