Personnel includes: Ralph Stanley; Shelton Feazell, Jack Cooke, John Rigsby (vocals); Bob Dylan, Marty Stuart (guitar); Ricky Skaggs (mandolin); Laurie Lewis (fiddle); Mike Bub (bass); Hal Ketchum, Patty Loveless, George Jones, Dwight Yoakam, Vince Gill, Claire Lynch, Judy Marshall, David Marshall, Joe Diffie, Gillian Welch, Ralph Stanely II, Rhonda Vincent, Diamond Rio, Jeff Raybon, Marty Raybon, Doug Phelps, John Anderson, Alison Krauss, Junior Brown, Connie Smith, Tim O'Brien, Porter Wagoner, Joe Isaacs, Sonya Isaacs, Becky Isaacs, Vern Gosdin, Jim Lauderdale, The Whites, BR5-49, Kathey Mattea.
Principally recorded at Masterlink Studios, Nashville, Tennessee from May-December, 1997. Includes liner notes by Chris Skinker.
CLINCH MOUNTAIN COUNTRY was nominated for a 1999 Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album.
Photographers: Chris Skinker; McGuire; Mary E. Yeomans.
Unknown Contributor Role: Marty Stuart.
Ralph Stanley and producer Bil VornDick assembled a small galaxy of musical stars to make CLINCH MOUNTAIN COUNTRY one of the biggest all-star bluegrass recording sessions ever. The list of performers reads as a Who's Who that stretches the gamut of American pop music, including George Jones, Bob Dylan, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, Dwight Yoakam, BR5-49, Gillian Welch and others.
This two-disc collection of bluegrass standards is lovingly performed by artists who have clearly been influenced--even defined--by Ralph Stanley's legacy. (Many consider Stanley to be the heart of soul of bluegrass music.) There are plenty of stellar performances on CLINCH MOUNTAIN COUNTRY. Patty Loveless turns in an excellent version of the chilling, traditional murder ballad, "Pretty Polly," while Porter Wagoner offers a splendid rendition of "The White Dove," a Carter Stanley song that Wagoner first sang as a child. But perhaps the most memorable tracks on this excellent document of a bluegrass legend are "Thy Burdens Are Greater Than Mine" and "My Deceitful Heart," where Stanley and his son, Ralph Stanley II, share vocals.
