Customer Reviews

Can The Circle Be Unbroken: Country Music's First Family

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The history of American roots music lies with southwestern Virginia's Carter Family's hymns, white blues, transplanted British folk ballads and sentimental 19th-century parlor songs. Playing melody on her bass strings, Maybelle helped to bring the guitar to the forefront of pop instrumentation.

Even at the peak of their 1920s-30s success, lead singer Sara's deep tones resonated with restrained sorrow (perhaps for a troubled marriage and a career she wanted far less than husband A.P. and sister-in-law Maybelle). With a voice as weathered as her native Clinch Mountains, Sara, though only in her 30s, sounded like "Worried Man Blues" would eat at her until she reached the "River Of Jordan."

These 20 rural tunes come from 1935 and 1940 sessions for ARC and OKeh. None of them were previously recorded for Victor, but Legacy's sound far surpasses Rounder's catalog of their Victor output.

These tracks were laid down in 1935 and 1940, mostly re-recordings of their first hits from 1927-34 with a different record company. So the trio had more confidence in their talents, but perhaps less spirit, as another reviewer noted. Recording quality is a tad better than the earlier stuff, as another reviewer mentioned. And since the group was active until the early '40's, this collection is limited...they preserved about 250 performances, and here you get 20. But if you only want one Carter CD for your collection, it's a fine choice. And if you care about roots music, how can you not have a Carter disc on the shelves? Founder A.P. Carter scoured the hills of Southern Virginia throughout the 20's and 30's, collecting mostly old songs from his neighbors, and copyrighting them with his arrangements. The original writers have mostly been lost to history, but the songs remain. Many of these can be found with different verses on recordings by other artists: "Worried Man Blues" eventually became "It Takes a Worried Man" for the Kingston Trio in the late 1950's. Woody Guthrie put some of his best lyrics to tunes found or written by the Carter Family, such as "Wildwood Flower" which was used for "Ballad of the Reuben James." Woody's song "Hesitating Beauty" on Billy Bragg's "Mermaid Avenue" collection, carries the tune of the Carters' "Lulu Walls". Whether Woody chose that, or Bragg, I don't know. But the Carter Family archive is still important, still enjoyable. There is a five-CD set of the Carters available for only twice the price of this one disc, so look up other offerings if you want an even better bargain. But if one hour of these country pioneers is all you think you need, don't worry about this one...it will serve you well. Maybelle Carter's guitar playing alone would make this a good buy, but add Sara's voice and autoharp and A.P.'s bass vocal accents, and it's a treasure.

With a career as seminal, vital and prolific as the Carter Family's, it's difficult to pinpoint which, if any, are the "best" recordings of their career. This reissue consists of recordings made for ARC in 1935, just after the Carter's left Victor (with whom they'd recorded the first versions of their most famous songs, beginning in 1928), and just before signing with Decca. These "mid-period" tracks include a number re-recordings of their most famous songs, including "Can the Circle Be Unbroken," "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes," "Wildwood Flower," and "Keep on the Sunny Side." It also includes British folk songs ("Black Jack David"), gospel traditionals ("Gospel Ship") and blues ("Worried Man Blues").

What makes these recordings so interesting is that they are the product of rather different circumstances than the Family's first blaze of glory. By 1935 the Carters were seasoned performers, and the 'family' was something of a professional convenience, given that A.P. and Sara had been separated for a few years, and would divorce in a few more. The depression and its repercussions had also dragged on for six years, and the dislocation that was gripping the country as a whole had physically separated the Carters, as well. Combined with the birth of Sara and Maybelle's children, much of the early 30s saw the group uniting only at recording sessions such as this. The result are hugely professional recordings that display the abundant charms of the Carter Family's invention, but lack the hunger and drive that marked their earliest dates.

These are great recordings, and would be an obvious introduction to the roots of Country music, if only the Carter's original Victor recordings weren't so well anthologized. Even still, these mature renderings of Carter classics, plus songs from the ever expanding A.P. Carter collection, are an essential part of the group's canon, and essential listening for anyone with more than a passing interest in the Family's work.

The Carter Family officially had 3 chart country hits-according to Billboard. Their legend goes far beyond that meaningless statistic. This CD features the original group (A.P., Maybelle and Sara) before their series of breakups and reformations with new family members. This particular album was recorded mostly in 1935 and is an absolute treasure. Others may complain about the quality of the sound-it comes across as old, perhaps even scratchy. To this reviewer, that only adds to the luster. It sounds authentic! One can just imagine the group playing in a roadside inn- on a rainy Saturday night- deep in Virginia just before WW2. The tight harmony and guitar work is timeless. High points here are "Wildwood Flower", "The Storms Are On the Ocean" and especially "Keep on the Sunny Side". It is easy to be subjective on that score. Others may have their own favorites among the 20 tracks. ... The group goes back so far and is so unique, so real, so basic, so early country that "true believers" should expose themselves to the Carters. It is just that simple.

The quality of songs on this album is fantastic. The Carter canon of music is worth any trouble you have to go to to hear it. Unfortunately, I don't think that these are the best records of many of these songs. To my ear, they often sound like they have performed the songs once too often and the music sounds tired.

Just for fun, listen to some of the amazon.com samples of the same songs, on different albums, and you'll hear the difference. My advice, try to buy the original recordings.

Nonetheless, this body of work is incredible, and I would recommend that anyone try to acquaint themselves with the music.

Long before Victor dragged their wire recorders into the hills to record the Carters, Marion Try Slaughter had been recording music and some classics under the name of Vernon Dalhart, that were and still are the "original" country music torch bearers. He had the first million selling recording. I recommend his recordings, the ones grouped into country music genre, as he recorded 1600 songs, not a misprint or typo, one thousand six hundred songs between the years of 1916-1937.

I beg all of you to try his recordings and Ernest V. Stoneman and family also. Least we not forget Bob Wills and his great band, Dr. Ralph Stanley, Bill Monroe, Johnny Western, Johnny Bond, Jimmy Rogers, etc. and of course the Carters.

I find this type of music should be listened to often, and should be played in our homes so all can listen to these recordings. God only let these people such as Alvin Pleasant Carter and his family adorn his Earth for just an eyeblink. As we are all here for just that much time really, enjoy the finer things that we can---this record is one of those things.

I recently discovered an alternative in Sara, Maybelle, and `Doc'. Carter family songs have become an art form from an era when our country and its culture were great. Their music is familiar, simple, direct, down-home and unpretentious without a trace of immorality. Probably not for everybody and certainly a hard-sell to contemporary mainstream America, but I play the Carter Family continuously at work and home.

The recordings on this CD are from their latter years, mid-1930's, and are superlative; among their best. The tempo is slower than their first records, and Sara's (lead singer's) natural pitch has dropped to alto; both very suitable to the music.

The recording quality wasn't great in 1930, but the `78-record effect', quickly becomes unnoticeable. Sara's got The Voice, and Maybelle, of course, the guitar Style. Pure diamond from southwest Virginia!

I've been a fan of Americana, Bluegrass, and folk music since childhood courtesy of my grandmother who introduced to me such wonderful artists such as The Carter Family, Roy Acuff, Grandpa Jones, Johnny Cash, and many others. This collection of the original Carter Family is a superb trip down memory lane and soothes the tortured soul with its simple vocals. I wish I could find some good documentaries or biographies of Carters on DVD or VHS.
Every song is a wonderful piece of history and some even brought tears to my eyes as I recalled how grandma loved so many of them.

Let me first say that this collection of recordings is wonderful. It is the first Carter Family CD I have ever heard.

But, since then, I have heard ealier versions of the songs, and later versions, and have come away a little confused. Their voices on the Columbia recordings are much lower (which at first I thought was cool that Sara sounds like a man) and the tempos are slower. I can only assume that the tape speed is considerably out of whack. Does anyone else know anything about this? I know that Columbia has made this mistake before, most notably on Mile Davis' "Kind of Blue".

Still, the Carters are the real deal. Virtually any of their recordings are fabulous.

After watching the PBS special about the Carter family, and loving their music from my childhood, I wanted to hear again the many wonderful songs and sounds. I have always loved hearing the autoharp.

The cd is great.