Like Grandfather, Like Grandson

When Nathan Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys hit the Sellersville Theater on Friday, the show will be more than a bluegrass concert with sacred songs on the side.

Group founder Ralph Stanley is an institution. The Virginia-born clawhammer-banjo-playing and singing cofounder of the Stanley Brothers has crafted bluegrass mountain music and a gospel repertoire that's inspirational whether you're Lord-loving or not. He's also a hit maker, with his songs for the Coen brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? sound track and Stanley's newly Grammy-nominated Ralph Stanley & Friends: Man of Constant Sorrow.

The 89-year-old won't be on the Sellersville stage this time around, however; he's been temporarily sidelined by a medical procedure. He'll be ably represented by the only person who could do it - his 23-year-old grandson, Nathan.

"I'm very sorry I will not be able to make the show Friday, but I know Nathan will put on a fantastic concert," Stanley said during an interview from his Virginia home. "I urge all our fans to go see the future of my legacy."

The good doctor also spoke about his roots in the church ("I love to sing the old hymns, my favorite type of songs") and recording Man of Constant Sorrow with duet partners such as Robert Plant and Elvis Costello ("Plant was different in his own way, but very good").

He talked warmly about the love and closeness of his family, too. He learned the old clawhammer style of banjo picking from his mother. "She was a great picker, and bought me my first banjo. I believe it cost $5."

Stanley praised his late brother, Carter, with whom he formed the outfit in 1946, as being the talkative one of the two. "I was always shy and mostly stood in the background," he said. "We would travel those roads in a car and he would write songs and we would constantly be thinking about ways to improve our sound. He was a good brother, and I miss him a lot."

When the subject turns to the Stanley brand - bluegrass - the doctor notes something unusual. "I never have called my music bluegrass," he said. "I've always said, 'I sing and play the ole-time mountain-style music, what they call bluegrass.' I just have a unique sound that nobody else in the business has got."

The only other person who can lay claim to the good doctor's angelic voice (craggy with age but still high-heavenly), instrumental prowess, and business savvy in releasing albums and booking tours is Nathan. This is his first time on a Clinch Mountain Boys tour without his grandfather.

Nathan Stanley speaks softly and carries a big responsibility, one he's been ready for practically since leaving the crib.

He's been playing with Ralph since age 2, when he manned the spoons. "I can't remember as far back as the cradle, but I have lived with my papaw my whole life," Nathan Stanley said. "In one room, I'd be watching Barney - the old purple dinosaur show - and [in] the other there'd be my grandfather singing, playing the banjo, and rehearsing."

Music was everywhere all the time for Nathan. Not just the banjo he picked up or the melodic vocal style he shares with his grandfather, but the business style that finds the family in control of its own destiny via the Stanley Agency.

"I wanted to do everything with my papaw. Wherever he was, I wanted to be. He used to call me his shadow. At 7:30 in the morning when he went to the farmhouse, I'd farm with him. On stage, if he took a step forward, I'd take a step forward. If he stepped back, I stepped back. Same with the business end - how to make things go. Ralph's a shrewd businessman. Thanks to the good Lord, I have a bit of that in me, too."

Nathan Stanley, who resembles a young Elvis Presley, has gone his own way, too. His first solo album, Sandy Ridge, was released when he was 11. But he didn't feel a need to rebel as a teen against his grandfather or his sound; Ralph's music was his music.

"I knew early on what I wanted to do," said Nathan, who recently released the solo album Every Mile. "My solo music also has traditional country flair and gospel influence; it's hand in hand with bluegrass."

Asked whether he's a big fan of bro-country or the slick mix of country and rock, the younger Stanley was quietly diplomatic. "There's room for all of it. I wouldn't call it country. I'm young but got an old soul. To me, country is George Jones and Dolly Parton, but I love Brad Paisley and Josh Turner."

Along with duties as Ralph's shadow and now the ensemble's front man, Nathan hosts his own Christian television program Saturday nights on the Living Faith network. That dovetails nicely with the family's concept of bluegrass and Bible-based song being forever united.

Nathan believes the music's singular beauty and the purity of its message capture listeners regardless of their beliefs. "I don't give myself credit," he said. "At the right time and place, the good Lord walks in mysterious ways."

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Nathan Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys

8 p.m. Friday at the Sellersville Theater, 24 W. Temple Ave., Sellersville.
Tickets: $25-$40. Information: 215-257-5808 or www.st94.com.

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