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Roy Lee Centers

Musician · b. November 8, 1944, Jackson, Kentucky — d. May 2, 1974, Breathitt County, Kentucky · guitar, lead vocals
Primary Instrument Guitar

Roy Lee Centers was Ralph Stanley's lead vocalist and guitarist from 1969 to 1974 — a Breathitt County, Kentucky singer whose voice bore a startling resemblance to Carter Stanley's and whose brutal murder at age 29 cut short one of the most promising vocal careers in traditional bluegrass. His recordings with the Clinch Mountain Boys are widely considered among the finest post-Carter Stanley work Ralph ever produced.

  • Born in Jackson, Kentucky, in Breathitt County — an area nicknamed “Bloody” Breathitt, known for bluegrass music and a tradition of family feuds and lawlessness.
  • Self-taught vocalist with an extraordinary natural gift: his voice, tone, and phrasing were nearly indistinguishable from Carter Stanley's.
  • Moved to the Dayton, Ohio area in the early 1960s and performed in east-side nightclubs with Jack Lynch, Fred Spencer, Junior and Liz McIntyre in a band called the Easterners, and later the Lee Brothers and the Miami Valley Boys. Recorded on the Jalyn label with Jack Lynch.
  • Ralph Stanley contacted him in November 1969 to replace Larry Sparks as lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist in the Clinch Mountain Boys. Centers soon moved his family back to Jackson.
  • Appeared on the landmark early-1970s Rebel recordings: A Man and His Music, Old Home Place, Cry from the Cross, Something Old, Something New, and others. His vocal partnership with Ralph closely recaptured the original Stanley Brothers sound — many listeners could not distinguish Centers-era Clinch Mountain Boys recordings from the pre-1966 Stanley Brothers.
  • Centers also occasionally played banjo (he was a Stanley-style banjo picker) and contributed banjo to the classic 1971 Keith Whitley/Ricky Skaggs LP Tribute to the Stanley Brothers.
  • The Clinch Mountain Boys completed a West Coast tour in late April 1974, including three nights at the Golden State Bluegrass Festival in San Rafael, California. Centers returned home to Jackson for a break.
  • Murdered in the early morning hours of May 2, 1974, by Billy Hurst in rural Breathitt County, after an evening of drinking. Centers's 12-year-old son Lennie witnessed the shooting from hiding. Hurst served only 34 days for the murder, claiming self-defense.
  • Ralph Stanley was devastated by the loss and paid tribute to Centers throughout the rest of his career. Keith Whitley, then a teenage member of the Clinch Mountain Boys, stepped up as lead vocalist the following week.
  • Centers's recordings with Ralph remain touchstones of traditional bluegrass vocal singing — a direct extension of the Carter Stanley tradition captured in his last productive years.
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