Stuart's Opera House welcomes back Ralph Stanley this Friday at 8 p.m.

Stanley formed the Stanley Brothers, who made a series of watershed recordings for Columbia Records from 1949 until 1952. Now 75 years old, Stanley has been performing professionally since he and his older brother, Carter, formed their first group in their native southwestern Virginia in 1946. Between that date and 1966, when Carter died, the Stanley Brothers and the Clinch Mountain Boys became the most celebrated bluegrass groups in the world, according to a press release, ultimately rivaling in popularity such titans as Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, Jim & Jesse and the Osborne Brothers.

In 2002, Stanley won Grammies for Best Country Male Vocalist Performance (beating out Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Tim McGraw, Lyle Lovett and Ryan Adams) and Album of the Year (for his part in the "O Brother" collection). In January, 2000, Stanley became the first artist to be inducted into the historic Grand Ole Opry in the new millennium.

He holds the Living Legend award from the Library of Congress and was the first recipient of the Traditional American Music award from the National Endowment for the Humanities. One of his proudest achievements is the honorary doctorate in music Lincoln Memorial University conferred on him in 1976. In addition to all these honors, Stanley was chosen to be the closing act for the 2002 Down From The Mountain Tour, a sold-out series of concerts inspired by the success of the "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" album.

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