(CNN) Bluegrass music pioneer Ralph Stanley died Thursday at the age of 89, publicist Kirt Webster announced on Stanley's official website.

The "patriarch of Appalachian music who with his brother Carter helped expand and popularize the genre that became known as bluegrass, died Thursday from difficulties with skin cancer," Webster wrote.

Stanley was already famous in bluegrass and roots music circles when the 2000 hit movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" thrust him into the mainstream. He provided a haunting a cappella version of the dirge "O Death" and ended up winning a Grammy.

"'O Brother' has done wonders for me and anyone who plays this style," Stanley told CNN in 2001.

Stanley was born in Big Spraddle Creek, Virginia, in 1927 and grew up playing and listening to traditional mountain music, according to his biography on the International Bluegrass Music Museum website.

Our thoughts are w/ the Stanley family tonight as Dr. Ralph Stanley, one of the most influential artists of... https://t.co/QZxrxiQWY3 — BluegrassUnderground (@BluegrassUnderg) June 24, 2016

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