Staring Back

Sometimes, you just shake your head over how good a song is. This is one of those songs.

The recorded version (from Stanley’s wonderful, award-winning double CD, “Saturday Night and Sunday Morning”) is slower, with the lilting rhythm of half-spoken, half-sung children’s taunts. This version -- from the must-see bluegrass documentary, Gather At the River -- is faster than any of those speeding bullets, suggesting that maybe the family ran away from the hate to greener pastures.

Then again, maybe they just learned to stare right back at the bigots who so scornfully referred to them as “Mountain Folks”.

A Soulful Take On A Difficult Melody

This must surely be one of the most difficult melody lines that Dr. Ralph ever came up with.

Keith Whitley sang it memorably and brilliantly but, what Sammy Adkins lacks in technique, he more than makes up for in soul.

It doesn’t hurt that Dr. Ralph is singing his guts out, too. It’s almost as though he’s more inspired by young Sammy.

This is “Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone”.

Despite the album title, you can tell by the picture on the cover that Ralph II was still too young to sound like this. The lead vocalist is in fact Sammy Adkins.

That said, this song, written by Dr. Ralph with Earl Sykes, is nothing less than a love letter from a son to a father. As touching as it is, it’s a wonder this song never became a regular feature of Dr. Ralph’s sets. For that matter, it would have been a perfect choice for Hazel Dickens to cover.

Anyway, this is “Dirty Black Coal”.