The Unbroken Circle - The Musical Heritage Of The Carter Family

Carter Family | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 24, 2004)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Dualtone Music Group
• ASIN: B0002IPZFU
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #135,127 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Worried Man Blues - George Jones

2. No Depression In Heaven - Sheryl Crow

3. On The Sea Of Galilee - Emmylou Harris with the Peasall Sisters

4. Engine One-Forty-Three - Johnny Cash

5. Never Let The Devil Get The Upper Hand Of You - Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives

6. Little Moses - Joe and Janette Carter

7. Black Jack David - Norman and Nancy Blake with Tim O'Brien

8. Bear Creek Blues - John Prine

9. You Are My Flower - Willie Nelson

10. Single Girl, Married Girl - Shawn Colvin with Earl and Randy Scruggs

11. Will My Mother Know Me There? - The Whites with Ricky Skaggs

12. The Winding Stream - Rosanne Cash

13. Rambling Boy - The Del McCoury Band

14. Hold Fast To The Right - June Carter Cash

15. Gold Watch & Chain - The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band with Kris Kristofferson

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The title of this tribute to the Carter Family alludes to their best-known spiritual, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." While that standard isn't included here, the roster of artists renews the spirit of the circle, a familial legacy that encompasses Mother Maybelle's daughter June Carter Cash, June's husband Johnny Cash, Johnny's daughter Rosanne Cash, and generations of artists inspired by them. Highlights range from the yelp of George Jones on "Worried Man Blues" to the surge of rockabilly energy in John Prine's "Bear Creek Blues" to the banjo-driven, fiddle-tinged bluegrass of the Del McCoury Band's "Rambling Boy." As for the family's performances, Rosanne brings a depth of expression to "The Winding Stream" while a sense of mortality pervades Johnny's "Engine One-Forty-Three" and June's "Hold Fast to the Right." And Willie Nelson's solo reading of "You Are My Flower" gives it room to bloom. Album producer John Carter Cash (son of Johnny and June, grandson of Maybelle) makes every one of these tracks feel like family. --Don McLeese

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine collection drawn from Carter Family songbook, September 25, 2004

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hyperbolium (Earth, USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Unbroken Circle - The Musical Heritage Of The Carter Family (Audio CD)

The greatest of American songbooks gets another run-through from a variety of country music luminaries, and the results, unsurprisingly, are very good. In addition to four Cashes (Johnny, June Carter, Roseanne and producer John Carter), the album sports tracks from George Jones, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Ricky Skaggs, and many others. Like most such collections, it's not uniformly fine (nor, even in its fineness, uniform in how it achieves its quality), but there's a lot of great music here.

Jones kicks off the album with a wonderfully loose take of "Worried Man Blues," buoyed by a deft, bluesy combination of guitars, bass, fiddle and drums. Sheryl Crow follows with over-the-top yowling on "No Depression in Heaven," and Emmylou Harris warbles somewhat unsteadily with the charming Peasall Sisters for "On the Sea of Galilee." From here, the album picks up with Johnny Cash's nearly-spent reading of "Engine One-Forty-Three" and really hits its stride with Marty Stuart's creepy march-time arrangement of "Never Let the Devil Get the Upper Hand on You."

Additional highlights include Norman and Nancy Blake's string-rich (guitar, cello, bouzouki, fiddle, autoharp) "Black Jack David," John Prine's acoustic rockabilly "Bear Creek Blues," The Whites' (with Ricky Skaggs) "Will My Mother Know Me There," and Roseanne Cash's "The Winding Stream." Kris Kristofferson and The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's close the album with "Gold Watch and Chain," successfully pitting the former's craggy voice against the latter's polished acoustic picking and smooth harmonies.

These aren't definitive renditions (for that, original Carter Family recordings can be found), but like the Dirt Band's "Circle" albums, the reinvention and handing-down found among and between these generations say as much about the music as the songs themselves.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Carter Family Revisited, December 18, 2004

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H. F. Corbin "Foster Corbin" (ATLANTA, GA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Unbroken Circle - The Musical Heritage Of The Carter Family (Audio CD)

John Carter Cash, the son of June Carter and Johnny Cash, has produced here a fitting tribute to the original Carter family. First he has managed to select some of the less often recorded songs and has gathered an interesting, talented group of entertainers to pick and sing these A. P. Carter numbers. Additionally he has written a thoughtful, insightful introduction on the relevance and influence of the Carter Family on bluegrass/folk/country music, whatever you choose to call it. There are some really beautiful numbers here. It's difficult to pick a favorite from so many. Emmylou Harris' rendition of "On The Sea of Galilee" with Randy Scruggs' acoustic guitar sounding so much like Maybelle Carter's style, however, is as good as this kind of music gets. Willie Nelson accompanies himself on guitar in a soulful "You Are My Flower" reminiscent of his "Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain," that was such a big hit years ago. Janette and Joe Carter's (A. P. and Sara's children) arrangement of "Little Moses" complete with Janette's lacy autoharp playing is quite beautiful. These two singers are almost in a time warp and have a sound closer to the original Carter family than anyone else on this CD. "Gold Watch and Chain" by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Kris Kristofferson rounds out my favorite four. The two cuts I like least are "Worried Man Blues" by George Jones and "Hold Fast To The Right" by June Carter Cash with vocal backup by her husband. Jones, whose velvety tenor voice I love appears to have pitched this one one key too high; June Carter, although she co-wrote a country classic, "Ring of Fire," and was a great comedienne, was never known for having a beautiful voice. Sad to say, here she basically sings off-key. Perhaps Mr. Cash should have selected another number by her since she does some much better A. P. Carter on her previous solo albums.

There are 15 selections here, certainly something for every bluegrass/Carter Family fan. Wouldn't it be a fine day for music if Emmylou Harris did an all A. P. Carter album, along with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful tribute album, September 5, 2005

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Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Unbroken Circle - The Musical Heritage Of The Carter Family (Audio CD)

The original Carter family began recording in the 1920's and continued into the 1940's with a brand of music that has influenced many country and folk singers of subsequent generations. Not only that, but the family has itself produced some notable singers such as June Carter (daughter of Maybelle, who sings Hold fast to the right) and Carlene Carter (daughter of June but not featured here). Janette and Joe Carter (daughter and son of Sara and A P Carter) sing here on Little Moses.

This tribute album largely avoids the most famous Carter family songs so you won't find Wabash Cannonball (recorded seven years before Roy Acuff's even more famous version), I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes (the tune of which has been used for Great speckled bird, Wild side of life and It wasn't God who made honky tonk angels), Keep on the sunny side, Homestead on the farm a.k.a. I wonder how the old folks are at home, Will the circle be unbroken, Jimmy Brown the newsboy, Little darling pal of mine, Lonesome valley, Foggy mountain top and Wildwood flower.

Without any of those classics, the best-known songs here may be Worried man blues (covered here by George Jones), You are my flower (covered here by Willie Nelson) and Gold watch and chain (covered here by Kris Kristofferson and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band - Emmylou included this song on her bluegrass album, Roses in the snow). You should also recognize the tune to Bear Creek blues (here sung by John Prine) as it is the same as Orange Blossom Special.

In poor health, Johnny Cash (whose sixties recording of Orange Blossom Special is the most famous recording of that song) clearly struggled to sing Engine 143 yet the song works well in the circumstances. At the other end of the age spectrum are the Peasall sisters, who have previously appeared on the O brother soundtrack. Her, they join Emmylou for a fine rendition of On the sea of Galilee.

Sheryl Crow (No depression) and Shawn Colvin (Single girl married girl) represent the contemporary music scene well. The other excellent tracks here are Never let the devil get the upper hand of you (Marty Stuart), Black Jack David (Nancy and Norma Blake with Tim O'Brien), Will my mother know me there (The Whites with Ricky Skaggs), The winding stream (Rosanne Cash) and Rambling boy (Del McCoury Band).

My copy of this album is a limited edition that includes a bonus sampler CD. Two of the tracks on that CD are covers of famous Carter family songs. While I appreciate the effort taken to record obscure songs, those two tracks reinforce my belief that this would have been an even better album if two or three famous songs from my earlier list had been included. Still, this album is not - and was never intended to be - a substitute for a collection of the original family's recordings.

If you enjoy traditional folk-country music, you'll surely love this album. You might also enjoy another Carter family tribute that I reviewed a long time ago by Ginny Hawker and Kay Justice, simply titled Bristol.