Ralph Stanley was the last man standing, carrying the torch for the original pioneers of bluegrass music ~ alone since the

death of Earl Scruggs in the spring of 2012.  On June 23, 2016,

"Dr. Ralph," as he was known, died at his home in the same mountains of southwestern Virginia where he was born in February 1927. Ralph Stanley was 89 years old.

                                                                                                                            IBMA Press Release 6/23/16