Wednesday, February 20, 2013

The Carter Family - The Best Of The Carter Family (UK 2005)

Uncle Roddus CD Of The Week



Quite possibly one of the most influential early artists in music, I brought this set for that reason as they had a big influence on Johnny Cash(he even married into the family) and Bob Dylan to a lessor degree as well as untold other country artists. 
This double disc set covers quite a selection of their most popular songs and a few of their better lesser known numbers, with recordings mostly from the 1930's. That makes for some quite primitive music and over a larger set like this, makes for a slightly difficult listen as the songs all sound quite similar and the old style vocals can be challenging for modern listeners. Also it must be remembered that these songs were recorded to be released in pairs on old 78 records and not on long playing records like we have today.
So separating the songs out and concentrating on them individually  reveals some wonderful guitar melodies played with much skill and with some good vocal melodies if you can get past the melancholic style they sing in. Many of these songs were old folk songs even back when The Carters rerecorded them and there are also some good old style country blues in amongst these songs. Although this is a fairly budget release the recording quality is extremely good for their vintage. Not something I am going to listen to a lot but defiantly a worthwhile addition to my collection, especially in an historical sense.Rating 3/5.

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