BG: Re: Alright... Gheez O-Pete's

[Doris Bradley]

June 26, 2004   Dear Renee':   I'd like to respond to you, but personally and privately.  I had no idea you could contact people offline from the website or I'd have sent my responses to you that way.  May I respond to you at your personal e-mail?  If so, how do I get it?  Blood's thicker than water-especially Stanley blood.  For what it's worth, you're one of the few people on this website thingey who make it worthwhile to even log on.   Without you & James Alan Shelton, & a few other participants who aren't afraid to say positive things & didn't sign up to whine & complain, I wonder if we'd learn any news, about Ralph Stanley, the Clinch Mountain Boys, current, past, or future, Carter Stanley, and/or their music in general?    I can only check out the website for what's been posted here once every week or ten days-studying for my Bar Exam in another US state keeps me so I can't lift my head from books most days.   If you'd somehow send your private e-mail address to me, I'd love to correspond with you without intruding on anyone's territory.  I'm not really very internet "savvy", so perhaps you & I should be gal pals (& anyone else, male or female who loves this music & knows it's about so much more than just one man, but also about all his past influences, band members, family members, church singing & religious influences and experiences, lost friends & relatives and the future he and so many others are trying to shape and will doubtless influence for generations to come for this kind of music) privately, through private e-mail addresses.  That way, we won't step on toes of  somehow surprisingly intolerable people who only have tunnel vision & don't have enough of your  spunk, common sense, wisdom & foresight to realize that bluegrass/mountain/old timey music didn't start last week with Ralph Stanley and didn't end with Carter Stanley's death & won't end with Ralph's passing, God Forbid, either, but harkens back for hundreds, perhaps thousands of years and has been handed down from generation to generation just as you so aptly and fluently describe here.    This kind of music also includes and involves hundreds and thousands of  unknown, unnamed, & unappreciated pickers, writers, promoters, fans, striving musicians who struggle to stay afloat but are devoted enough to hang in there, and the fans and friends like you & me & probably many others who participate here who support Ralph Stanley, Carter Stanley in the past, and who buy their records, songbooks, memorabilia, attend festivals in the pouring rain & stay to hear the singing anyway, otherwise support and befriend them, say something positive when the chips are up or down for them that keeps them going on day after day, mile after bone-chilling weary mile when there's not enough money to pay their band members & feed their kids also, the radio dj's who play their music & get them on air so we can hear them, television promoters, station executives, record executives and promoters who take unbelievable chances on unknown performers and lots of others I can't think to name right now.   I guess I feel that's who this website really belongs to-again, not speaking for Ralph, but he's my Daddy's only full brother, Daddy loved him unfailingly & more than most of us realized until we grew up & could understand their close, unique relationship that created their wonderful  music which now will only be heard again in another place, another time---Ralph would, I believe, be the first to tell you, just like my Daddy used to say, that he owes everything he's got to God-given talent, luck, & people just like YOU, RENEE' STANLEY, people just like MOST of the people who participate here who don't speak up only to try & put another person's comments down, but speak out in support of this music, Stanley music.   I post/write lots when I can write for many reasons-many of the same ones which motivate you & most others here, I think.  We all write from our hearts and if that offends people, so be it.  You & I are uniquely lucky that we can both write about things only a Ralph Stanley (and Carter Stanley) closer relative could know and share.  We've heard the parents, grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, coal miners, and just plain good folks we've grown up with & whom Carter & Ralph Stanley grew up with & were influenced by talk about things most people will never be privvy to hear and we know things & try to share them with others here to show what makes Ralph STanley (& Carter Stanley) and his son, grandkids, daughters, & my brothers & my sister & me, the CMB's past & present tick and have shaped them into whom & what they are now.  For my part, I think these subjects is NOTHING IF NOT ABOUT RALPH STANLEY.   It isn't quite the same when you've grown up with that experience.  You, Renee',  have an innate gift & ability to communicate your love of your heritage and mountain music that I do so admire and appreciate exactly for what it is.  For my part, I've loved your e-mails-even though I don't know what the *grins*, *barb* internet language means, I get the gist of what you're trying to say and somehow sense/feel in my bones that  you're one of the truly good, honest Stanley music fans who's stood the test of time & who loves old-timey, traditional, mountain, bluegrass & gospel music whether it's sung by Ralph Stanley, Carter Stanley, Aunt George Shuffler, any other Clinch Mountain Boy, Ralph II (whose first record "Haunted House" was amazing, and which I wore 2 cassette tape copies of completely out & need to hunt down another as it's SOOOO....darned cute) my Uncle William Monroe, Allison Kraus, Dan Tyminski, Gillian Welch, Tony Rice, Hank Williams, Dolly Parton, or any of the hundreds of other huge names in the music industry which I can't recall right now but who embrace bluegrass/mountain music as having been a tremendous influence on them-including the music of The Stanley Brothers.   One thing I can say.  Carter & Ralph Stanley RESPECTED WOMEN & THEIR MOTHER & WOULD NEVER, EVER WRITE, SAY, OR DO ANYTHING DISRESPECTFUL TO A WOMAN who wrote on their website unless they couldn't avoid it.  My Dad would tell you to say, write, & do what RENEE' THINKS & FEELS IS RIGHT TO WRITE & SAY & FORGET ABOUT WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINK.  You're spot on with your advice to people who don't want to hear what you have to say---DELETE BUTTON?????   Have respect & don't put negative comments on this website-if you object, vent your opinions to whomever offends you offsite to their private e-mail address.  Or try a bit of human kindness & tolerance-it's part of what Carter & Ralph Stanley stand for.   Keeping this website positive & focused on Stanley Brothers, Ralph  Stanley,  Clinch  Mountain Boys, and other mountain, old-timey, bluegrass, gospel music is what Ralph & Carter Stanley might say this website is about-(again, I can only speak for Daddy, not Ralph but I think Ralph's pretty focused on that himself these days, he's doing his best to establish a museum so their musical heritage isn't lost & again, he's no longer as shy as he used to be & if he thinks someone is out of line here, either he or James will let you know, I'd bet).   I love your comments and unique descriptive writings here.  Please can you give me your private e-mail address so I can tell you that myself privately?   A Devoted Ralph Stanley, Stanley Brothers, Clinch Mountain Boys & Bluegrass Music Fan,    Cordially,     Doris Stanley Bradley. ----- Original Message ----- From: Renee' To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Saturday, June 26, 2004 11:30 AM Subject: BG: Alright... Gheez O-Pete's     Renee -- Some folks don't know how to use a delete key or what it's for <g>. Art   * Lol.  Well heck Art, I like you're honesty.  <g> I'll do a repeat of the options some people have to choose from.   " .... if our personality bugs the tar out of you there are two options.... 1)  Just don't read it and show a little self control and dignity   or B)  Just don't read it and show a little self control and dignity."   RS