There’s a curious void at the center of Lonesome Melodies. Strangely
enough for a biography, that void is the Stanley Brothers themselves.
The strength of Lonesome
Melodies is the facts themselves.
Johnson does a great job documenting session information, myriad band
lineup changes, the migratory nature of the early bluegrass music scene, and
other minutiae of the Stanleys career.
Unfortunately this is all delivered in a dry academic tone,
making the reading experience less than enjoyable. At times it is like reading a more fleshed
out version of the liner notes to a Bear Family box set.
More egregious, however, is the lack of insight into the
subjects of the book itself. If the
purpose of the book is to function as anything more than a (very expensive)
discography, then the reader should gain a greater understanding of the Stanley
Brothers. Other than reaffirming the impression
of Ralph Stanley as “tight lipped”, I can’t say that I have any additional
insight into Ralph or Carter as men.
There were numerous opportunities to examine their character
through anecdotal evidence, yet those incidents were slighted and quickly moved
away from. For example, in the early
days of the band, the Stanley Brothers apparently aggressively stole material
from other more successful acts (most notably Bill Monroe). This caused serious rifts with other
musicians. Yet Johnson refuses to
examine this behavior. The facts are
presented, and nothing more. What were
the other musicians’ feelings about this?
How did they see the Stanley Brothers in light of this behavior? Why did they do it? And how and why were these rifts eventually healed?
Making this facts without interpretation approach worse is
Johnson’s tone. He writes in a dry academic
style, which while useful in making the details clear also makes Lonesome
Melodies a long slog of a read. This is
not a book that will captivate readers not already fascinated with the music of
the Stanley Brothers.
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