Distant Land to Roam

About the Artist
A native of the Sierra Nevada foothills of northern California, Keith is a multi-instrumental performing and recording artist, vocalist, composer, and bandleader. Born into a musical family, he was first introduced to string band music by his father, and quickly developed on the guitar and five string banjo. Playing his first professional engagement in 1969, he soon hooked up with local legends Vern Williams & Ray Park, performing with them, and with their sons Del & Larry. In 1974, he joined forces with Vern & Del to form the Vern Williams Band, which quickly became the most respected traditional bluegrass band in northern California. Recording their Bluegrass From The Gold Country album for Rounder in 1980 , and two subsequent albums for Arhoolie with the legendary Rose Maddox, Keith participated in what has since proved to be a milestone in west coast country music. During this time, he moved to the San Francisco -bay area, where he recorded two albums with Frank Wakefield, and later joined with bay area bluegrass icons High Country, 'and the Grant Street String Band. Eager to become a full-time performer, Keith moved to Washington D.C. in 1986 to join the Country Gentlemen, with whom he recorded the Rebel album, Return Engagement. Several years later, he relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, and began working in the Ricky Skaggs Band on vocals, guitar, mandolin, banjo, and fiddle. During his five years with the band, Keith developed a reputation as a fine studio vocalist, which eventually he would leave the band to pursue full time in 1996. Keith has continued to perform live engagements, first with Kathy Kallick and the Little Big Band, and later as a member of Lonesome Standard Time, with whom he recorded the Lonesome As It Gets album for Sugar Hill. In 1998, he joined forces with Robert Gateley, performing in and around the Nashville area, and in 1999 recorded his first solo album entitled Distant Land To Roam, for Copper Creek Records. Today, Keith Little fronts one of the finest bands in the country, whose members include: David Talbot on banjo, Mike Compton on mandolin, Robert Bowlin on fiddle, along with partner and string bassist Robert Gateley.

Product Description
This debut solo album by veteran studio performer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Keith Little has the combination of expert playing and heartfelt singing that has made him a featured part of many of today’s best bluegrass recordings.

Keith was raised in Northern California, and is an alumni of many national groups including the Country Gentlemen and Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder. He forges his own sound on this album with a fine assortment of carefully chosen pieces including three self-penned originals, new songs from Claire Lynch and Robert Gateley, along with obscure titles associated with the Carter Family, Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, and the Stanley Brothers.

Also carefully chosen are the supporting musicians which include Robert Bowlin on fiddle, mandolinist Mike Compton, Dennis Crouch on string bass, and banjo wizard Ronnie Stewart, with Claire Lynch and Robert Gateley adding vocal harmony parts.

Finely crafted and assembled, this album is rooted in Keith’s lifelong love of traditional music, and springs from these roots in a style that is easily recognized as being both genuine and original. “Distant Land To Roam” shines as a soulful example of artistically unique, and tasteful bluegrass music.

Tracks:

God Gave Noah The Rainbow Sign
Little Moses
Worried Man Blues
Longing For Home
Motherless Children
Storms Are On The Ocean
Keep On The Firing Line
Engine 143
I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes
Poor Orphan Child
On A Hill Lone And Grey
Waves On The Sea
Distant Land To Roam

Amazon.com

Given the direct line of progression between the songs of the Carter Family and the mountain music of the Stanley Brothers, it's surprising that it's taken the venerable Ralph Stanley more than a hundred albums before releasing one devoted solely to the Carters. The wait was worth it, for the rough-hewn soulfulness of Stanley's vocals and the unvarnished production truly conjure a distant land--a musical expanse far removed from the present--of seminal songs suffused with faith and a strong sense of mortality. From train songs ("Engine 143") to seafaring songs ("Waves on the Sea") to prisoner songs (the oft-recorded "Worried Man Blues"), Stanley takes material written by A.P. Carter or popularized by the Carter Family and plumbs the emotional depths. Many of these songs are spirituals, with guest autoharp by Mike Seeger and call-and-response harmonies on the opening "God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign," while the uptempo "Keep on the Firing Line" suggests a soldier-like commitment to Christ and the harmony-laden hymn "On a Hill Lone and Grey" describes the Crucifixion. The most familiar song here, "Motherless Children," is also the most powerful, with Stanley's a cappella first verse joined by the mournful strains of a funereal fiddle for the rest of the song. With "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes," the album shows how the Carter Family inspired what we've since called country music. --Don McLeese

More from Ralph Stanley and the Carter Family

The Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers
The Stanley Brothers
The Complete Mercury Recordings
The Stanley Brothers
Clinch Mountain Country
Ralph Stanley & Friends

Can the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music's First Family
The Carter Family
The Carter Family: 1927-1934
The Carter Family
The Carter Family, Vol. 2: 1935-1941
The Carter Family

Customer Reviews:

A Distant Land To Roam.......2007-01-18

Good song selection
Clear vocals
Crisp instrument playing
I like Ralph Stanley

Incomparable.......2006-11-21

Ralph Stanley may have the most distinctive and expressive voice in American music. Certainly few - if any - can convey the gravity and depth that his voice can. To listen to Ralph Stanley is to be reminded of what really matters in life. It is a voice without artifice or pretension, and nowhere does it sound more compelling than in this moving gem. I have been unable to stop playing it in the month or so I've owned it, and each time it transports me to a place as simple and enduring as the mountains of southwestern Virginia.

music.......2006-11-05

Songs of the Carter Family may be lost except for people like Ralph Stanley. Stanley's voice is fantastic for blue grass folks. My only regret is that Dr Stanley is getting old because he keeps a lot of the old music alive.

Stirring, Memorable but Acoustically Lacking.......2006-09-16

I echo all the favorable comments made by other reviewers. Ralph Stanley singing these songs, born of the soil, sounds like what an Old Testament prophet might sound like. I loved in particular "Little Moses."

What left me perplexed was the sound quality. I'm wondering if T. Bone Burnett wanted a mono-like sound reminiscent of the thirties and forties a la the era of the Carter Family. The soundstage is compressed and sounds like all the instruments are massed in the center. There's little imaging, air or separation between guitars, autoharp, banjo, etc. and Ralph, of course, is dead center. In addition, there's a haze or veil over the recording. Again, I'm wondering if this was intended to mimic those bygone days.

It doesn't get better than this.......2006-08-15

As a Stanley fan, I was a bit put off by the "Ralph Stanley" album that followed the O Brother craze. Too sparse, too morose, no bluegrass, whatever. But whether you are a longtime Stanleys fan, a Carter Family fan, or an "O Brother" fan, THIS album hits the sweet spot. Like someone else said, spreading Dr Ralph's genius on top of the Carters' genius - how could it go wrong in the hands of these master craftsmen? Each song has Ralph's soul and perfectly captures the old rough hewn Carter spirit too.

Average customer rating:

Distant Land to Roam
Keith Little
Manufacturer: Copper Creek
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Country | Styles | Music

General | Bluegrass | Country | Styles | Music

General | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Bluegrass | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Country Folk | Country | Indie Music | Stores | Music
ASIN: B000056WX2
Release Date: 2001-02-13

Tracks:

Weary Ol Highway
Down Among The Budded Roses
Please Come Back Little Pal
Lonesome Road To Travel
Nightingale
Where Dear Friends Will Never Part
Distant Land To Roam
Carolina Mountain Home
Before The Prairie Met The Plow
Been All Around This World
Home On The Highway
Chief Sitting Bull

Album Description

This debut solo album by veteran studio performer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Keith Little has the combination of expert playing and heartfelt singing that has made him a featured part of many of today's best bluegrass recordings.

Keith was raised in Northern California, and is an alumni of many national groups including the Country Gentlemen and Ricky Skaggs' Kentucky Thunder. He forges his own sound on this album with a fine assortment of carefully chosen pieces including three self-penned originals, new songs from Claire Lynch and Robert Gateley, along with obscure titles associated with the Carter Family, Roy Acuff, Bill Monroe, and the Stanley Brothers.

Finely crafted and assembled, this album is rooted in Keith's lifelong love of traditional music, and springs from these roots in a style that is easily recognized as being both genuine and original. “Distant Land To Roam” shines as a soulful example of artistically unique, and tasteful bluegrass music.

Music Album:

Music Album

The Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers The Stanley Brothers	The Complete Mercury Recordings The Stanley Brothers	Clinch Mountain Country Ralph Stanley & Friends
Can the Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music's First Family The Carter Family	The Carter Family: 1927-1934 The Carter Family	The Carter Family, Vol. 2: 1935-1941 The Carter Family