The Carter Family Project

Jen showing off her new thrift-store find, a vintage Mac...

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:17:20 -0400

Jen showing off her new thrift-store find, a vintage Mac Wiseman songbook. And our recording set-up.

Coming Soon!

Mon, 21 May 2012 13:14:16 -0400

Guest Appearances by Jen Larson, Charles Puckette, Meg Reichardt, Mamie Minch and Gene Yellin. Stay tuned!

“Broken Hearted Love” Recorded December 10,...

Wed, 16 May 2012 10:24:00 -0400

“Broken Hearted Love”

Recorded December 10, 2011

Key: D

Here’s another track from our epic “December Sessions” with Jen Larsen and the Hunts. We’re recording all the C.F. tunes in THEIR ORIGINAL CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. That’s the rule. But if friends are here, comfortable on our living room couch, a toddler underfoot, possibly a beer by their side, and they want to do a C.F. song that doesn’t come up for awhile, we can’t say no. We have quite a few songs “in the can” at this point, including a session with Gene Yellin.

So it’s taken a while to post this beautiful song. Nancy and Jen sing a wonderful harmony on this one, and Andy is playing some rock solid rhythm guitar. Leigh is on bass. Fran is trying to keep Ben from running into the living room. The boy does get loose once, which you can hear about midway through the track.

Guest Stars:

Nancy Hunt: Lead vocals.

Jen Larson: Harmony vocals.

Andrew T. Hunt: Guitar.

“If One Won’t, Another One Will” Recorded...

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:02:00 -0400

“If One Won’t, Another One Will”

Recorded Saturday, May 12, 2012

Key: E

Guest Star: Charles Puckette, duet vocals.

“Sun of the Soul” Recorded Dec. 10, 2011 and May 7,...

Sun, 13 May 2012 13:25:00 -0400

“Sun of the Soul”

Recorded Dec. 10, 2011 and May 7, 2012

We got Jen and Nancy to sing this one back in December. Then we lost the file. So we recorded a new version last week. Then we found the old December file. So here is a rare event, indeed. TWO versions of the same song.

Guest Stars (First Version):

Jen Larson: Lead vocals.

Nancy Hunt: Harmony vocals.

Andrew T. Hunt: Guitar.

Where it all happens. Our High-tech setup.

Sat, 12 May 2012 13:14:57 -0400

Where it all happens. Our High-tech setup.

“My Little Home in Tennessee” Key: A Recorded...

Tue, 08 May 2012 21:35:00 -0400

“My Little Home in Tennessee”

Key: A

Recorded Sunday, May 6, 2012

One of my favorite C.F. songs! I used to sing this one ten years ago at the Sunday picking parties at the Brazen Head here in Brooklyn.

Note that we had to do a “fade” edit on the end of the track because Ben started to make a fuss. Recording with a two-year-old is always an adventure.

80 years ago...

Tue, 08 May 2012 14:25:00 -0400

…A.P. and Sara’s marriage was on the rocks. On February 23-24, 1932, they and Maybelle recorded eight songs in Atlanta: Mid The Green Fields of Virginia, Happiest Days of All, Picture on the Wall, Amber Tresses, I Never Loved But One, Tell Me That You Love Me, Where We’ll Never Grow Old, and We Will March Through The Streets of the City.

As Mark Zwonitzer and Charles Hirshberg note in their excellent Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone?, “The eight cuts that came out of that session were right in time with the national mood. Taken together, the theme of the sides was hopeless and irretrievable loss: lost homes, lost parents, lost loves.”

I imagine they were also in time with their personal moods. A family member had just died of tuberculosis, and two more were soon to follow. Bereavement haunts these songs. (Note, just for fun contrast, the cheerful, poppy optimism of the Carter Sisters/Chet Atkins recordings from the late 40s.)

It’s hard to say what the national mood is now..I’m going to go with anxious. iTunes tells me that its #1 pop song today is “Payphone” by Maroon 5…also a song of lost love. The tinkly wash of electronica certainly makes me feel a bit anxious.

And while Maybelle and her family were in relatively good financial shape, thanks to her husband’s federal job with the post office, Sara and A.P. were not. Record sales had slowed considerably—the recording with Jimmie Rodgers sold only 7,000 copies, “a tenth of what they might have sold three years before,” say Zwonitzer and Hirshberg.

All things considered, the Atlanta recordings sound like people just trying to hang on in rough times. Sara had started an affair with A.P.’s cousin Coy; their marriage would be over within a year. Coy would move to California, leaving Sara, and Sara would move back in with her family, a day’s walk from A.P. and her children.

The next 11 tracks they cut (we’ve done Sweet as the Flowers in Maytime and Will the Roses Bloom in Heaven so far) in October 1932 in New Jersey were the final months of their 17-year marriage.

“Will the Roses Bloom in Heaven” Key: A or G,...

Mon, 07 May 2012 10:57:00 -0400

“Will the Roses Bloom in Heaven”

Key: A or G, don’t remember

Recorded Saturday, May 5, 2012

Just the two of us on this one, again, with Ben underfoot. Recording does become more of a challenge with a two-year-old in the room. Unless we record all of our C.F. songs during his brief afternoon nap, our faithful listeners will have to deal with a certain amount of Ben’s observations on these recordings. He calls both CD’s and the Carter Family “CC’s.”

The original of this one was recorded October 12, 1932 in Camden, NJ. After their previous session, the noticeably tight, focused February, 1932 recordings in Atlanta, the Carters turned in more lackluster performances in Camden. This song, a typical “dying child” waltz, had Sara singing like she’d rather be almost anywhere else, possibly even in a dentist chair. To say this song is kind of maudlin would be like saying whipped cream is a bit on the sweet side. We haven’t done any research on songs lately, but this is probably an old vaudeville tune. Another guess would be that A.P. put several old vaudeville tunes in a blender and this is what he came up with. It’s got all the favorite C.F. themes, repeated in many, many of their songs in slightly different arrangements. The fact that the themes—flowers, death, mother—were repeating so regularly and predictably by 1932, after five years of recording together, might be one of the reasons why they sound half asleep.

We usually try to do one, and only one, take of these songs. We don’t have a lot of time, we’re trying to be “authentic” and the C.F. often only did one take, and we’ve found that usually the first take is the best one, even if later takes have less mistakes. What we’re after here is spirit and spontaneity, not perfection. But in the case of this song, we did two takes, and this is the second take. The first one just dragged too much (my fault, not Leigh’s) and Ben kept trying to turn off the mic.

I have a trouble singing songs about dying children. I used to sing them all the time, and with great enthusiasm. I didn’t take them personally. But now that we have Ben, the whole genre of dying children—and it was a very, very popular genre in the nineteenth century—gives me the shakes. For real. So the ONLY way I can sing them now is to think of them as if they are old silent movies, with over the top, melodramatic acting. So that’s what I’m going for here with the old vocal cords. Whether it works or not, you can judge for yourself. Try thinking of an old, flickering, over-exposed Lillian Gish movie and my singing may go down easier.

80!

Sat, 05 May 2012 12:32:00 -0400

We didn’t realize ‘til now that “We Will March Through the Streets of the City” (see below) was the 80th Carter Family Project song we’ve recorded since June 20 of last year.

Thanks to all of our friends who’ve played thus so far. Long way to go, still, but 80 is pretty good.

“Sweet As the Flowers In Maytime” Key: G (what...

Sat, 05 May 2012 12:14:00 -0400

“Sweet As the Flowers In Maytime”

Key: G (what else?)

Recorded Tuesday, May 1, 2012.

We’re doing this chronologically, and how perfect that this song about May should come up on May 1! We’re happy it’s May, and are looking forward to happier days, without things like debilitating back pain. I had no trouble playing guitar on this one (although I kind of botched the break—SUE ME), so things are getting better.

This is just Leigh and me.

“We Will March Through the Streets of the...

Fri, 04 May 2012 15:57:00 -0400

“We Will March Through the Streets of the City”

Recorded Sunday, April 29, 2012

Key: G

Doug Hatt and Diane Stockwell paid us a visit last Sunday afternoon. They had just finished playing at Nolita House in LITTLE ITALY (I refuse to call it Nolita) for FOUR straight hours. Their band is called Fresh Baked. They play there every Sunday.

Because of my back pain, I haven’t been playing and man, am I rusty. Also, I’m way too close to the mic, so this track is washed with my mandolin, apologies to Doug and Diane.

Guests:

Diane Stockwell, fiddle

Doug Hatt, guitar

Other "Never Grow Old" versions. There are a lot.

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 19:32:00 -0400

My uncle, Will Lashley, comments:

““Never Grow Old” is one of my personal favorites. Great versions: George Pegram (Rounder #00001 !!), Johnny Cash, Patty Griffin (Downtown Church), Aretha Franklin (the endless live version), Ralph Stanley, Stanley Brothers. Blue Sky Boys (Live on the Radio), Alfred G. Karnes (Mountain Gospel), Sid Harkreader, Ray Deaton & Anita Fischer, the Kingsmen (get down!), Carl Town, The Lewis Family (Pop Lewis sang this one, glory to his memory!), the Handsome Family (they do portions of it when they perform “Grandmother Waits For You” in concert), and, of course, the Carter Family.”

Will, a documentary filmmaker who’s working on a film about old-time and bluegrass, knows his stuff.

“Where We’ll Never Grow Old” Recorded April...

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:24:00 -0400

“Where We’ll Never Grow Old”

Recorded April 15th, 2012

The second song we did last Sunday. That’s Michael Fagan on that first lovely guitar break and Nancy Hunt on harmony vocals.

BONUS HIDDEN TRACK! Kate Prascher singing “Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow” and playing mandolin. Kate has a girl band (though Brad is sitting in for a few months while one Sister is away) called the Wildwood Sisters. Kate teaches the fourth grade at P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights. She has a voice that is…killer, but still sweet. Which about sums up mountain singing.

Guest Star credits:

Nancy Hunt: Harmony Vocals

Andy Hunt: guitar

Rick Shields: fiddle

Michael Fagan: guitar

Kate Prascher: mandolin and lead vocals on “Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow”

Brad Klein: mandolin

“Tell Me That You Love Me” Recorded April 15th,...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:43:00 -0400

“Tell Me That You Love Me”

Recorded April 15th, 2012

So! After a several-month hiatus, we were feeling perky enough this past Sunday to have a few pickers over for sandwiches and leftover cupcakes. (Left over from Ben’s two-year birthday party the day before. I’d made cupcakes from a mix and they overflowed the cups and burned onto the stove. CURSE YOU BAREFOOT CONTESSA! This was at 9 AM with 15 little toddler friends coming over at 9:30. Luckily we live in Cobble Hill, which boasts a glut of artisanal bakeries that will sell you 18 cupcakes for $50. Hey, when it’s your kid’s birthday party you’ll jump through hoops made of flaming money. (Other interesting things about living in a wealthy neighborhood—even if you yourself are not wealthy: 1) There is a company that will pick up your vomited-on car seat, “detail” it, and return it to you. I think this is a great service to mankind. 2) At our local indoor playspace, I saw a woman give $15 (a ten and a five) to a nineteen-month-old to play with. Natch, the money was lost in ten minutes. She shrugged. When she and her kid left, a nanny and I practically tore that place apart looking for the $15. I think I elbowed the nanny in the face.)

Anyway, there were a lot of leftover cupcakes, because no mother really wants her kid eating cupcakes at 9 in the morning. Brad, a regular at the CFP, brought over his pal Kate, a new addition to the CFP and one-half of the Wildwood Sisters. The other half is out of town for a few months, so Brad has been a honorary Sister, opening for Michael Daves’ bluegrass jam at the Parkside Lounge on Houston Street. Next gig: May 7th, 8:30pm.

You can hear Fran explaining the M.O. of the CFP to Kate at the end: “Now we do it 30 more times, and then you sing a song with no rehearsal!” Which Kate gamely did, by the way, so stay tuned for a killer version of “Bury Me Beneath the Willow.”

Ben stayed pretty quiet during this take—we’d balanced the mic on top of some of his boxes, on top of a mandolin case, on top of the stool, and he was occupied with trying to stuff his trains into the boxes—making a “chugga chugga house”— without knocking over the whole shebang. What could go wrong, right?

Also, note Rick trying to end the song early. Nice try, Rick.

“Tell Me That You Love Me” guest credits:

Nancy Hunt: Harmony Vocals

Andy Hunt: guitar

Rick Shields: fiddle

Michael Fagan: guitar

Kate Prascher: mandolin

Brad Klein: mandolin

“The Wonderful City” (Outtake) Recorded October 22,...

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 09:44:03 -0400

“The Wonderful City” (Outtake)

Recorded October 22, 2011

An outtake from our October 22, 2011 session with Jen Larson on guitar and harmony, and Charlie Shaw on snare.

Are we BACK? Hmm. I still can’t play stringed instruments because of back pain, so we’re uploading some stuff we had in the can. Because we’re committed to recording every Carter song in the original order, we can’t put a lot of this stuff up until we record the tunes that are coming up next. Stay tuned, as they say…

“I Never Loved But One” Recorded Sunday, December...

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 13:21:43 -0400

“I Never Loved But One”

Recorded Sunday, December 11, 2011.

Guest Stars:

Andrew Hunt: Rhythm guitar

Nancy Hunt: Harmony vocals

Jen Larson: Bystander (she had just arrived)

The Red One Himself

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:05:28 -0500

The Red One Himself

Trucks

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 13:00:00 -0500

Trucks

The Kitchen

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:53:49 -0500

The Kitchen