Stanley Still Has That Bluegrass Power

Bluegrass giant Ralph Stanley has earned a lot of titles in his 54-year career. At his performance Monday at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Orange, he added to that list “the Timex watch of bluegrass.”

Recounting how he slipped on ice recently at his Virginia home and fell on the same wrist that underwent carpal-tunnel surgery three weeks ago, the 72-year-old musical workhorse proved he can indeed take a licking and keep on picking.

True, Stanley’s signature banjo stylings remained atypically in the background during most of the two-hour-plus show, but his singing came through as powerfully as ever. His melismatic vocals course in and around melodies like an Olympic skier through the giant slalom. No wonder he prefers the term “mountain music” over bluegrass: What he sings is as humble as dirt, as strong and ageless as stone. His sawdust rasp is the voice of the timeless American past.

On tour with Stanley and his Clinch Mountain Boys on and off since the fall is singer-songwriter Jim Lauderdale, who teamed last year with Stanley for “I Feel Like Singing Today,” a Grammy nominee as best bluegrass album. Known more for the country hits he’s written for others than for his own frequently stirring recordings, the one-time member of L.A.’s roots-country contingent stepped up to the mike for a pair of songs in each of Stanley’s two sets--a gospel batch followed by a mostly secular group. He also tossed in a post-intermission solo set of tuneful, lyrically incisive numbers, highlighted by the title track from his own 1999 release, “Onward Through It All.”

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* Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, with Jim Lauderdale, play Sunday at McCabe’s, 3101 Pico Blvd., Santa Monica, 6:30 and 8:30 p.m. $18.50. (310) 828-4403. Lauderdale plays Monday at the Mint, 6010 W. Pico Blvd., 9 and 10 p.m. $5. (323) 954-9630.