It’s playing in Virginia. You need to hear it.
Please enable Javascript and Flash to view this Blip.tv video.Stanley is the survivor of the Stanley Brothers, 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 Though music. The clip below is the Stanley Brothers from their heyday; sitting listening raptly is Pete Seeger.
h/t Talking Points for the ad.
Wow, and note that it’s aimed at not just Virginia but specifically SOUTHWEST Virginia, the McCain stronghold. Perfect “pitch.”
That’s where Clinch Mountain (as in Stanley’s band, the Clinch Mountain Boys) is, and where the Carter family came from. They should really play this in W.Va and Ky too.
NMC: that clip almost has a sacred harp quality to it. thanks. haven’t heard that song in about 100 years.
NMC: this train that i ride is 16 coaches long. didn’t elvis and led zeppelin use that as a refrain?
confounded, 4:
Mystery Train
Thanks for posting those clips, Mate. Mighty good music. But Ralph Stanley endorsing Barack Obama … who woulda’ thunk it? I hope his endorsement is evidence of a chord resonating amongst hard working people … the ones who are always squeezed out first when there’s a layoff; the ones who start early, stay late, do their jobs in a workmanlike way, and never get recognized; the ones so often taken for granted by politicians; the ones whose sons and daughters join the armed forces and get killed, and worse. If Barack can carry Southwest Virginia, he can carry the nation.
Junior Parker recorded “Mystery Train” that opens with “Train I ride, 16 coaches long.” His song was Elvis’ inspiration. Where the line comes from, there is no telling.
NMC: yes mystery train is it. And there is a reference in a led zeplin song I’m trying to remember. Very interesting.
it was actually a version of mystery train that led zepplin did. Duh.
I have “The Train I Ride” on an old Mississippi Fred McDowell album. I don’t know who wrote it.
The earliest line I can find of “the train I ride, sixteen coaches long” is in a 1927 Furry Lewis (from Greenwood ) recording of Good Looking Girl Blues
I don’t figure why folks can’t recognize them Neo-Con boys aint even O’l timey.
that’s probably an artifact of the dates recording starte,d Researcher. I’ll look this up in the (truly classic book) Long Steel Rail, the definitive history of railroads in music, after the VP debate.
Southwest Virginia is not what it seems. I lived in Flat Gap and Pound for ten years, in Wise County, next to Dickenson County (where Ralph lives). This is union territory. Coal miners know what is going on, and who is trying to pull a fast one. Rick Boucher has been a US Rep up there for years. He is not a republican.
Ralph Stanley is much like everyone else up there, making a living and doing right by his neighbors. If you look back when Oliver North was running for the Senate, he lost big time in far SW Virginia. There is a good reason for that. We hillbillies are not dumb, ya know.
This is great that someone like Ralph Stanley is speaking up for Obama. Ralph Stanley knows about life from the ground up. It is strange how Palin wants people to think she is the only one who is from a small town, has experienced the no health care deal, etc. I would invite her to the West Virginia coalfields.
p.s. “It Takes a Worried Man to Sing a Worried Song” as sung on this video is absolutely perfect.
Betty Dotson-Lewis
Welcome to folo, Betty!
Now that’s a winning ticket! Way to go Dr. Stanley. Just another reason I think you are a great American and a true friend to regular folks.
Bluegrass is the sweetest music. God bless Dr. Stanley for everything he’s done, and for doing this, too.
My sister lives in southwest Virginia, Floyd County, and neither she nor anyone she knows is voting for Barack Obama. But then again, she might change her mind if SHE were getting paid to say so.
O Brother didn’t “revive” Ralph Stanley’s career, it just made him more widely known. I’ve listened to the Stanley Bros. and Ralph Stanley for over 50 years now. He just gets better with age. Now more people know about him.
Kudos to Ralph for his ad (which is great.)
RIChris, if you don’t know anyone who’s going to vote for Obama, I’m afraid you’re shortchanging yourself. I grew up in a frightened little corner of West Virginia where the exotic people were the few Catholics, and they made us nervous. Now my doctor is from India, the nice lady across the street truly believes the moon landings were fake, and some of my friends golf on Sunday and some of them wtch NASCAR. I even married a woman from Maryland! Exposing myself to different people hasn’t changes any of my beliefs (except for a few very stupid ones), and it’s even made me more confident in what I do believe. Try it, it feels good! Hawthorne: It contributes much to the moral and intellectual health of a man to be brought into habits of companionship with those unlike himself.
I am a hard working man and did get laid off from my job I was one of the first to go and that ad did not strike me in any fashion.”besides the great music in the background” I think Mccain is the way. I have tlaked to many people and the more i talk the less i like Obama. He strikes a cord with the younger voters and thats great but younger voters dont really research the facts they just go with what sounds cool. Trust me I am a younger voter and i really did get laid off and i really belive Mccain is the better man. I have done my studying and feel that Obama does not have the experience it will take to handle the affairs to come.
Mike, I’ve only listened since sometime during the folk revival, and only deeply about 15 or so years. But there’s no question that Oh Brother brought him to a broader audience, which is a good thing. I hope those people who came to him go back to the classic recordings with his brother.
Miles — I hope you don’t mind if I capitalize your name — You’re young, but you’re not paying attention. You got laid off as part of the Republican plan for the nation over the past nearly-eight years. Voting for McCain is endorsing everything that has happened. I’m old, and I’ve seen a lot, but I’ve never seen a Republican politician who cared for common people.
My sister lives in Floyd, Va and she, and most people she knows, are voting for Obama.
Miles: You may want to give some thought to a couple of things:
In a Census Bureau study done over the past 60 years the findings included the following:
1) The real incomes of middle-class families grew more than twice as fast under Democratic presidents as they did under Republican presidents.
2) The real incomes of working-poor families grew six times as fast when Democrats held the White House.
3) Only the incomes of affluent families were relatively impervious to partisan politics, growing robustly under Democrats and Republicans alike.
(Dwight D. Eisenhower (R) & Jimmy Carter(D) are the exceptions to this)
I grew up in the South and I’m proud of it. Don’t underestimate these people. They know who is on their side.
Welcome home, JerseyGirl! Y’ont a Co-Cola?
Do the people of Virginia, or anywhere in the US for that matter think a family – Sarah & Todd Palin – that has 1.2 million dollars in assets & income is “middle class”?
Palin is not worse off than she was 8 years ago. Are you?
She did not have a twang in her voice in 2006 during the Alaska governor’s race.
Mighty powerful! Dr. Ralph Stanley is a hero here in Southwest Virginia and upper East Tennessee, his endorsement should be broadcast all over this mountain area.
Welcome, Mary and Bruce!
Mary, her twang-development is especially weird, don’t you think? Wonder who decided that was necessary, and why.
Awesome..I grew up in both the north and then the south during the sixties and to see this happen in my lifetime is a beautiful thing to see. I guess we are following the dream..truth will overcome an angry old man,and a sleazy hockey mom any day of the week
Ralph Stanley must have dementia. He actually believes Barack Obama will do all of those things? He has NEVER done any of those things, but just the opposite. Virginians, wake up and see. Obama is telling you all the things you want to hear. He can’t deliver–he doesn’t really believe in this, but he needs your vote. Look at his past, his friends, and his record of no accomplishments. He’s too risky!
Barack isn’t too risky. The McCain-Palin ticket is too risky… too entrenched in old ideas. McCain USED to be a “maverick” but not any more. He left those ways behind several years ago. Our only hope is for massive change and Barack will bring it. Have a little faith…
Bless your heart, Stella.
All Right — way to go Ralph!
Stella: “Virginians, wake up and see. Obama is telling you all the things you want to hear. He can’t deliver”
Not that I agree-’cause I don’t-Obama will deliver.
BUT-think about it- McCain is telling you what you DON”T want to hear but he WILL deliver? And, you betcha, he will-hmmm.
BTW-I think maybe Lotus is telling you to put the facts (if you can find them) where you mouth is.
That’s pretty sad, actually.
Bill Clinton, like Obama, promised a tax cut in 1992. Two weeks after being sworn, Clinton gave a lame press conference in which he said “I’ve worked harder on this than anything in my life” and then announced there would be no tax cut.
The last — and only? — Democrat to cut taxes was JFK.
Democrats talking about cutting taxes is absolute, unadulterated, bull manure. It will not happen. It is a lie. Democrats eat, breathe, and sleep government programs, and government programs require money which translates into higher and higher taxes.
Ralph Stanley says people will be left with a ‘little more money in your pocket.’ Not likely. More likely is an economic catastrophe like we suffered during the Jimmy Carter administration. When Obama as President, people will be lucky to have jobs, period.
And people in western Virginia and West Virginia should think about what Obama/Biden will do to the coal industry.
Observer: Did you even read the census report at 26? Or do you just prefer to deny a report from an independent source based on a 60 year history? Yep- ’spose so…but facts really aren’t your thing, right?
Obama does have big plans for this country but, based on the current fiasco, he may have to spend the 1st four years scooping up your elephant dung.
BTW-do you still have a Bush ‘04 sticker on your car/truck?
so, Observer, what are we going to do now, with this record deficit, and a war, and a recession and a bank panic. Your guy has this worked out? Different than your last guy?
The bull manure is that the fairy tail of tax cuts and spending at crazy-high levels can go on forever. You guys did it in the Bush and Reagan administrations and never for a moment did anything to end it. Now you’ve made a bigger mess than ever, and we’re supposed to believe you’re going to fix it with tax cuts?
What are you going to cut? Saying ending earmarks and cutting medicare will be meaningful is a lie and you know it.
Clinton had economic advisers he believed look at him and say: “You can’t have the stuff you want, you have to fix the deficit or wreck the economy.” That’s what happened, like or not. Personally, I’m not the deficit hawk that many centrist Democrats are. But I recognize that they were realists about a view of government spending. The administration you have supported has lived a fairy tale that makes Lyndon Johnson’s hopes (don’t make them pay for the war and they won’t hold it against me) look fiscally realist.
I don’t know how this will play out– what is going to happen to taxes, and the like. But to pretend that the Democrats are the ones who have lied about where government spending is to literally compound one lie with another.
All politicians exaggerate what they hope to accomplish. The fairy tale the Republicans have sold for decades is worse, and I hope that the chickens have come home to roost, finally, and forever.
What are you going to do? Continue a war off the budget and cut taxes and hope China never calls in the debt?
Your party is the one that is selling a big, vile, lie. Sorry to be so blunt, but you asked for it.
NMC -make that two wars. Both of which we are winning-right Observer?
People in WV will not vote for Obama for one simple reason – the color of his skin. It’s totally disgusting.
wvtechie: I believe that a number of
southernerspeople are struggling with the concept that voting for their best interests means voting for a black man. I am hopeful, even if they can’t take that step this time, that they are, at the very least, struggling with it. I also believe that this is just another reason we need Obama in the WH. If we can pull that off, one of the by products will be that we won’t be having this conversation the next time.Observer: I know you prefer to do drive by’s-shooting from the hip and zooming off-but you owe us some facts (facts, I say, not Fox News bias) to back up what you are shilling. If you don’t have any at hand, I’d suggest a quick google to see if you can find other relatively unbiased sources to back up your points. Ya just never know-try it- you might learn something. Then again, so might we.
Wow, watching the PBS special on Carter tonight. Didn’t realize he had an approval rating as low as Bush Jr. Too bad. He seemed like a hard working, good Christian man. The Fed, through their economic machinations can put a bullet in any any President’s head. Obama better get control of Bernanke or better yet replace him early on and maybe by his 3rd or 4th year the economy will recover somewhat if he doesn’t tax us all to death.
IAG: During his presidency Carter established the Depts of Education and Energy. In foreign affairs he pursued the Camp David Accords and SALT. He was heavily criticized for giving the Panama Canal Zone to Panama. The Iranian hostage situation, serious fuel shortages and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan also contributed to his downfall. Personally, I think one of his biggest downfalls was not knowing how Washington worked-he was voted in after Nixon because he was an outsider-and the political aspects of the job didn’t suit him. It is also said that he was the ultimate micro-manager.
Before Clinton, he was the only former president to make a huge difference in the world we live in after leaving office. He is, in my opinion, if not a great president, a great man.
I agree with you GG and do not fault him totally for the poor economic conditions at that time just as we shouldn’t totally blame Bush for the current conditions. Carter was a man of principal and faith whose name was redeemed through his work with Habitat For Humanity and international peace efforts post presidency. The Bush/Carter Presidencies seem to have several similarities. Hopefully Bush can find a worthy calling and leave something positive for future generations like Carter.
Wow! I love you people (on both sides). First, I am a huge fan of acoustical American music; I truly lament giving up all my vinyl those 20-25 years ago. Stanley Bros included.
Remember what Rodney King said: “Why can’t we all just get along?” That said, I’m retired and I’m thinking that my economic self interest says there is no way I can vote for McCain.
Did you hear about the post turtle? Also agree that Carter was totally under appreciated and will be recognized in the future.
I think this whole thread is a great slice of Americana and what makes this country great.
Hey, Kiteflyer (and everybody else just discovering us)! Stick around and help us make more fun-and-trouble, okay?
What a great website this is! I enjoyed the political commentary above – not focused on bullshit, but on core issues. I’ll check this out from now on.
Glad to have you with us, Kenneth.
The fact that I won’t be voting for Obama has NOTHING to do with the color of his skin. He has no experience fixing anything–if ANYONE out there can tell me what one thing he has done to qualify him to be president, please do. He has radical views, he has worked for ACORN, a known voter fraud registration. His spiritual advisor is a ranting, racist man who takes the Lord’s name in vain and he subjected his children to this nonsense. He cavorts with an unrepentant terrorist, and he took money from a felon to purchase his house. He “disqualified” his oponents from the ballot in Chicago, and did it “Chicago Style”. He is married to a very angry woman, and she has NO reason to be angry. We don’t need this “change”. He will rip this country apart with his socialist, leftist views.
Um, Stella, what has John McCain ever fixed? How you liking the results he’s getting with his campaign? Bang-up job there, huh? If only the whole rest of the country just weren’t crazy but sane and truthful like you, he’d be winning, right?
Can anyone get the word to someone who can act that a version of this ad will be effective all over Appalachia and the Midwest? I have been suggesting a TV ad, with a few bars from “OBrother Where Art Thou” for the people who don’t know Ralph Stanley any other way.
The reason more people don’t know about Stanley’s endorsement of Obama is that it took place at the lipstick-on-a-pig event, and no one paid any attention.
To RIChris–you might like to know that Ralph Stanley is very political and he has endorsed other candidates he believes in, such as Mark Warner. You are cynical, but I am cynical enough to believe that there is not enough money in the world to pay an 81-year-old white bluegrass musician to endorse a black candidate that he doesn’t believe in.
Stella,
the facts:Never mind-you are in no way interested in the facts. If you were, you’d watch more than Fox “News”-expand that little mind a bit- and you’d know that what you are ranting about is not connected to the truth. It is apparent that you are one of the 25% of people who still approve of Bush (or color *is* important to you) and would like to see another 4-8 years of the same. Thank God, for the rest of us, you will not be getting your way.Stella:
Like the country is not being ripped apart right now by Bush & his crony McCain. Palin is more of the same.
Not having a press conference after 7 weeks? Come on.
Palin must think she’s either in a monarchy or a dictatorship.
Very scary. We have the right to know about her and her knowledge,& ability to think on her feet, not just see her frisking on stage like someone with a prospective client. Oh, that was the VP debate.
Mary from AK, are you familiar with the bloggy term “707″? It’s an LOL that sends you over the back of your chair, so you end up upside-down. And your “Oh, that was the VP debate,” ma’am, just 707ed me.
Respect.
UPDATED
Stella, when you and Observer blatantly ignore the facts, lending a blind eye to them as though they have no relevance to the matter at hand, I am reminded of the comment Barbara Bush made to Diane Sawyer back at the beginning of this awful war (in spring 2003, I think). She was asked about her son’s policy to ban all photographs of our fallen soldiers being transported home. Mrs. Bush said, “Diane, why should we hear about body bags and death? It’s not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?”
Just think about it. Ring a bell?
Mrs. Bush didn’t (and as far as I know, still doesn;t) have a beautiful mind. It’s a small, narrow mind-closed to all but those who think just like she thinks and it will forever remain very, very small. When it comes to minds -size *does* matter!
A friend sent me a link to this great site so that I could hear Dr. Stanley’s endorsement. It did my heart good, as did reading your dialog. This site is a welcome breath of fresh air!
I was glad to see that you had a couple of Republicans in here to rile everyone up. I was sorry to see that they are doing the usual thing and just reciting the litany of fear that the party has been spewing since Senator Obama came on the scene. It is a sad thing about Republicans, they just haven’t had a lot of original thinkers in their ranks since Barry Goldwater. Sometimes I am sad to think that the Party of Lincoln has become a congregation of “ditto-heads”. Is a free-thinking Republican just an oxymoron?
I was a little upset by Senator Obama’s performance at the debates. I figured that any guy who was top of his class at Harvard Law would have had to be a great debater, but his persistent running past his time made him look a little desperate. Time lights everywhere and he was ignoring them all to chase after McCain’s dimwitted and badly delivered taunts.
Someone needs to tell him that there are are charges and allegations that are too absurd to dignify with a response.
He also needs to know that he has to embrace his convictions with true faith and answer the questions that he is being asked. I support him with my whole being, but I can see when he is dodging a question. Fence sitters have their radar turned up to full looking for those types of cheap political stunts.
I am not sure that there are a lot of honest uncommitted potential voters out there so I think that it is about time that he starts to tell the truth about what has to be done to repair the damage from the last forty-four years of negligent government. I want him to start team-building with his supporters and being honest about how he is going to need more than their vote. He is going to need their sacrifice.
Bush was correct that the country was under attack, but he was wrong about the attacker. We are under attack by the greedy who think that the interest of the shareholders are paramount. We are being attacked by those who will outsource our jobs forcing us into work that beggars us fiscally and spiritually. We are under attack from those who would try to convince us that we can afford mortgages that put off repayment of principal and “adjust” the interest rate based on changes in barometric pressure. We are under attack by those who would help us convince ourselves that it is appropriate to shop at stores that use up their employees like toilet paper and work to place them on public support for health care because they pay them too little to pay for the inadequate health insurance packages they provide. Stores that take business from manufacturers who hire American unionized workers and treat like the assets they are. Stores that give those jobs to businesses who have moved abroad to escape all responsibilities to their workers, their communities, and the countries they love. Stores who do all of this in order to assure their thoughtless patrons of “always the low price”.
We are under attack.
We are under attack from ourselves, from our thoughtlessness, from our self-obsessiveness, from our lack of commitment, from our fear, from our lack of love for each other.
I wonder if we have the courage to embrace a leader who will ask us for the sacrifices that are going to be required if we are going to be able to dig ourselves out this “Miasma” and to do the hard things that will be required to build this country, get us off the poison of carbon based energy, the isolation of our automobiles, the insulation of our air conditioning and gated “communities”.
Do we have the hard need to heal that will be needed to walk away from cheap disposable consumerism?
Have we got the chutzpah to start treating working people well enough that they can play a full role in our communities?
I believe that we have been waiting for the leader who has the strength of faith and the courage of conviction to ask for our help.
I thought it was Barrack Obama.
I still do.
I hope that he will rediscover that faith in himself that will allow him to push away from the image coaches and spin-meisters. I hope he will stop that he will stop paying attention to the taunts of a failed ring-knocker, and honestly and succinctly answer the questions put to him.
I hope that he finds in himself the Barrack Obama that won my heart.
Welcome to folo, Glenn — glad to have you and your ideas in our mix. Yes, we need some harder-truths-telling, and I don’t imagine we have long to wait for it. Less than 30 days, I’d bet — but whether less than 26 remains to be heard.
Thanks, lotus!
I just hope that we don’t have another post-election debacle. Maybe the margin of victory will be undeniable.
I am a hothead and I know that Senator Obama will need the support of the middle-of-the-road in order to win. I just hope that, in order to embrace the middle, he will be able to avoid all of Bill Clinton’s mistakes.
I am a fellow Southerner and a twelfth generation Floridian. Sadly, I am old enough to remember “separate but equal” and I can’t believe how far we have all come together. I see Barrack Obama as just what we all need in a president.
I think that he will be the best president since Madison.
I just feel like so many of the things that we need to strive for would strike a common note in all our hearts, if only we are asked.
This issue reminds me of all of the crisis of faith stories about Jed Bartlett on “The West Wing”. (don’t think badly of me, I needed a great president)
A real pleasure to be with you. I am happy to folo.
Dandy, Glenn. Glad to have your help here at the table, reading the papers with us. (We all need a great president, even the ones without the sense or faith to vote for him yet.)
Hey Glenn, welcome aboard. We’re glad you’re here to enjoy the ride with us. And, personally, I’m glad to have another “West Wing” fan. “President Bartlett” was a real virtual oasis during that period as we were wandering through the desert of Bush.
I’m holding out great hope that, once in office, Obama will win over many of today’s doubtful (whether of experience or color or both). I, too, am old enough to remember living in the days of “separate but equal” and celebrate the distance we have traveled and am hopeful about the miles ahead.
GlitterGirl,
I am always amused at the experience thing. IMHO, there is no job in this plane of existence that can prepare you for the presidency. I look at what most of the people who have occupied the office have done, and I think:”the less experience the better.”
I want someone to lead a team of folks who can think different. (to steal from Apple) I want these different thinkers to build teams that share the vision of ways we can all work together for our mutual benefit and support.
A funny thing about Mavericks is they resist herding and cooperation with other cattle. They make life miserable for everyone in the herd. They impede all progress. And they usually wind up dying stuck in a bog.
You know, it just came to me, one of the things I have been meaning to scream about. We as a nation have allowed the heard right to define way too many of the terms of discussion. Now we are letting them sour the idea of one of the things I hold sacred: government
One of the things that I love about the “Declaration of Independence” is the starting sentence: “We the People, in order to….”
The right is seeking to achieve freedom from cooperation by destroying the vehicle of cooperation: “a government of the people, by the people and for the people” working together to achieve goals that they can’t achieve as individuals, as city states. and even as states. Government is what we form to do great things together.
We need to assemble a government that can work together, not a loose consortium of mavericks who all want to be left alone to go their own way.
Thanks for your kind words, and I will look forward to taking this journey with fellow optimists
I think that The Obama campaign should be running this ad in the state of Indiana! Bluegrass is big in Indiana, and Ralph Stanley is much respected. It might well give many people second thoughts if they are thinking of voting for McCain. There are many states throughout the south where such an ad would also be very appropriate.