Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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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
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.
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12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
The Carter Family Revisited, December 18, 2004
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!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful tribute album, September 5, 2005
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.
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is mainly Alternative Country, quite Country, with hints of Americana”
