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02 October 2008

Dr. Ralph Stanley, bluegrass legend, cuts a radio ad for Barack Obama. →[More:]
Transcript:

Howdy, friends. This is Ralph Stanley, and I think I know a little something about the families around here. And after the last 8 years, I know we all need a change. And nobody's looking for a handout, but I think we could use a leader that's on our side. And I believe that leader is Barack Obama.

Barack'll cut taxes for everyday folks -- not big business -- so you'll have a little more money in your pocket at the end of the year. He understands that our kids shouldn't have to leave our communities to find work. That's why Barack will make it easier to send your children to college and help create 5 million new jobs by investing right here at home.

I also know Barack is a good man. A father and devoted husband, he values personal responsibility and family first.

So please join me, Ralph Stanley, in supporting a true friend of the people who live right here in southwest Virginia. Barack Obama is the change we need.

The ad is airing throughout southern Virginia, where Stanley has lived all his life.

Ralph Stanley and his Clinch Mountain Boys have been well-known and even more well-loved by country music audiences for more than 50 years. His work reached a mass audience in the past decade with its inclusion in O Brother, Where Art Thou?, for which he won a Grammy for his haunting version of O Death.

post by: scody at: 14:24 | 7 comments

Awesome. I saw him last summer at a free outdoor event in Brooklyn. He was like a damn rock star, people young and old were going crazy. It was an amazing show. Afterwards he stood under his tent, shaking hands and giving out autographs. You can tell just by looking at him that he's an extremely kind, gentle and thoughtful soul. Obama's smart to associate himself with him. Just what Virginia needs.

posted by Hellbient 02 October | 15:07

Totally awesome.

posted by Specklet 02 October | 15:58

I love Ralph Stanley, and I'll just blame this on the Coen Brothers. ;-)

posted by bunnyfire 02 October | 17:56

Ralph Stanley's politics have been on the liberal side since well before those big-city elitist Hollywood types ever got ahold of him. Guess there really are a variety of opinions, political and otherwise, in America's small towns after all.

posted by scody 02 October | 18:27

I knew there was a reason I liked Ralph.

posted by middleclasstool 02 October | 19:14

I am SWOONING over this!

Thank you, scody!

posted by evilcupcakes 02 October | 21:43

Oh yes.

Man, I was crumpled up on the couch last night before the debates from a vicious food poisoning episode, and I heard his endorsement.

It was like coming up out of a fever and landing in a beautiful, gorgeous Alternate America, where Virginia votes Democratic and all my bluegrass heroes are like Bruce Springsteen.

Just hearing Ralph Stanley say something like "he's just want we need in Virginye" was like hearing a full-spread angelic choir.

Now, if only Doyle Lawson would do a cover of Yes, We Can....

posted by Lipstick Thespian 03 October | 09:53

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