It's been well documented that June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore
wrote the song "Ring of Fire," which is about her early
relationship with Johnny Cash. What's less well known is that it
was her youngest sister, Anita, not Johnny Cash, who cut it first,
accompanied only by a pair of acoustic guitars. Ring of Fire is the
German Bear Family label's presentation of Anita Carter's 1962-1964
Mercury recordings. While Carter is also a daughter of Mother
Maybelle, country music, at least in the early '60s, was not her
forte -- folk music was. There are 25 tracks here, all of them
stunning, some of them unknown, but all of them fine. Some of the
cuts here are historic debuts of songs performed by folk and
country artist later on. The initial recording of "Satan's Child,"
written by sister Helen and Danny Dill, Kilgore's "Sour Grapes,"
her own "All My Trials," and the cut she wrote with June and
Kilgore, "As the Sparrow Goes," are all here, as well as readings
of A.P. and Maybelle tunes such as her mother's "Fair and Tender
Ladies" and "In the Highways," A.P.'s "John Hardy, Bury Me Beneath
the Willow," and more. There are unreleased gems here too: a
recording of Harlan Howard's "A Few Short Years Ago" and Irving
Gordon's "The Kentuckian Song." But more than the cuts -- produced
in Nashville and New York by Jerry Kennedy, Shelby Singelton, and
Milt Okun -- this recording reveals that Carter's voice is one of
the purest and most expressive vehicles either country or folk ever
produced. Carter's own reticence is what held her back from
superstardom. The music here, most of it with two acoustic guitars,
some with a double bass, is simple, even ghostly in the way it
frames a voice so seemingly plaintive, yet with a range that is
awe-inspiring, given how pristine her singing was, and how she
could take even the corniest song ("Voice of the Bayou") and make
it a believable and true statement of passion, purpose, or
poisonous emotion. By the time the record ends with "Wildwood
Flower," the listener has been transported out of time and space
and into the heart of Carter's mysterious, darkly inviting, and
spiritually resilient vocal. This is one of the best single-volume
compilations Bear Family has ever done. ~ Thom Jurek
General
Label: |
Bear Family (Germany)
|
Release date: |
August 2003 |
Performers: |
Mimmo
|
Format: |
|
Categories: |
Music >
Country
Promotions
|
LSN: |
XAD-9T9-HLB-3 |
Barcode: |
4000127154347 |
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Disk 1
1 |
(Love's) Ring Of Fire - (studio) |
2 |
Fair & Tender Ladies - (studio) |
3 |
Satan's Child - (studio) |
4 |
Fly Pretty Swallow - (studio) |
5 |
As The Sparrow Goes - (studio) |
6 |
All My Trails - (studio) |
7 |
Voice Of The Bayou - (studio) |
8 |
Sour Grapes - (studio) |
9 |
Johnny, I Hardly Knew You - (studio) |
10 |
My Love - (studio) |
11 |
Few Short Years Ago - (studio) |
12 |
Kentuckian Song - (studio) |
13 |
Brian - (studio) |
14 |
Running Back - (studio) |
15 |
Take Me Home - (studio) |
16 |
No, My Love, No - (studio) |
17 |
Farewell - (studio) |
18 |
This Life I'm Living - (studio) |
19 |
My Love Loves Me - (studio) |
20 |
John, John, John - (studio) |
21 |
John Hardy Was A Desparate Little Man - (studio) |
22 |
I Never Will Marry - (studio) |
23 |
In The Highways - (studio) |
24 |
Bury Me Beneath The Willow - (studio) |
25 |
Beautiful Isle O'er The Sea - (studio) |
26 |
Wildwood Flower - (studio) |
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