“Don’t Step Over an Old Love” is a sentimental country song that the Stanley Brothers recorded for King Records in September 1963. The piece is credited to songwriter Fred Stryker, and it was originally titled “Don’t Step Over an Old Friend” when copyrighted that August.
The change from “friend” to “love” came at the suggestion of King Records owner Syd Nathan. Ralph Stanley later recounted the moment in album liner notes: Nathan judged that “friend” would not sell and told the brothers to put “love” in its place. King issued the result in 1964, backed with “I’m Bound to Ride.”
The recording features Carter Stanley on lead vocal and guitar and Ralph Stanley’s tenor harmony and banjo, with the spare, bluesy lead guitar of George Shuffler — a hallmark of the Stanley Brothers’ King-era sound. The lyric’s plea not to brush past a faded romance sits squarely within the brothers’ deep catalog of mournful, close-harmony ballads.
