Notes & Queries – March 2026

Q: Today on Bluegrass Jamboree, I heard the Stanley Brothers’ OLD version “put your head on my shoulder.” It sounded like Ralph was doing some “Stringbean 2-finger” picking, and it was “crude” in a way, but still great. Was this 1946 or ‘47? Nothing much on the “net” on this. I still get goose bumps when Ralph cuts loose. I’m 84 and have been listening to country music since I was five years old. I used to listen to Don Larkin on the Home Town Frolic, 970 AM in Newark, New Jersey. Roger Freiday. A: It sounds like the song you’re talking about is “The Little Glass of Wine,” which contains the line “She laid her head over on his shoulder.” Throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Stanley Brothers recorded this song on three separate occasions. The first time was in early 1948 for Rich-R-Tone Records. Ralph Stanley had yet to perfect the three-finger style of playing and was, indeed, using a rudimentary two-finger style. Many people have likene