NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Ralph Stanley — a patriarch of Appalachian music, who, with his brother, Carter, helped expand and popularize the genre that became known as bluegrass — has died at age 89.

Stanley died Thursday at his home in Sandy Ridge, Va., because of difficulties from skin cancer, publicist Kirt Webster said.

Stanley was born and raised in Big Spraddle, Va., a land of coal mines and deep forests where he and his brother formed the Stanley Brothers and their Clinch Mountain Boys in 1946. He is survived by his wife of 47 years, Jimmie Stanley. He had three children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.