For some 20 years, bluegrass guitarist George Shuffler (1925-2014) was a fixture in the sound of the Stanley Brothers, beloved and influential for the cross-picking country-guitar style he leant to that landmark group (in lean times, the band consisted only of Ralph and Carter Stanley, accompanied by George). Shufflers legacy was inherited, in part, by James Allen Shelton (1960-2014), who patterned his own style after Shufflers recordings with the Stanleys. From 1994 to 2014, Shelton realized his boyhood dream, serving as lead guitarist for Ralph Stanleys Clinch Mountain Boys; he won a Grammy, managed much of Stanleys late career, and recorded 10 solo albums of his own. Both of these men died in 2014, Shuffler at 88 and Shelton, heartbreakingly, at 54, just after his diagnosis with multiple stage 4 cancers. Though these two men did, thankfully, record an album together (The Legend Continues, from 2000), the instructional video posted below is the only clip I can find on Youtube of the two together. Well remember both of these bluegrass cross-picking guitar heroes--two fine instrumentalists and, by all accounts, gracious and giving souls--this Saturday on part two of The Lost Childs annual look back at the last years musical deceased. In addition to Shuffler and Shelton, well hear music by Arthur Guitar Smith, Joe Cocker and Bobby Keys, Pete Seeger, Phil Everly, Maya Angelou(!) and more--and well conclude with our roll call of the years dead. While we mourn the loss of the lives lost too soon, the show is most of all a celebration of the musical gifts given us by so many greats. Tune in 9-10 Central, Saturday morning, on Birmingham Mountain Radio, when the Saints Come Marching In.
Posted on: Fri, 09 Jan 2015 00:51:57 +0000
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