Carlene Carter is one of the most underrated hillbilly lady singers of all time. Her L.A. appearances are almost as rare as world peace, so here's your chance to catch her live and donate a few bucks to your fellow human beings...
ROYALTY, musical or otherwise, does not come much more down to earth than Carlene Carter...
With country great Johnny Cash for a stepfather and June Carter Cash as her mother, Carlene Carter embodies a tradition that a large crowd turned out to honour on Thursday...
The Thunderbolt is already busting at the seams when Carlene Carter takes the stage, but her personality fills every last corner the room. "And I am on rare form tonight," she warns with a campfire crackle before launching into a 90-minute set of her maverick C&W. With just her own guitar and pianoman Mike Emerson as accompaniment, she grabs the evening by the scruff of the neck. Her setlist is a positive roadmap to country music over the last few decades...
Walk The Line told the story of Johnny Cash and his tempestuous love affair with the woman who was to become his wife - singer/songwriter June Carter. One person who watched at close quarters the courtship between Cash and Carter was June’s daughter (from her marriage to singer Carl Smith) Carlene Carter...
The gifted singer-songwriter has had a tough row to hoe over the last decade, kicking drug addiction and enduring the deaths of several loved ones, including both her parents - country legends June Carter Cash and Carl Smith. But in 2008 she rebounded with the appropriately titled “Stronger,’’ and it’s encouraging to see, with this gig in Fall River, she’s still going.
When my folks brought me to the Grand Ole Opry for the first time in 1954, there was no hotter country singer on the planet than Carl Smith. That fall, he would have his fifth #1 record in the Billboard charts, “Loose Talk.” He was already well-known for such classics as “I Overlooked An Orchid,” “Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way,” “Don’t Just Stand There,” “Hey Joe,” and others...
A conversation with country music veteran Carlene Carter sounds a great deal like her songs. She's honest, reflective and without pretension. The daughter of June Carter Cash and country music pioneer Carl Smith, as well as granddaughter of the great Maybelle Carter and stepdaughter of Johnny Cash, has carried on the Carter family music tradition with her sterling brand of real-deal country since she went solo in the late '70s...
Only Webb Pierce, Eddy Arnold and Hank Snow had more success on the Billboard country chart in the 1950s than Mr. Smith, who had 58 consecutive Top 40 hits on that chart from 1951 to 1965. The first 21 of these, including the No. 1 singles “Hey Joe!,” “Loose Talk” and “Let Old Mother Nature Have Her Way,” reached the Top 10...
Master honky-tonk stylist Carl Smith, the dashing “Country Gentleman” who was among the most successful Nashville-based artists of the 1950s, died Saturday, Jan. 16 at his home in Franklin...
Two singers with ties to the “Man in Black” will be headlining the third annual Johnny Cash Flower Pickin’ Festival. Grammy-nominated Carlene Carter, daughter of Cash’s wife and companion June Carter Cash, and Justin Townes Earle, son of country and folk singer and long-time Cash friend Steve Earle, will be the headlining performers for this year’s festival, which is set for Oct. 16 to 18...
Carter, who died in 1978 at age 69, would have turned 100 on May 10. In addition to all three of her daughters, several of Maybelle’s grandchildren also have made impacts on music, most notably Carlene Carter and John Carter Cash.
"I always wanted to be the rockin'est country chick in the universe," Carlene Carter declared toward the end of the hour. Some would say she's succeeded and on her own terms...
Singer and songwriter Carlene Carter, a prodigy child of Country music royalty, will open for classic Country singing treasure Mark Chesnutt in an 8 p.m. concert on Friday, June 19, during the 2009 edition of the Shasta District Fair...
Speaking of family, here is a rarity: Two heirs to the Carter Family name, cousins Dale Jett and Carlene Carter, together on stage, singing the finale song "Keep on the Sunny Side," made famous by A.P., Sara and Maybelle, the Carter Family.
Carlene Carter, standard bearer of the first family of country music, The Carter Family, will make her first appearance at the SXSW Music Conference with a panel on songwriting and a live Direct TV performance the whole country can enjoy...
Carlene Carter brought country warmth Friday to Littleton, playing traditional standards, cuts from her new CD, "Stronger," and sharing the legacy of her mother, June Carter, her step-father, Johnny Cash, as well as her father, country pioneer Carl Smith...
Her songs, then, have a certain authentic texture, born of bitter experience, that is worthy of her amazingly resilient instrument, a genetic wonder...
This is the way Carlene Carter figures it: Her crazy-quilt of a life, which has included giving birth to a daughter at age 16, two teen marriages, stints in jail, a drug addiction that dogged her on and off for decades, and a hard-earned reputation as The First Family of Country Music's resident rebel, is rich songwriting material...
The granddaughter of Maybelle Carter, daughter of June Carter and Carl Smith and stepdaughter of Johnny Cash, she comes from a rich country music family and legacy. The Tennessee native is currently in the planning stages for a forthcoming mini-series about Maybelle Carter, and she also hopes to collaborate with John McFee on a tribute CD to her father Carl Smith...
Despite releasing one of 2008’s seminal albums, Stronger, the heiress to the Carter-Cash legacy (she’s the daughter of June Carter Cash and Carl Smith, and the step-daughter of Johnny) has elected to forgo the trappings of Nashville for her Santa Barbara County home...
She grew up the child of country music royalty, performed often with her mother and stepfather, June Carter and Johnny Cash, and built her own successful career over 30 years as a solo artist...
This country has produced few musical clans as talented as the Carter-Cashes, and the tools of the family trade have clearly been passed down to Carlene. Carter's voice, much like the singer/songwriter herself, seems simultaneously fragile and robust. At 53, despite all her years of wild living, Carter can still go from a growl to a breathtaking alto in mid-lyric. And the melodies she crafts can make even songs with the saddest subject matter sound uplifting...
It's not easy for Carlene Carter to visit the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville. For her, it's full of ghosts. "I get very emotional when I go into that building," the singer admits, "especially when I go into that room where all the plaques are. I get overwhelmed when I realize how important they were to everyone else, because when I was growing up they were just Grandma, Mom, John and Daddy. I have such pride in my heritage and such fond memories, but now most of them are gone..."
As the daughter of honky-tonk legend Carl Smith and June Carter--and the step-daughter of Johnny Cash--Carlene Carter was born into country music royalty. Sidetracked by personal demons and losses, she's back and still carrying on the family tradition...
"Stronger," her first new album in a decade, touches everyone who hears it. Carter's emotional tribute to the mother, sister and stepfather she lost in 2003 reveals the personal strengths that allow her to face the future with joy...
Carlene Carter, Stronger (Yep Roc). After bottoming out on drugs and alcohol, the daughter of June Carter Cash and stepdaughter of Johnny Cash is back with her first album in 13 years, and it exudes the vivacious intelligence and charm of her popular early-'90s work...
The amazingly resolute Carter became well known for her feisty attitude and a string of rock and rockabilly-styled hits in the 1980s and early '90s, which helped her carry on a family musical tradition that dates back nearly a century...
"As we get older and learn from our mistakes, or learn from our lessons, or learn from whatever we get stronger if we're smart. And I'm a genius, so there you have it!" After that statement, the laughter rang out over the phone line between California and Maine as country/rock singer-songwriter Carlene Carter called to chat about her new album, "Stronger"...
With the exception of the opening track, "The Bitter End," every song on Carlene Carter's latest CD, "Stronger," was written by Carter alone. Although this seems like a departure from her past records, Carter hinted that wasn't exactly the case. "Here's a secret I'll probably get in trouble for saying..."
Carlene Carter said "It Takes One To Know Me" was one of the most emotional songs to record on her new CD. She wrote it as a birthday gift to her stepfather, Johnny Cash, when she was 18. "I thought, 'What do you give Johnny Cash as a birthday gift?'" she said...
"I write songs that matter to me, and that's what it's all about," says Carlene Carter. Her new album, "Stronger," is earning rave reviews...
Carlene Carter opened her ninety-minute set at Seattle Washington’s The Triple Door with, “I Love You Cuz,” a tune which featured some solid acoustic guitar riffs from Carter, great boogie-woogie piano by Mike Emerson, and a vocal call and response between Carter, Emerson and rhythm guitarist Sean Allen...
Carlene Carter should have been a huge star. The daughter of country greats June Carter and Carl Smith, she has more songwriting and vocal talent than most of today’s newbies would know what to do with...
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,” has that legacy woven tightly into its fabric of rocking country tunes, powerful ballads, and tender love songs...
She poured her heartache into a comeback album, Stronger. The sassy livewire of her early years still shoots out sparks on occasion, but Stronger reveals a newly matured artist who presses on with a humbled heart...
As country music royalty -- a third-generation member of the musical Carter clan -- singer Carlene Carter's pedigree is unquestionable, and her legacy secure...
Carlene Carter surprised a lot of people with her successful comeback from personal tragedies with Stronger. "Survivor" is an overused word in show business, but it accurately describes Carter. She's back with a solid release -- 13 years after her last album. Good for her.
I think the world is still reeling from when Carlene Carter burst forth from Nashville royalty with her self-titled debut in 1978. Was there ever a more promising prodigy? Daughter of June Carter and 'Mister Country' Carl Smith and raised by June and Big John, Carlene was a dazzling blonde bombshell to boot...
"I just did some dates with Elvis [Costello] and he said the sweetest thing to me: 'We were all trying to figure out who we were. You always knew who you were but people tried to make you be something else."'
"The next project for John McFee and me is the tribute album to my dad with some really cool people," Carter enthused. "I've got Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Rodney Crowell, Vince Gill and Terri Clark. I love to ask others. Dad is 81 now and he's rocking like hell. Everything seems very positive."
Carlene’s new album, Stronger, is a poignant testimony of her unique ability as a songwriter to craft compositions filled with palpable emotion, and this therapeutic work has resulted in some of the best material she’s ever written, in my opinion...
Anybody who's not touched by reflective moments like "Bring Love" or the mournful-yet-uplifting title track must be a coldhearted creature indeed...
There's not a dud note in earshot here, whether she's essaying high-stepping, Burrito-esque hillbilly rockers or more traditional-toned pieces in mandolin, dobro and autoharp. Comeback of the year, no contest...
Comeback Album Of The Year! It's something of a minor miracle that this talented and feisty lady has emerged from the brink of personal demons to deliver an album of hope, optimism and such high quality. If there was any kind of justice in the music world, this would be all over the mainstream country radio airwaves...
It's been a long, long time since one of the heirs of the Carter Family heritage has been heard from musically... But now Carlene Carter is back in a big way on a small, but respected indie label, Yep Roc, with the release of the appropriately titled and highly personal "Stronger."
Musically speaking, Carter sounds as strong as she’s ever been. A magnificent, and welcome, return...
After Drug Problems and Deaths of Loved Ones, She Faces Life With Humor and a Firm Resolve...
She returns with a confident new album grounded in the bedrock country that is her birthright as a member of the storied Carter family. Here's hoping she's home to stay...
She Is Stronger in a Personal and Musical Return...
Pain and loss were the singer's constant companions. But the daughter of June Carter Cash found the strength to return to songwriting...
"I'm so cool," Carlene Carter brags, with her usual wink, on the frisky number of the same title from her first album in 13 years. Back in the early '90s, the daughter of June Carter Cash and stepdaughter of Johnny Cash really did seem like the coolest chick in country. Now back on her feet - and a grandmother, to boot - the former Mrs. Nick Lowe sounds as if she is again...
The former author of “Little Love Letters” is stronger now and could write a book with what she knows. Good thing for us that she’s made a record instead because she’s a first-rate performer and songwriter...
Carter's first album since 1995 is, indeed, one of her strongest albums ever; it's certainly her most personal...
"Stronger," out Tuesday, has the kick and luster of Carter's best songs from the '80s and '90s. It's an ironically joyous, even witty CD, filled with the kind of rollicking roots rock that extends the great American legacy that lives in Carter's genes...
Stronger is one of her best and most personal albums to date. She's made a disc that's as lively as her music of the '80s and '90s without sidestepping the emotional gravity that informs her new material. Stronger shows she still has spunk and fire to spare, while also revealing a hard-won maturity and strength that richly, truly earns her the over-used appellation of "survivor"...
CHECK THIS OUT: The title cut is an emotionally moving tribute to the singer's younger sister, the late Rosey Carter, that will melt the coldest of hearts...
If there were ever a story to break your heart, Carlene Carter could tell it to you...
While definitely among Carter's best work, it may well stand as one of the best albums of this year...
Carter holds nothing back, and in the full-frontal performances shows the mettle that makes her a true crucible of June Carter Cash’s legacy. With “It Takes On To Know Me,” originally written for stepfather Johnny Cash, the dandelion-voiced songstress calls her own fouls, owns the detours and recognizes that not all lives are lived in straight lines...
By fusing catchy choruses with downhome twang and sweet harmonies, Carter deftly straddles the fence between classic country and pop. Welcome her back...
She's crafted a solid album reflecting on her losses and celebrating the love that got her through the tough times. Carter has always had a knack for mixing pop, country-rock and traditional sounds, and here she pulls it off again. The emotional centerpiece is the title cut, which recalls her departed sister. Carter's stark, brave vocals are nothing short of stunning...
This isn’t Carter coming back, this is our fair lady roaring back, in touch with the press on spirit that guided her mom and led her granny to invent country music. This is the kind of hard charging music you want to release into today’s deconstructed music business if you really want to make an impact. Betcha this is the comeback story of the year...
Carlene Carter, Stronger (out March 4): First album in more than a decade for the Carter Family scionette and rebel country star, after a succession of travails, so it's great to hear her again. Maybe not quite the sass of her younger days (understandably), but plenty of fine uptempo material and affecting ballads.
Carlene Carter will release Stronger, her first album of new material since 1995, on Yep Roc Records early next year...
Nashville, TN -- Carlene Carter is putting the finishing touches on her latest album, "Stronger." It should come out early next year...
Rather than quit music, the country rocker with the blue ribbon pedigree poured her broken heart into writing songs for a new album, "Stronger," her first collection of new material in 11 years...
Carter’s 1990 comeback album found her making the transition from Rockpile babe to Heartbreakers babe with some cats like Dave Edmunds and Albert Lee along to blur the lines. Since Americana, 3A and roots were just marketing concepts on the horizon, this rocking, often rockabilly set got lumped under country where it fueled Carter’s most impressive commercial showing of her career (hopefully, this reissue will fuel the reissue of her follow up album which was her most satisfying album). This kick off to a great second act of her career is simply a fun, spirited set that holds a lot of charm and appeal and is ripe for rediscovery.
After a lifetime of highs and lows, Carlene Carter finds the key to survival at the core of her family tradition...
Miranda wrote or co-write eight of the eleven songs on the new disc, and she called on some pretty high-profile writers to round out the album. Patty Griffin and Gillian Welch contributed their works to the collection, and the closing song "Easy From Now On" was written by Carlene Carter and Susanna Clark and recorded by Emmylou Harris on her Quarter Moon In A Ten Cent Town album in 1978...
Miss Carlene's first CD of original material in a whopping 11 years finds her refreshed and still full of crackling fire. Her voice is a bit deeper now, richer in spots, and she's obviously done with her troubled past, which she puts to rest on the prophetic title cut. But for the edgy country-rocker you once knew, home in on "The Bitter End," "I'm So Cool" (dig that electric guitar!) and the sprightly "Break My Little Heart." The disc's available at www.carlenecarterfanclub.com.
...she is related to both Carl Smith and the Carter Family on her father’s side, and Carlene’s “Me and the Wildwood Rose” was a big influence, as was Dolly Parton’s “Coat of Many Colors.”
Carlene Carter and Joe Brown-- The daughter of the late legend June Carter Cash followed a wedding ceremony on the late Johnny Cash's Jamaican estate with a reception at the 15th hole of the Ritz-Carlton Golf and Spa Resort.
Music City fans offered a very warm reception to CARLENE CARTER on her return to full-tilt, band-backed club performing at the large modern honky tonk the Nashville Palace on August 26. She was in terrific form, salty and aggressive and in good voice, and winningly edgy again. Carlene came up with a new mix of rocking hits from her late '70s/early '80s chart heyday ("Every Little Thing", "I'm So Cool"), more traditional, acoustic Carter Family material ("Dixie Darlin'"), and a number of fine-sounding and varied new ballads, rockers and blues songs she's written for an upcoming CD, Stronger, produced by brother John Carter Cash and expected to be released next year.
Carlene Carter looked happy and sober and sounded better than ever. (Photo with article on link below.)
After a career that makes Courtney Love look like a PTA mom, Carlene Carter (grandchild of Maybelle, daughter of June) rebounded with a boisterous show that included tunes from her initial '80s heyday ("Cry"), her brush with mainstream stardom ("I Fell in Love") and a smattering of promising selections from her forthcoming Stronger.
Carlene attended opening night of the Broadway musical of Johnny Cash songs--full story on the PLAYBILL link below...
Full story and photos at the link below. Also see "Carlene Carter Enjoys Wedding In Jamaica," and "Jamaica Regains Celebrity Status." The wedding was also reported in the March 27 issue of Country Weekly magazine.
She Stars In New Musical As Her Mother, June Carter Cash...
Wildwood Flowers Stars Her Daughter Carlene Carter...
She was as sure as a sure thing can be in Nashville back in 1978. Carlene Carter was 22, starlet-stunning, had a crystal-pure mountain voice and wore some of the best-fitting genes in Music City...
"Everybody just assumed it would be a country album," says Carlene Carter. "You know, Carter Family girl, lives in Nashville, picks guitar, writes songs..."