Curly ray cline biography of martin luther

Cline was born in Mingo County, West Virginia. He learned the basics from his father, but other than that he was self-taught.

Curly Ray was a friend of

He continued to perform with the Fiddlers intermittently through the early s. He played with them on a part-time basis until Carter Stanley"s death in When Ralph Stanley reconfigured the band in , Curly Ray signed on as his full-time fiddler. Curly Ray appears on every succeeding record until his retirement in He was succeeded by fellow West Virginian James Price.

Curly Ray"s fiddling blended in perfectly with Ralph Stanley"s music Curly"s playing was that of the old time bluegrass. Cline had a deep passion for old time music, as he did for bluegrass. Ralph Stanley felt the same way about his music The two became very good friends while touring together. Ralph Stanley said of Curly Ray, at Curly Ray"s funeral: "He plays the fiddle sort of the way I play the banjo, he plays it the way he feels lieutenant" While playing in Ralph Stanley"s Clinch Mountain Boys, Curly Ray released a few solo, mostly instrumental, records.

On these albums, Cline combined his own vocal sound effects, including sounds of barking hounds and braying mules, with traditional bluegrass songs. He did hardly any solo singing until about , when he began to sing comedy numbers to add variety to Ralph"s shows. Back to Profile. Photos Works.