A Life of Sorrow

Performed by award winning actor and musician Gary Reid, A Life Of Sorrow-The Life and Times of Carter Stanley is a one-man play with music about a mountain music legend. Along with his brother, famed Appalachian mountain banjoist Ralph Stanley, Carter Stanley helped lay the foundations for what is today known as bluegrass music.

The 70-minute performance touches on Stanley’s childhood days on the family farm, the respect he had for old-time musicians that he knew and their influence on him, his jealousies and insecurities, his admiration for Bill Monroe, and the struggles with alcohol that eventually cut short his life at the age of 41 in 1966.

This mesmerizing performance affords today’s audiences a chance to connect with a bluegrass treasure as “he” tells the story of his life in old-time mountain music.