Stanley entertained his family and his neighbors for years high up in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Boone, North Carolina. Later, his workshop and home became a favorite place for visitors from all over the United States, and he relented to do a limited amount of public performing.

Anyone that came in contact with this true "mountain man" was mesmerized by his love of music and his ability to take the listener back to the "old days" when the isolated Appalachian Mountains were shaping a monumental part of American culture.