Ralph Stanley - Honors, Awards, Distinctions

Honors, Awards, Distinctions

• He's known in the world of bluegrass music by the popular title, "Dr. Ralph Stanley" after being awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music from Lincoln Memorial University in Harrogate, Tennessee, in 1976.
• He was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor in 1992 and in 2000.
• He became the first person to be inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in the third millennium.
• His work was featured in the 2000 film O Brother, Where Art Thou?, in which he sings the Appalachian dirge "O Death."
  • That song won him a 2002 Grammy Award in the category of Best Male Country Vocal Performance.
• The Virginia Press Association made him their Distinguished Virginian of the Year in 2004.
• The Ralph Stanley Museum and Traditional Mountain Music Center opened in Clintwood, Virginia in 2004.
• He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2006, the nation's highest honor for artistic excellence.
• The Virginia legislature designated him the Outstanding Virginian of 2008.
• He was awarded the Key to the City of Garner, North Carolina on November 15, 2008
• He was named a Library of Congress Living Legend in April 2000