Stanley Brothers instruments now at Hall of Fame

The Stanley Brothers are one of legendary bluegrass bands enshrined in the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum.

Their mountain sound has influenced generations of musicians.

And Saturday during Homecoming Weekend at the Hall of Fame, the museum will unveil a new exhibit featuring the 1941 Martin D-29 guitar played by Carter Stanley in the late 1940s and the 1929 Gibson banjo played by Ralph Stanley.

Carly Smith, the museum’s curator, said the instruments were owned by James Alan Shelton, road manager and lead guitar player for the Clinch Mountain Boys, the Stanley Brothers’ band.

He died in 2014 at age 53.

His wife, Greta Shelton, is a friend of Joe Mullins, who will be performing at Homecoming Weekend.

Smith said he helped the museum get in touch with Shelton and work out a two-year — and possibly three-year — loan of the instruments.

She said the guitar originally belonged to Carter Stanley’s brother-in-law, Roy Sykes, who fronted The Blue Ridge Mountain Boys.

When Carter Stanley got out of the Army in 1946, he joined the band and played the guitar.

When Ralph returned from the Army later that year, he briefly joined the band before he and his brother formed their own band.

Smith said Greta Shelton will be in Owensboro on Saturday for the unveiling.

Doyle Lawson and Paul Williams, who are performing at the Homecoming will join Shelton, Smith said.

It will be a pop-up exhibit near the current Stanley Brothers exhibit in the museum, she said.

Tickets are $35 for one night of the Homecoming or $65 for both nights.

Carter Stanley’s 100th birthday would have been Aug. 27, 2025. And Ralph Stanley’s would have been on Feb. 15, 2027.

”We’re hoping to keep the instruments through then,” Smith said.

Carter Stanley died on Dec. 1, 1966, from cirrhosis at age 41.

Ralph Stanley led the band until his death in 2016 at age 89.

They were inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1992.