Larry
Staniey was born August 1, 1944 in Kalamazoo,
Michigan. At
age 2 his family returned to Tyler,
Texas. Larry can remember from as
early as age 5 being interested in
singing and playing guitar.
The first major artist to influence
him was Elvis. He was given his first
guitar on his 12th birthday. At 15,
Larry was picking and singing on shows
with many people such as Hank Williams
Jr. who was singing with Hank Williams,
Sr.'s band, The Cheating Hearts, Johnny
Cash, George Jones, and the late and
great Johnny Horton and Jim Reeves.
He recorded his first record at Brian's
Recording Studio in Tyler, Texas
when he was a senior in high
school. The title of this first
record was "Larry's
Tune'.
Larry studied music in college and
played string bass in the East Texas
Symphony Orchestra. Larry did
a tour with Ray Price and big band
leader Les Elgart.
Starting in the mid 60's, Larry had
his own band, The Larry Stanley Band,
which played in Texas, Louisiana,
and Arkansas. His band played all
kinds of music ranging from jazz,
country, pop, rock, blues, and Latin
and appeared with such artists as
Mitch Miller, Bob Crosby, The Lettermen,
Ray Charles, Jimmy Reed, Mo Bandy,
Joe Stampley, Conway Twitty, and
John Phillips from the 60's group
The Mamas & The
Papas.
In the early 80's, Larry worked at
Rosewood Recording Studio in Nacogdoches,
Texas where he played and sang radio
commercials. This led to Larry playing
guitar on an album with Willie Nelson
and Johnny Bush, seven albums with
Johnny Gimble, and an instrumental
album with Hank Williams, Sr.'s band
The Cheating Hearts. He was also
involved with co-producing an album
with Leon Rausch and the original
Bob Wills Texas Playboys.
In 1988, Larry dissolved his band
and helped form The Lone Star Ramblers,
a country comedy act consisting of
Larry, his brother David Stanley,
and Ken "Nardo" Murray. They
have entertained numerous times at
South Fork Ranch where the TV show "Dallas" was
filmed and are also featured at the
State Fair of Texas. The Ramblers have
been a regular act at Dollywood, Dolly
Parton's theme park in Tennessee. They
have recorded ten albums and he was
also involved in the production of
videos for the group. They have been
the opening act for Lee Greenwood,
Ray Stevens, Ricky Skaggs, Mel Tillis,
Tammy Wynette, Sawyer Brown, Earl Thomas
Conley, Ronnie Milsap, Nitty Gritty
Dirt Band, and Roy Clark.
Besides being an accomplished guitarist,
Larry is a versatile entertainer
who can liven up an audience with
a rowdy honky-tonk number or move
them with the feeling he puts in
a love song. He infects crowds with
his high energy guitar playing and
oflen involves them in his peformances
with sing-alongs, hand clapping,
and astonishing the audience by playing
his guitar above his head or picking
it with his teeth, never missing
a beat and never hitting a wrong
note.
When at home in Tyler, Larry can
also be found writing music, giving
private lessons, directing the church
choir and operating a recording business. Larry
believes that after all this time
in the music business, he can play
guitar a little better, but it seems
he just can't shake that leg quite
as fast!!
