Carlene Carter will appear in Maine at The Unity Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, November 23rd, at 7:00 PM

By Bob McKillop

Carlene Carter is a woman who understands her responsibility for carrying on and protecting a precious musical legacy.  Fortunately for us, she loves that job, and she is uniquely qualified for it.  Her latest CD, “Stronger” (2007, YepRoc), has that legacy woven tightly into its fabric of rocking country tunes, powerful ballads, and tender love songs.

But it’s a living, evolving legacy, into which she breathes new life and energy, with her excellent songwriting craft and her deep personal life experiences.  Carlene Carter has lived close to the legends, and has lived deep inside personal loss and crisis.  She carries those joys and sorrows within a giving, loving personality. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, but she has learned life’s lesson’s well, and is not afraid to write, sing, and talk about them.  She knows how important they have been in making her the person she is today.

Her enthusiasm for her new record is infectious.  She is so pleased with the result of her work with John McFee (The Doobie Brothers, Southern Pacific) on this new record, and raves about his musical instincts, his talent, and his skill as a producer.  But most of all, she is grateful to him for his gift to her of the creative freedom to do what she wanted artistically, and for his support for her vision for the record.

“We were able to totally do what we wanted to do, without any thought to what would sell on the radio, or to what a record company would want, or anybody else; we had complete control!” Carlene told me during recent phone conversation.   “We were so in synch, more so than with anybody else that I’ve worked with.   He is an amazing producer, friend, and musician, and he takes such care. Sometimes with this big record company stuff, you end up having to meet deadlines that make you not have as good a record; or they put parameters on you artistically; we didn’t have any of that, and it was just a joy to do. The trust factor with John was so important.  It’s almost like he can be inside my head and know what I wanted a song to sound like when I wrote it.” 

This creative freedom shines through in the quality of this CD.  The track “Bitter End” is rollicking country rock, and it resonates with Carter’s early work. There are elements of rockabilly, and a story of a young girl who is driven through life by her emotions and her heart, and finds herself at the end of a path of tears and sorrow.  While the lyrics don’t reveal the end of the story, the upbeat track and the spirit of the song suggest redemption, and a discovery of the way back to happiness.

“On to You” is sassy, sexy, and fun; another rock-tinged country tune about finding freedom and self-reliance, and refusing to be used.  Carter’s vocals are strong and nuanced, with silky transitions in range, and a classic southern country flavor.  A steady, intense drum track and a consistent acoustic guitar backing riff set the aggressive mood for the lyric.

“Break My Little Heart in Two” is a tune reminiscent of the fun, country swing style of Carter’s mom, June Carter Cash.  A foot-tapping backbeat, a lightly distorted electric guitar track, and lap steel highlights support a happy little melody.  If I knew how to do a two-step, I would up on my feet in a moment.  The theme is the light-hearted regret and resignation inherent in the game of romance from a woman’s point of view, and the illusion that one can find some freedom from it. 

I think my favorite tracks on this record are “Change Your Heart” and “Spider Lace”.  These two tunes remind me of the Carter Family legacy more than any others on the disc.  “Change Your Heart” in particular, with its autoharp and soft, loving vocals, and it’s simple melodic elements, show me Maybelle Carter’s DNA in Carter’s songwriting.

Carlene Carter takes her family’s musical legacy seriously.  “I’m really trying to bring the autoharp into my music as much as possible.  My grandmother was the best autoharp player in the world. I’m trying to carry on the tradition of my family’s music, while still making new music. That’s my responsibility as a Carter Girl, to keep the Carter Family stuff alive”, says Carter.

Johnny Cash was another important part of Carter’s musical legacy, of course.  The track “It Takes One To Know Me” from this record was a song she wrote to her step-father when she was 16 or 17 years old, and didn’t have enough money to buy him a birthday gift.  This song became her gift to Cash, and the quality of the songwriting shows the level of talent that lay dormant in this young girl who was just discovering her place in the world.

“I had a kid and didn’t have much money, and it was really a heartfelt song that I tried to write from me to him.  I was just really starting to come in to my own as a songwriter, or I thought I was coming into my own.” Carter recalls.  “They (John and my mom) ended up recording it, and I didn’t know until after they had passed away.” 

Carter continues the story: “My brother John Carter Cash called me up and said he had found this track in the vault, it’s a duet of mom and daddy doing “It takes one to know me”.  They had also found my original demo; I had never listened to that, and I guess it was pretty cute.  But I got to sing it with him and mom, after they were gone, and I never thought that I would get to sing with them again. That was kind of a really sweet blessing.”

Carlene Carter is enthusiastic about the future and the new projects that she is developing.  They include more collaboration with John McFee, such as a tour as a duo, a new record in tribute to the music of her father, Carl Smith, and a special project to commemorate what would have been Maybelle Carter’s 100th birthday, in the spring of 2009.  But she has learned the value of balance, and wants to keep moving forward, but in the context of having a home life.

“The more things are going along good, the more I’m traveling, and it just got to where I wasn’t home very much.  I don’t want that to happen again, I’d like to have a nice home balance as well as being on the road.   We learn from our mistakes, you know?  In the past, I never wanted to be in a position where I wasn’t there 100%, and where I didn’t love doing what I was doing, because I love performing.  But that was totally beating me to death, and I think that’s a lot of why I got in trouble.  It’s happened to a bunch of us, I’m not the Lone Ranger here!”

“Stronger” is a great record; full of upbeat, fun songs and wonderful power ballads.  It’s reflective of Carter’s growth and maturity, and her ability to harness her well-developed songwriting craft to her life experience in a way that makes for a deep connection to the listener, without being trite or overly autobiographical.

Carlene Carter is very excited to be coming back to Maine; catch her at The Unity Center for the Performing Arts in Unity, on Sunday, November 23rd, at 7:00 PM.  Tickets are $25, and may be purchased on the venue’s web page.

As Carter herself has been known to say, “We’re gonna have a BIG time!”