Biography
Roba Stanley earned the affectionate tag “the first country sweetheart” from a modest batch of sides cut across 1924 and the following year; those nine performances later resurfaced on assorted anthologies. Because they document the earliest woman to record as a country soloist, the tracks have rightly drawn sustained interest. Three years before the Carter Family’s familiar rendition, Stanley’s treatment of the standard “Single Life” appeared, so distinct in its details that it stands essentially as a separate composition. The lyric’s assertive stance struck some ears as so forthrightly feminist that listeners occasionally questioned whether the genre had slipped backward by the 1960s, the era of “Stand By Your Man.”
During childhood she already accompanied her family band on guitar, occasionally sharing the stage with the celebrated old-time leader Gid Tanner, another native of the Dacula, GA, vicinity. By her early teens her instrumental command was remarkable; when the records were made she was announced as sixteen, an age that may have been adjusted to satisfy child-labor regulations. Later biographical digging established her actual birth year as 1910, confirming she was only fourteen while cutting the blues-tinged “All Night Long,” unrelated to the later Lionel Richie disco success. Her performance of “Mister Chicken” occupies a respected place among traditional pieces devoted to poultry. She eventually settled in Gaineseville, FL, largely setting music aside yet remaining accessible to writers from outlets such as Old Time Music.
During childhood she already accompanied her family band on guitar, occasionally sharing the stage with the celebrated old-time leader Gid Tanner, another native of the Dacula, GA, vicinity. By her early teens her instrumental command was remarkable; when the records were made she was announced as sixteen, an age that may have been adjusted to satisfy child-labor regulations. Later biographical digging established her actual birth year as 1910, confirming she was only fourteen while cutting the blues-tinged “All Night Long,” unrelated to the later Lionel Richie disco success. Her performance of “Mister Chicken” occupies a respected place among traditional pieces devoted to poultry. She eventually settled in Gaineseville, FL, largely setting music aside yet remaining accessible to writers from outlets such as Old Time Music.