Carter Stanley

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Carter Stanley (left) performing with his brother Ralph.

Carter Stanley (Born August 17, 1925 - Died December 1, 1966) was a bluegrass music lead singer, songwriter, and rhythm guitar player. He formed the Stanley Brothers together with his brother Ralph. The Stanley Brothers are generally acknowledged as the first band after Bill Monroe & the Blue Grass Boys to play in the bluegrass genre. According to some historians, their recording of "Molly and Tenbrooks" (aka "The Racehorse Song") marked the beginning of bluegrass as a genre.

Stanley was born in Big Spraddle Creek, Virginia, part of Dickenson County. The son of Lucy and Lee Stanley, Carter grew up in rural southwestern Virginia. Along with his brother Ralph Stanley, he formed The Stanley Brothers, perhaps the most revered brother act in bluegrass. Carter played guitar and sang lead while Ralph played banjo and sang with a strong, high tenor voice. Their harmonies are much admired, and many consider Carter Stanley to be one of the greatest singers in the history of country music. Carter also wrote many of their songs, several of which have become standards of the bluegrass genre, and had a particular knack for deceptively simple lyrics that portrayed strong emotion.

The Stanleys stayed together as one of the last great brother acts until the end, when Carter coughed up blood during a performance at a school auditorium in Hazel Green, Kentucky. Six weeks later, on December 1, 1966, he was dead of cirrhosis of the liver at 41, after years of chronic alcoholism and was buried, as per his final wish, on Smith Ridge, near Coeburn, Virginia.

In 1992 he was posthumously inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor.

Carter's daughter Jeanie Stanley is also a professional singer. Her debut album was titled "Baby Girl: A Tribute to My Father, Carter Stanley" on CMH Records.