Red Allen and the Kentuckians
If That’s the Way You Feel
Red Allen and the Kentuckians (1967) Bluegrass Discography
“If That’s the Way You Feel” was recorded by the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys in the late 1950s, during the brothers’ productive Mercury-to-King transitional period. The credit is generally given to Carter Stanley, in keeping with the bulk of the brothers’ original output of the period.
The lyric is a confrontation-and-acceptance piece: the narrator’s partner has finally said something the relationship can’t survive, and the singer responds by accepting the verdict and walking away. Carter’s lead carries the lyric’s bitter-but-controlled tone; Ralph’s tenor adds the higher edge of indignation in the chorus.
The song belongs to the deep mid-period Stanley catalogue alongside “I’m Lost and I’ll Never Find the Way” and a long string of similar Carter-written heartbreak texts — pieces with limited dramatic range but tight craftsmanship. It works as a moderate-tempo singer’s piece in G or A, comfortable as a working call in any set that leans toward the harder-traditional Stanley register.
