Customer Reviews

Country Music Hall of Fame

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This CD is limited to their Decca recording days in 1938, but
the Carter Family never sounded better. Their earliest recordings are very significant, but the primitive recording
techniques can be noticed in the music recorded in the 1927-28
era.
In this CD, however, the fabulous sound is amazing, considering
the date of origin, and the group harmonizes perfectly, and their singing is much more polished than in their beginning
days. The sound in this CD is so good you can hear Sara's voice as never before, and the details of Maybelle's picking
are also evident. The sound is so good, we can hope the sound
engineers were given a proper "pat on the back" for their inspired efforts in getting this music onto the CD format.
It's hard to believe the originals were this good.
Yes, a couple more songs would have made it getter, but the selectons are good, considering being limited to the Decca recordings, and we have to appreciate this unique offering.
The Carter Family singing is so good here, in some songs many
listeners will have difficulty keeping dry eyes when they concentrate on the music.
This belongs in every country music collection.

This album shows us yet another example of how the Carter Family grew from their original Bristol sessions into a polished, professional act. Having been introduced to the Carter Family at a very young age, I found this album to be moving and very clean. I still weep upon hearing "Just A Few More Days." I have thoroughly enjoyed this album and have become an even bigger fan because of its content. "Answer To Weeping Willow" shows me how that the group was versatile in their response to fans'enthusiasm. How many acts today follow up with a song as good as the one that inspired it? Maybelle's playing is flawless, as usual. I think this album is a must for any and all Carter Family fans.

Sixteen tracks, taken from the Family's two year sojourn with Decca (June 1936 - June 1938). There are no repeats from their Victor years, unlike the 1935 recordings for ARC. Some familiar items are included. 'Coal Miner's Blues' is here, along with 'My Dixie Darling', 'Hello Stranger', and 'You Are My Flower'. Personally, I was disappointed because of the recordings that weren't included. 'Never Let The Devil Get The Upper Hand Of You', 'You've Been A Friend To Me', the bluesy 'Jealous Hearted Me' and the humourous 'Stern Old Bachelor' are fine tracks that would have been worthy of inclusion, and would have made the album a little more varied in its content. But the ones that have made it on to the CD are fine. This is the period that many fans regard as the Carters at their peak, performing with the polish of a group with many years experience of singing and playing together. The sound they produced is much smoother and easier on the ear than their earlier Victor recordings. And, at this price, there can be few complaints.

The Carter Family / The Country Music Hall of Fame Series (single CD): While the Carter Family is a hall of fame group, this single CD only covers some of their songs from 1936 to 1938. The songs here are all Great, but at only 16 songs, from such a restricted time period, this is neither their greatest hits nor their best 16 songs. However, the songs that ARE here sound fantastic.
Three Stars (3 ½)

The body of this review has been used elsewhere in this space to comment on other The Carter Family CDs.

This information is from a review of a PBS documentary and serves my purpose here by bringing out the main points that are central to the place of The Carter Family in American musical history. The last paragraph will detail the outstanding tracks on this CD.

"I have reviewed the various CDs put out by the Carter Family, that is work of the original grouping of A.P., Sara and Maybelle from the 1920's , elsewhere in this space. Many of the thoughts expressed there apply here, as well. The recent, now somewhat eclipsed, interest in the mountain music of the 1920's and 30's highlighted in such films as "The Song Catcher" and George Clooney's "Brother, Where Art Thou", of necessity, had to create a renewed interest in the Carter Family. Why? Not taking the influence of that family's musical shaping of mountain music is like neglecting the influence of Bob Dylan on the folk music revival of the 1960's. I suppose it can be done but a big hole is left in the landscape.

What this PBS production has done, and done well, is put the music of the Carters in perspective as it relates to their time, their religious sentiments and their roots in the seemingly simple mountain lifestyle. Is there any simpler harmony than the virtually universally known Carter song (or better, variation) "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"? Nevertheless, these gentle mountain folk were as driven to success, especially A.P, as any urbanite of the time. Moreover, they seem, and here again A.P. is the example, to have had as many interpersonal problems (in short, marital difficulties) as us city folk.

I have mentioned elsewhere, and it bears repeating here, that the fundamentalist religious sentiment expressed throughout their work does not have that same razor-edged feel that we find with today's evangelicals. This is a very personal kind of religious expression that drives many of the songs. These evangelical people took their beating during the Scopes Trial era and turned inward. Fair enough. That they also produced some very simple and interesting music to while away their time is a product of that withdrawal. Listen."

So what is good here? Obviously the classic track "In The Shadow Of Clinch Mountain" (which has many variations). The much covered "hello Stranger" associated with Emmy Lou Harris in the modern era. "Answer To Weeping Willow" (a variation) and "You Are My Flower" also stick out. The others give a good feel for what this music is all about for the beginner. I would also note that unlike some other early Carter Family anthologies that I could listen to the whole CD at one time.