Ralph Stanley Quotes

• I grew up down in the hills of Virginia. I can be in Kentucky in 20 minutes, Tennessee in 20 minutes or in the state of West Virginia in 20 minutes. And it's down in the Appalachian Mountains, down there. And it's sort of a poorer country. Most of the livelihood is coal mining and logging, working in the woods and things like that. Most people has a hard life down that way.

  Ralph Stanley

  Country, Kentucky, Virginia

  Source: www.npr.org

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• I'm thankful that I have lived long enough to become a legend, and I hope I deserve it.

  Ralph Stanley

  Long, Thankfulness, Legends

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• No pleasure here on earth I find
  For in this world I'm bound to ramble.

  Ralph Stanley

  World, Earth, Pleasure

  "Song: 'Constant Sorrow'". 1951.

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• My first banjo? My mother's sister, my aunt, lived about a mile from where we did, and she raised some hogs. And she had - her - the hog - the mother - they called the mother a sow - of a hog. And she had some pigs. Well, the pigs were real pretty, and I was going to high school and I was taking agriculture in school. And I sort of got a notion that I'd like to do that, raise some hogs. And so my aunt had this old banjo, and my mother told me, said, which do you want, the pig or a banjo? And each one of them's $5 each. I said, I'll just take the banjo.

  Ralph Stanley

  Mother, Real, School

  Source: www.npr.org

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• I believe in my music.

  Ralph Stanley

  Believe, I Believe, I Believe In

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• I live about six miles from where I was born and raised.

  Ralph Stanley

  Six, Born, Miles

  Source: www.npr.org

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• I would have quit before I went rock-n-roll. I know one way, and that's natural, and when I can't make it, I'll come home and stay. I believe in my music.

  Ralph Stanley

  Believe, Home, Rocks

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• The soundtrack of O Brother is the most publicity I've gotten. I don't feel that I have lost any of my old fans, but I have gained new ones.

  Ralph Stanley

  Brother, Publicity, Fans

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• You give out the words and then sing them. You give out the words, you know, and the people can hear what you're giving out, and they sing that song or that line and they do the same thing again.

  Ralph Stanley

  Song, People, Giving

  Source: www.npr.org

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• Well, I don't let anyone record with me that is not a fan of mine or believe in my music. Everybody that records for me, from Bob Dylan on down to George Jones, everybody loves me and my music, and I knew they would do their best that they could do, and they did. I didn't doubt them a bit. There's some country people that I wouldn't want, which didn't record with me.

  Ralph Stanley

  Country, Believe, People

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• I've done it all. I'm thankful and proud of what I've accomplished in my life. I hope to keep doing it.

  Ralph Stanley

  Thankfulness, Done, Proud

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• I like for it to be mountain music or old-time country music or traditional bluegrass. Either one will fit me. It's traditional, basically.

  Ralph Stanley

  Country, Mountain, Fit

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• You know, if you use instrument, why, you have to stay on perfect time - timing. And if you do a cappella - I'm so bad, just wonder, you know, maybe I'll sing one verse this way and one verse another. And if you're doing it a capella, you don't have to keep any time. You can just go out as far as you want to with it.

  Ralph Stanley

  Perfect, Use, Want

  "Remembering Bluegrass And Banjo Legend Ralph Stanley". "Fresh Air", www.npr.org. June 24, 2016.

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• I think Bob [Dylan] told me that he turned down twenty interviews that year, and I was the only one that he sat down and did an interview with. And, he said that it was one of his highlights, and it was one of my highlights. And, I was very glad to talk with Bob. I found out that he was a good fan of mine, and that tickled me.

  Ralph Stanley

  Thinking, Years, Twenties

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

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• I am a man of constant sorrow. I've seen trouble all my days.

  Ralph Stanley

  Men, Sorrow, Trouble

  Source: www.npr.org

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• I guess the first time I played around Washington, D.C. was at a place called The Famous. That was the first place I played, I believe.

  Ralph Stanley

  Believe, Firsts, I Believe

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

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• I don't see any harm in brining an instrument into the church itself.

  Ralph Stanley

  Church, Harm, Instruments

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

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• I don't listen to the radio too much, but usually I listen to Stanley Brothers and Ralph Stanley more than I do anybody!

  Ralph Stanley

  Brother, Radio, Too Much

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• My father was a logger. He cut timber and hauled it out of the woods and had a sawmill. They sawed it into lumber. And, you know, the mines needed things they call timbers and collars and so forth, and they used collars on the railroad track that they put the rails on. And he - that was his occupation, just a sawmill man and a logger.

  Ralph Stanley

  Father, Cutting, Men

  Source: www.npr.org

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• Speaking of WAMU, [bluegrass and old time music DJ] Ray Davis did a lot of work there. I've know Ray, I guess for 50 years - 40, or 50 years. And, he plays a lot of my records.

  Ralph Stanley

  Years, Play, Rays

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

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• I'm a member of the Primitive Baptist Church, and they will buy every CD that I have released, but they don't me just to bring the instruments much into the church.

  Ralph Stanley

  Cds, Church, Baptists

  "Remembering Bluegrass And Banjo Legend Ralph Stanley". "Fresh Air" with Terry Gross, www.npr.org. June 24, 2016.

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• I don't - I don't like that style, myself. I never did like Elvis's singing, but there was millions that did.

  Ralph Stanley

  Style, Singing, Millions

  Source: www.npr.org

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• I think - I really think my voice has gotten better in the last two or three years. I don't know why. I've been doing a lot of - a lot more lead singing, and everybody tells me that my voice was better than ever and I agree with them. Maybe I've learned to do more with it. I don't know what.

  Ralph Stanley

  Thinking, Years, Two

  Source: www.npr.org

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• My mother played a little bit of the old time clawhammer. She tuned the banjo up and picked one tune for me, and it just become natural to me. When she picked it, I just started and picked it, too.

  Ralph Stanley

  Mother, Tunes, Littles

  "Ralph Stanley, Bluegrass Legend, Dies At 89". "All Things Considered" with Ari Shapiro, www.npr.org. June 24, 2016.

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• [Regarding President Obama] Yeah, yeah, yeah, I talked to him. I sorta, I guess, helped him get elected.

  Ralph Stanley

  President, President Obama, Yeah

  Source: brightestyoungthings.com

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