June 19, 2011
Today we finally began something we’d talked about for the last year: recording every single Carter Family song that the original lineup (Sara, Maybelle, A.P.) ever recorded, beginning with their legendary Bristol sessions in 1927. We haven’t had a chance to start because our 14-month old, Ben, takes a lot of time and we’ve been working on writing projects and teaching. But now it’s summer, and so after lunch we decided to try to “cut” a few numbers while Ben was taking his afternoon nap.
As usual, Ben’s timing was not lined up perfectly with ours, and he woke up from his nap right when we got tuned up and ready to go. So we recorded “Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow” with him still in the crib. Then we got him up, changed his diaper, gave him some milk, and plopped him into his playpen, about six feet away from the mic.
We cut two more, “Storms Are On the Ocean” and “Single Girl Married Girl” which Ben added to by hurling his toys out of the playpen and fussing. He is obsessed with my guitar these days and always wants to get a hold of it. ”Single Girl” ended with a beautifully timed crescendo when he took his heaviest toy, made of wood and metal, and dropped it onto the hardwood floor.
At that point, Leigh took the boy swimming. So we’ll try again tomorrow. Next time I intend to have a bit of a plan and print out some lyrics. We’re trying to record the songs in chronological order, and I do not know the next two songs, “Little Log Cabin By the Sea” and “Orphan Child.” So while Leigh and Ben were at the pool, I listened to the original recordings of those two tunes and tried to learn them.
Fran
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