On a Sunday night at midnight, Nathan Stanley and Dewey Brown parked their tour bus and got in a car ready to head home. They had just played with Dr. Ralph Stanley at the Bill Monroe Bluegrass Festival. Brown, the longtime fiddler for Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys, was looking forward to getting home to Burlington, North Carolina with his wife who was then five months pregnant. As they got into their car, what they didn’t know is that their life was soon about to flash before their eyes.
Upon the impact of being hit by a drunk driver, the passengers were thrown into a creek. Stanley broke two femur bones and crushed his hip. Brown’s wife broke her femur bone but her baby was fine. Today little Savannah Brown is five years old.
“It was a very close call,” Stanley said recounting the accident to hosts Buddy Miller and Jim Lauderdale on the Buddy & Jim Show on Sirius XM Radio Outlaw Country. “The good Lord looked out for us. That’s why we’re here.”
“The road can take its toll in many ways,” Lauderdale said.
“We go through things and experiences that make us stronger,” Stanley reflected. “It makes you appreciate the important things in life.”
Stanley and Brown were visiting the radio co-hosts in what Lauderdale calls “The House of Buddy Studio.” A slew of artists had recently passed through to record an album of all-star guess pairings with the legendary Dr. Ralph Stanley. The album “Man of Constant Sorrow,” produced by Miller and Lauderdale, features Dirks Bentley, Ricky Skaggs, Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant, Lee Ann Womack and others. It is available exclusively through Cracker Barrel which made the co-hosts exclaim their love of Uncle Herschel’s breakfast, hash brown casserole and fried apples.
“My papaw was very pleased,” said the 22-year old grandson of Stanley and his defacto bandleader, saying how much the elder Stanley liked the album. Stanley told listeners how he sat in Miller’s studio with his grandfather marveling at watching Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings give a modern rendering to “Pig In a Pen.” Robert Plant’s duet with Stanley, the gospel song “Two Coats,” was one of the few tracks not recorded here live. Plant laid down his vocal track in a UK studio the day before he went on tour.
Lauderdale, who produced the Grammy-winning “Lost In The Lonesome Pines” for Stanley in 2002 and wrote “She’s Looking At Me” for him, had a question.
“Does he have any idea who Robert Plant and Led Zeppelin are?”
“Lord no,” Stanley’s grandson responded laughing. “He doesn’t follow rock music too closely.”
Nathan Stanley said he’s lived with his grandfather he calls “Papaw” all his life. grew up on a bus and started traveling playing spoons with his grandfather at the age of two. One of the first stages he was on was at the Ryman for the Grand Ole Opry. “Of course I didn’t know what stage I was on. I just knew I was with my Papaw and I was happy.”
When he turned 10 his grandfather assigned him to play mandolin and promoted him five years later to play rhythm guitar and sing lead vocals for the Clinch Mountain Boys. Along the way he became known by his grandfather as his ‘shadow.’ “He said he could never be anywhere unless I was around him.”
On his new album “The Legacy Continues,” Stanley sought to honor his grandfather by playing some of his favorite songs. One of the highlights is a duet with Brad Paisley called “Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone” which Lauderdale says brings the song to a whole new level.
He also sings a heartfelt tribute with the clinch Mountain Boys called “Papaw I Love You,” a tribute to the man he says is more than a granddad and has been his real father.
“People come up to me and talk of the special relationship they have with their grandparents and how it hits home,” he related. “I wanted fans and the music industry to know how much I love and respect this man. The first time I sang it in front of Papaw at one of my solo shows I was crying halfway into it and it was tough to get though.”
“Man of Constant Sorrow” features a duet between his grandfather and Elvis Costello called “Red Wicked Wine,” a song written by his grandmother that is one of the most famous Stanley Brothers songs, the group Ralph led with his brother Carter until he died in 1966. Nathan’s grandmother was a huge Elvis Presley fan and when young Nathan was six or seven, recalled his eyes becoming as big as silver dollars when he saw Presley’s 1968 Comeback Special. He called Presley the ultimate entertainer and says he’s been to Graceland six times.
Along the way, he developed a love for country music. Back in 2009, Stanley put together an album of 21 classic songs featuring guests including Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, Ricky Skaggs, John Anderson, Rhonda Vincent, and the late Little Jimmy Dickens among others. “My Kind of Country” is what Stanley says is the way country sounded a long time ago.
This past October Nathan Stanley found himself nominated for Bluegrass Album of the Year for “Every Mile” at the 2014 Dove Awards. He said it was an honor to be nominated with people he grew up with. When his name was called to accept the Dove award, he said he had to look around and wonder if it was really him. “Thank God for his favor,” he said of the experience.
Getting back to “Man of Constant Sorrow,” the younger Stanley appears on two tracks with his grandfather, “Rank Stranger” and “Hills of Home.” Lauderdale describes “Rank Stranger” as one of the greatest songs ever recorded. Lauderdale also suggested to Stanley that perhaps it was time to modernize the name of the Clinch Mountain Boys and suggested “The Clinch Mountain Millenials.”
“I’ve been trying to get Ralph to consider it but he’s been ignoring me,” Lauderdale reports. “He keeps telling me ‘I’ll talk to you about it later.’ I know that’s his way of saying he’s thinking on it.”
“Does this go along with some of your food ideas for the merch table?” Miller asks.
At this point Lauderdale reveals he’s been talking to Cracker Barrel about a specialty dish. Miller is very familiar with Cracker Barrel as he takes his mother-in-law there twice a week.
Lauderdale begins trying to describe the item. “It’s the Buddy and Jim keenwa kale cashew clusters…. with cayenne and koon-koon.”
It’s suggested that listeners could receive it when they buy “Man of Constant Sorrow.”
“You can get it with chipotle or Cajun spice,” Lauderdale goes on with his proposal.
“And gravy,” Dewey Brown chimes in.
“Gluten free, vegan, sawmill gravy,” Lauderdale continues.
“Jim,” Miller suddenly interjects, “this is making me so hungry I think we should just shut down the show and head over to Cracker Barrel.”
