Customer Reviews

Sara & Maybelle Carter

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have cherished the primary tracks on this album, first on vinyl and then on CD, for years. I have an original vinyl copy of the Columbia issue "An Historic Reunion: Sara and Maybelle - The Original Carters" which I purchased from a rare record dealer in the late 1970's. Years later, I acquired this Bear Family import, which contains the "Reunion" tracks, plus a bonus track from the same 1966 session (Sara and Maybelle) plus all the songs from Mother Maybelle's 1965 Columbia album, A Living Legend.

Now this is what I call music.

For anyone who doesn't know, Sara and Maybelle Carter were two thirds of the original Carter Family. Together with Sara's first husband, A. P. (Alvin Pleasant) they made some of the very first country records. They were discovered on the same day and at the same amateur music audition as Jimmie Rodgers, long known as the Father of Country Music. I often say that if Jimmie was the father, then Sara and Maybelle were surely the mothers of early country music. They made their first records in 1927, when the recording industry was in its infancy. Their partnership lasted until about 1943, when they ceased recording completely. By performing and recording with her three daughters, June Helen and Anita, Maybelle kept the Cater Family name alive for many more years after the original trio broke up. In the original liner notes for the LP of An Historic Reunion, June's husband, Johnny Cash, says that, for him, the first time he met Mother Maybelle Carter was like meeting the Queen of England. Country royalty, indeed.

Many people find the vocal style of the original Carter Family somewhat jarring. Their sound is totally non-commercial, and the "arrangements" to their songs are minimal, stark and simple. Unlike commercial superstars, whose sound was molded by the demands of the record buying public, the Carter Family sang pretty much they way the did the first time A. P. heard Sara singing on her family's porch in the mountains of Virginia. Theirs is a professional, but not polished, sound. But the sound is true, original and home-grown, and the charm and simplicity of their heartfelt vocals were both consistent and sincere.

The reissue of these tracks are exciting for folk and country music enthusiasts alike. I am always thrilled to hear anything by Mother Maybelle, and I suspect the presence of her character in the film "Walk the Line" will pique the curiosity of many about her life and music. The actress who plays Maybelle in the Johnny Cash biopic is positively spooky in her resemblance to the real Maybelle, and one colorful incident related in the film (there's a scene where Maybelle - shotgun in hand - and her husband chase a drug dealer from Johnny Cash's property) is sure to generate renewed public interest in her story.

But the music is the point, of course. Although I love the 1965 tracks by Mother Maybelle, let me point out a few highlights from the Sara and Maybelle session.

The album opens with a rousing gospel number, Higher Ground. Of course, country gospel is far more subdued than that of the African-American variety, but just as spirited, nonetheless. Higher Ground boasts a wonderful melody, but any melody that passes through Sara's guitar or Maybelle's autoharp has to come out sounding wonderful. Sara handles the lead vocal on this and all the other "Reunion" tracks, with Maybelle filling in harmony and background vocal as appropriate. "Lord, lift me up, and let me stand, my faith on Heaven's stable hand. A higher plain than I have found, Lord plant my feet on higher ground". Their simple, heartfelt sincerity will send chills though you with each guitar chord. Sara plucks her guitar with the famous Carter lick, a sound often imitated but never exceeded by anyone. And Maybelle plays her autoharp (Maybelle is credited with being the first musician to pick individual notes on the autoharp, rather than simply strumming the melody) with all the skill she showed in 1927, and then some. Sara and A. P.'s son, Joe also sings harmony on several tracks, "To fill in the gap left by his father". Another highlight is yet another favorite of mine, which the original Carter Family recorded in 1941, The Happiest Days of All.

But the standout of the album, for me, is a tune called "While the Band is Playing Dixie (I'm Humming Home Sweet Home)" an old-fashioned piece about a soldier dying in battle after penning a farewell letter to his sweetheart. It may sound hokey to some, but it gave me chills the first time I heard it, and it still gives me chills today. The songs borrows a device that Sara used on the Carter's original recording of The Homestead on the Farm (one of my favorite songs from the hundreds they recorded between 1927-1943). During the instrumental portion, Sara blends the melody to "Home Sweet Home" into the chorus of While the Band is Playing Dixie, so skillfully that you're almost unsure of where one starts and the other leaves off. Meanwhile, Maybelle's harmonizing on the chorus is absolutely breathtaking.

They found it in his pocket, a blood-stained little note
A bullet hole had pieced it through and through
It began with, "Darling Mary, if I don't come back again
Just remember that my last thoughts were of you".
While the band is playing Dixie, I'm humming Home Sweet Home
It takes me back to Georgia, though I'm far across the foam
Once again beside the river with my Mary dear I roam
While the band is playing Dixie, I'm humming Home Sweet Home
Be it ever so humble, no place like home...

And there's no sound quite like Sara and Maybelle, the original Carter's.

Highly recommended.

Imagine if McCartney and Lennon would have recorded together in 1978 or if Buck Owens and Don Rich hooked up again, and you might have something close to being as important as these recordings. To be honest here, only the first 12 songs feature Sara Carter, the rest are from a Maybelle Carter solo Lp from 1966, but are equally important.

When you listen to these recordings, it is like a history lesson, a trip back in time and the voice of your youth all rolled into one making the most beautiful music you will ever hear.

The booklet is beautiful, featuring many photos of the under-publshed Sara.

All is good here. It is worth paying the import price.

Wonderful listening! Amazing talent and to think that they were both self taught!

An absolute must have for Carter Family fans...so good it will take your breath away. The flawless guitar and autoharp playing comes across clear and smooth. The last half of the CD features accompanyment by bass and back up singers....what a great mix....all the old favourites are here along with some I had never heard. Like I said before....you just got to have it.

The historic reunion of Sara and Maybelle Carter, back together for the first time since the original Carter Family disbanded in the early part of 1944, takes up half of this 24 track album. And how good to hear Sara and Maybelle with the benefit of modern (1966) recording techniques. Sara was 69 years old at the time, but her voice was strong and clear, even if she doesn't always hit the right note. Maybelle, at 59, was still the consummate professional. I particularly liked 'The Ship That Never Returned', the melody of which is better known these days for having the words of 'Wreck of the Old '97' set to it. The remaining 12 numbers are from Maybelle's 'A Living Legend' album, also from 1966. The material is interesting and varied, ranging from old time Family numbers such as 'Give Me Your Love', through Tom T Hall's anti Vietnam War song 'I Told Them What You're Fighting For', to 'We All Miss Joe', written for the session by Maybelle's son-in-law, Johnny Cash. The are also some nice autoharp instrumentals such as the old fiddle tune, 'Kitty Puss'. Super stuff !

This cd is actually two albums together. The first twelve tracks are from the album "An Historic Reunion". Recorded with much better technology than the Carters in the 20's and 30's, the recordings and songs strike me as particularly melodic and warm. The album is transporting and before you know it you've listened to the whole album. Of all my recording by the original Carter family, this recording by the two women is my favorite. I have more mixed feelings about the second record that is really a solo album by one of the sisters.

I recently purchased this CD and am still playing the daylights out of it. If you are a Carter Family fan...this is an absolute must for your collection. It's amazing that these ladies in their mid to late 60's still sound so incredibly good. It contains incredible autoharp and of course the Carter guitar style made so famous by Mother Maybelle. I guess I was pleasantly surprised by the guitar playing of Sara also. The other musicians who contributed on some of the songs complimented Maybelle and Sara very nicely. Buy it...you will love it!

This CD should be considered a National Treasure. Sara Carter and Mother Maybelle Carter together again for the last time created a CD of American Music for the ages. With only their vocals and minimal instruments these ladies created an album by which all others should be measured. Gospel, ballads and classics are all included on this recording. A must have for anyone who likes music-period.

I listened to Bluegrass (Hillbilly, my friends called it) and Classical when all my
friends were screaming for Elvis. I liked him too, but learned to hide my secret love. Now I'm thrilled to hear Momma Maybelle and Sara and the songs I'd never heard. My grown grandkids first complained when they'd walk in my house and hear either the Carters, Bill Monroe, ect, or Tchaikovsky, Brahams, ect, ect. But over time they quit complaining and ask, "Now who was that, Grandma?" So happy these legendary ladies made this album.

I love and respect the Carter Family as the first family of country music. It was nice to see that Maybelle and Sarah were still singing and making music in their late 60's. They still had the sound of the back country, but it seemed harsher somehow in the more mature voice. I will still listen to this periodically, but the original stuff will remain my favorites.