Curly Ray Cline was one of the best fiddlers in bluegrass, gaining acclaim as a member of two legendary bands,
the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers and
Ralph Stanley's Clinch Mountain Boys. He also recorded many instrumental albums featuring his virtuoso fiddling and novelty vocals.
Cline was born in an isolated community in southern West Virginia. As a youth, he was inspired by
Fiddlin' Arthur Smith from the Grand Ole Opry. He began his professional career at age 15 when he and brother-in-law/cousin Ezra Cline founded
the Lonesome Pine Fiddlers in 1938 and played on the radio in nearby Bluefield. He and his talented brother Charlie were also playing with the Sunny Mountain Boys. Occasionally,
Cline did studio work for such musicians as Jimmy Martin and
Bobby Osborne,
Rex and Eleanor Parker, and Hobo Jack Atkins.
In 1963, he left
the Fiddlers for
the Stanley Brothers. Following the death of Carter Stanley,
Cline became
Ralph Stanley's only fiddle player and played on every succeeding
Stanley album. On his solo instrumental albums,
Cline combined his own vocal sound effects, including sounds of barking hounds and braying mules, with traditional bluegrass songs, finally singing in earnest beginning in 1972. He penned many of his vocal numbers, humorous ditties focusing on family members or himself. He continued to write and perform through the early '80s until he retired in 1993. ~ Sandra Brennan