Customer Reviews

Bristol - A Tribute To the Music of the Carter Family

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This album is pure joy. The singing and playing in general is superb, while the harmonies on 'Amber Tresses' are out of this world. Ginny and Kay have made an interesting selection of Carter Family songs, ranging from familiar items from the group's days with Victor, through to 'Gently Lead Me', which A.P. and Sara recorded for the small Acme label in the early 1950s, long after the original trio had disbanded. The ladies' instrumental work, too, is highly creditable, and is enhanced by the skill of 'guest' musicians Tracy Schwarz (Ginny's husband), Mike Seeger, and Amy Michels. Seeger's autoharp playing on 'I Loved You Better Than You Knew' and 'Broken Hearted Lover' gives these tracks a very distinctive flavor. The overall sound is wonderfully clear and crisp, thanks to expert engineering and mixing work. This is a soothing and relaxing album with no hi-tech electronic gimmickry. Just good, old fashioned, high quality musicianship. A real listening pleasure.

This is a selection of Carter family songs, many of them obscure, recorded by two ladies who grew up listening to this type of music. They certainly know their stuff, and have managed to avoid Keep on the sunny side, Wildwood flower and anything else that would be an obvious choice. I never tire of those two songs, but a lot of people do, only because they have been recorded so often. Anyway, it's difficult to tire of the songs here by listening to other CD's (except the relevant Carter Family CD's) because they are so rarely covered.

Not being familiar with the originals, I cannot say whether they are faithful covers, but it's likely that they are, because the whole style of the album reminds me of the Carter family, even though it's a long time since I heard any of their own music.

Carter fans may wonder what the point is of buying this. My answer is that these recordings were made using digital technology, so the sound quality is far superior to the Carter's own, however well remastered. For the rest of us, this is a great album of uncompromising, acoustic, traditional country, and it will cause people to seek out the original music.

This is a really good CD- just what the Carter Family should have done themselves.
Great Stuff!

Okay, you say, enough of the Carter Family, Enough of mountain music reviews from a guy who gets nervous when he gets even a couple of miles away from the bright lights of the big city. Well, fair enough. And under most circumstances I couldn't agree with you more. But you see, I have just done a review of one of the singers here, Ginny Hawker, concerning her duos with old New Lost City Ramblers member Tracy Swartz. So, naturally, somebody then tells me about this CD and there you have it. So, in the end I am merely a victim of circumstances. Sounds about right, right?

But enough, let me just say that there is no shortage of those who have covered the original Carter Family material (including later combinations of Carters and Cashes), there is no shortage of wannabe Maybelle and Sara -type harmony combinations and there is no shortage of those who (now) know the importance of May belle`s guitar work in creating the Carter Family sound. Nevertheless this pair on harmony, on the manner in which they arrange the songs selected to fit their skills and on the simple instrumentation that does not clutter up the harmonies stepped right out of the pages of Clinch Mountain. Outstanding in that regard are "Gently Lead Me", "Waves of the Sea", "I Never Loved But One" and the super-Carter classic "Amber Tresses". Nicely done.

I was so happy to hear that Ginny and Kay were getting back together to do an album. This is the best harmony singing recording that I have heard in ages. Thanks a million!