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Larry Sparks stays with it
Bluegrass artist to perform at concert in Hughesville
Friday, March 12, 2010
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Bluegrass legend Larry Sparks has released more than 20 albums since 1970, when he founded The Lonesome Ramblers.
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For Larry Sparks, 2005's "40" was an album that could have capped a career that spans as many years.
On each track, Sparks, a self-described "stylist," sings bluegrass numbers the way he always has, but does so alongside numerous special guests — Alison Krauss, Vince Gill, Rhonda Vincent, Ralph Stanley, Ricky Skaggs.
Of Sparks' then-20 releases, none before it had garnered as much attention. Even still, Sparks is hardly ready to call it quits.
Since "40," the 62-year-old musician has released four more albums and continues taking gig requests as they come.
Not only that, he said he's close to finishing a new album for Rounder Records. (Sparks' relationship with Rounder was said to have ended with "40," and the four released since were with as many different labels.)
In 1967, Ralph Stanley hired Sparks to replace his brother, Carter Stanley, who had died the previous year. About two years later, though, Sparks departed Ralph Stanley and His Clinch Mountain Boys and formed his ongoing band, The Lonesome Ramblers.
Bluegrass has been Sparks' trade since he was 16, but he said retirement is not something he desires. In fact, it's not really a viable option: "You get out while the sun shines or you don't get it," he said.
On Sunday, Sparks will perform a mixture of songs that span his career and even take some requests at the American Legion in Hughesville.
Speaking on the phone from his home in Indiana, he talked about life after "40" and shared some older memories, too.
Q: Your last album was called "I Just Want to Thank You Lord," and it seems like gospel has defined your recent work. Why is that?
A: Being a Christian myself … I just want to thank the Lord for what he's done for me. I don't look at gospel as using it for financial gain or any fame, but to promote our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and our God. But, if it does well, and we hope it will, that would be great.
Q: Is there a reason at this stage of your career that you felt so compelled to express what you did on that album?
A: People need it. The world needs it. The people need to hear about it.
Q: You came up with the Lonesome Ramblers in the 1970s and '80s, playing really hardcore bluegrass, like you do today. But even well-recognized musicians back then had to grind really hard to make a living. Did you ever have to get a job outside of music?
A: When I went into music, I went into it to make it, and I knew it was going to be tough. I had some rough roads ahead of me, but you have to ride them roads out. If you have something you believe you have to offer, then you have to hang with it, because sometimes there is nobody that is going to believe it but you.
Q: What do you mean when you describe yourself as a stylist?
A: When I sing, there is no sound like me. When I express a song, nobody does it like I do. Nobody does it like Bill Monroe did. You know who I am. When I play the guitar, my rhythm, my lead, my voice, my sound, my feeling, my soul — you know who it is.
Q: Do you remember your audition with Ralph Stanley?
A: I sure do.
Q: Can you tell me about that?
A: I'll try. I'd worked with Carter and Ralph a little bit before Carter passed, part time for probably a couple years. I think Ralph was 38 when I met [them] and Carter was around 40. After Carter had passed away in December, Ralph came back out in February. I believe the date was Feb. 7, 1967, and he played a club in Ohio. … I got up with the house band, Roy Lee Centers, and I remember the two songs we sung. Want me to tell them to you?
Q: Sure.
A: Number one: "I Wonder How the Old Folks Are at Home." Number two: "Stone Walls and Steel Bars." I got off the stage and Ralph called me to his station wagon, a brand new one, a 1967 Pontiac wagon. That's where he talked to me a few minutes and asked me if I was interested in singing with him … so away I went. That's the way that got started. But he liked what I did, what I had to offer in my singing. I wasn't a seasoned singer. I was just coming in to lead singing at the time. I guess he heard something in me, but I never heard what it was.
Q: That must have been a period of rapid development for you.
A: It is with anybody, and after you develop, you develop and learn from there on out. And I'm still developing. … Every album I do I try to improve, not change — not change, change is not good — but I try to improve.
Q: You only played with Stanley for two short periods of time. Were you itching to form your own band?
A: Not really, but I think it was time to do it. And it was something, as I said earlier, it was meant to be.
Q: How did you come up with the name Lonesome Ramblers?
A: That's a good question. There were a lot of mountain boys, so I didn't want that. I didn't want to be a copy. … The Ramblers, to me, I thought was good, and the music is kind of lonesome sounding. All bluegrass is lonesome sounding: Monroe's music and the Stanley brothers and all these people; it all has a lonesome sound. But it's a good lonesome, and it's a happy lonesome.
If you go
Jay Armsworthy and the Sons of the American Legion will present a bluegrass concert by Larry Sparks at 2 p.m. March 14 at the American Legion, 6625 Brandywine Road, Hughesville.
Doors will open at noon. Tickets are $15.
Call 301-737-3004.
