Man Of Constant Sorrow is the name of a stage show on the life of the Stanley Brothers which was written by playwright Douglas Pote, who also wrote a recent stage production on the life of the Carter Family, Keep On The Sunny Side. The Stanley show was produced and ran this summer at The Barter Theater in Abingdon, VA.
The show mixes live musical performance with dialog and dramatic representations, and The Barter Theater’s web site describes it this way:
Man of Constant Sorrow reveals the struggle of Ralph and his older brother Carter, to find an audience for their music at a time when bluegrass and mountain music were being rapidly replaced by country and rock. Folk, traditional gospel and bluegrass were the music of their home in the hills of Southwestern Virginia. Record companies and radio station managers urged the brothers to get in on the rock n” roll craze led by Elvis Presley, but they refused to give up the music on which they were raised. They remained loyal to their family, their roots, and who they truly were.
The show is currently doing a road show tour through Virginia and Tennessee, and a review was published in the Roanoke Times on October 10.
UPDATE: We just heard from Debbie Addison, Marketing Director for Barter Theater, that Man Of Constant Sorrow will be touring on a much larger scale, with a professional touring company, in the latter part of 2006 and early 2007. Keep an eye on Bluegrass Today for more details as they are announced.
