The Carter Family
In the Shadow of Clinch Mountain
Bear Family Records BCD 15865 LK (2000)

Wow! This is undisputably the best and most comprehensive gathering of recordings by the highly influential Carter Family ever assembled. The usually thorough Bear Family Records has completely outdone itself this time, assembling every recording ever made by the Carter Family from the archives of Victor, Decca, APS, Columbia, and Bluebird Records into a staggering 12-CD boxed set, encompassing some 287 songs collected between 1927-1941.

The influence of A.P., Maybelle, and Sara Carter can be found at the roots of almost every modern musical genre today. Those who have seen the recent film O Brother, Where Art Thou? experienced not only the Carter Family's actual music, but many of the other people who have been profoundly influenced by them, including Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Gillian Welch. It's fair to say that the music of the Carter Family, in combination with the blues, formed the very nucleus of rock 'n' roll, and the Carters' presence can be felt in everything from Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen to Led Zeppelin and the Grateful Dead. Certainly all modern bluegrass and country music owes a huge debt to their work and these particular historic recordings.

The box set is programmed in chronological order and grouped by specific recording session. In his handwritten introduction, Johnny Cash characterizes the family's first recorded session in Bristol, Tennessee, on August 1, 1927, as "The single most important event in the history of country music." Those first five tracks (and two more recorded the next day) are preserved here, a little scratchy, but this only adds to the antique feel of a piece of time captured and preserved. It's amazing that in those songs, "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow," "Little Log Cabin by the Sea," "The Poor Orphan Child," and the rest, all the elements are present that would characterize the Carter Family's music for most of its career. Sara, Maybelle, and A.P.'s modified shape-note singing, which formed the basis for the high and lonesome bluegrass sound we all think of today, and strong guitar accompaniment from Maybelle and A.P., are all there in those first recordings.

Their music preserved and added to a canon of Anglo-Celtic ballads, mountain songs, blues, hymns, and popular songs that sound as amazingly fresh today as when they were first recorded. And what songs there are: "Little Darling Pal of Mine," "River of Jordan," "The Grave on the Green Hill Side," "Diamonds in the Rough," "Wabash Cannonball," "When the Springtime Comes Again," "Lonesome Pine Special," and "Darling Nellie Across the Sea" are just a few of the highlights of the late 20s and early 30s recordings.

Disc three includes three wonderful tracks from 1931 that paired Jimmie Rodgers (the famous "blues yodeler") with Sara Carter on "Why There's a Tear in My Eye" and "The Wonderful City," as well as their famous, best-selling single (24,000 copies in 1931) called "Jimmie Rodgers Visits the Carter Family." Throughout the 30s, the Carter Family built a huge following through the comparatively new medium of wireless radio, coupled with a moderate amount of touring. It's fair to say that the Carters, in their own humble way, were the prototype for the modern rock star. Their output during this time included such classic tunes as "Tell Me That You Love Me," "See That My Grave is Kept Clean," "The Broken Hearted Lover," "Are You Tired of Me My Darling," "Can the Circle Be Unbroken," and "River of Jordan."

By 1940 the Carter Family had really hit its stride, and the recordings from this time period sound startlingly modern, probably because its national fame allowed it to record in the best studios of the time. Songs from this period include strong, confident renditions of "Black Jack David," "The Rambling Boy," "Dark and Stormy Weather," "In the Valley of Shenandoah," "Fifty Miles of Elbow Room," and "Lonesome Homesick Blues."

Also included are alternate versions of several songs found in archives during the 60s and 80s, presented after the main bulk of studio recordings. The 12th CD includes a few of these lost gems, featuring an autoharp-driven version of "Jesse James" and "I Was Born 4,000 Years Ago." There is also a great interview with Sara and Maybelle Carter from 1963 (conducted by Ed Kahn and Mike Seeger), as well as a half-hour interview with "Mother" Maybelle Carter recorded in 1973, in which she talks about everything from autoharps and fingerpicking to tales of her first Grand Ole Opry appearance and the early days of radio. There's also a really sweet discussion of how "the kids really dig her style of music" ever since she recorded with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

If all this music weren't enough, there is a colossal, LP-sized (12 inch square, remember?) 220-page book that includes hundreds of photos from the personal photo collections of Mother Maybelle and Janette Carter (A.P.'s daughter). All known publicity photos are included, as well as the complete lyrics to all 287 songs. To top everything off, there is a newly researched Carter Family biography by the preeminent country historian Charles Wolfe. Information on the recording sessions and backgrounds on most of the songs are minutely detailed. Reproductions of many of the original album covers, the family's labels, and even the poster for their appearance at the 1939 World's Fair are also included. It should be noted that the music has all been newly remastered from the original sources, wherever possible. Thankfully they have kept some of the pop and hiss of the earliest recordings, which would not seem the same without such surface noise.

Obviously such a collection fetches a pretty price, and this boxed set is not for the casual listener. Many of the individual sessions are available on single CDs domestically. But for the true collector and those wanting to dive head first into the very bedrock of American music, you will not find a better or more complete collection anywhere. - Lahri Bond (Amherst, MA)

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