The Carter Family - Volume 2: 1935-1941 (CD)

Ralph Peer 'discoverered' the Carters - already experienced musicians - in one of his recording trawls of the South. He continued to supervise their work for Victor and acted as their manager and publisher. In 1935, Peer left Victor to join ARC. The Carters followed him. ARC was big time. They released new material on their own labels and through stores chains - Sears, for example sold ARC output on the Conqueror label. Peer had secured a contract for 40 songs, and recording was expected to take a week. We open with those sessions. There was some re-recording of Victor work, but there is also much that is new. The first day yielded three songs - ascribed as usual to AP. At least one, Sinking In The Lonesome Sea, has roots in the English folk tradition. Can the Circle Be Unbroken had been recorded for Victor - but had not been released. It sold well for ARC. Notable from this session is Sad And Lonesome Day, uncannily close to Blind Lemon Jefferson's See My Grave Is Kept Clean. Also to achieve enduring fame are My Texas Girl and Gospel Ship which has become a church standard throughout the South. Both black and white non-conformist movements can lay claim to it's origins. A reminder that distinct as the Blues and Country traditions are now, they were inextricably intertwined. The most notable feature of the Carter's work at this time was the evolution of Sara and Maybelle as singers of power and profundity, as evidenced on both Single Girl, Married Girl and Keep On The Sunny Side. The Fate Of Dewey Lee is a murder drama based on real life. Lee's family asked for the song not to be released. They were too late. This seems genuinely to have caused AP anguish. In later years he is said to have sung the song with some reluctance. This collection follows the Carters through several changes of label, marital strife and their triumphant transfer to 'border radio'. No collector with an interest in American music and it's origins should be without it.

Track List:

Disc: 1

1. Glory to the Lamb
2. Behind Those Stone Walls
3. Sinking in the Lonesome Sea
4. He Took a White Rose from Her Hair
5. Can the Circle Be Unbroken (Bye and Bye)
6. Let's Be Lovers Again
7. Your Mother Still Prays (For You Jack)
8. Kissing Is a Crime
9. Don't Forget Me Little Darling
10. Sad and Lonesome Day
11. By the Touch of Her Hand
12. East Virginia Blues No.2
13. My Old Virginia Home
14. My Virginia Rose Is Blooming
15. My Texas Girl
16. No Other's Bride I'll Be
17. Gathering Flowers from the Hillside
18. Gospel Ship
19. Little Black Train
20. Keep on the Sunny Side
21. River of Jordan
22. Lonsesome Vally
23. God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign
24. Single Girl, Married Girl
25. The Fate of Dewey Lee
26. Wildwood Flower

Disc: 2

1. Sea of Galilee
2. Don't Forget This Song
3. My Clinch Mountain Home
4. The Storms Are on the Ocean
5. Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone
6. Broken Hearted Lover
7. Little Darling Pal of Mine
8. The Homestead on the Farm
9. Cannon Ball Blues
10. Meet Me By the Moonlight Alone
11. On the Rock Where Moses Stood
12. Lulu Walls
13. I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes
14. Worried Man Blues
15. My Dixie Darling
16. Give Me Your Love and I'll Give You Mine
17. Are You Lonseome Tonight?
18. The Last Move for Me
19. The Wayworn Traveller
20. Just Another Broken Heart
21. When Silver Threads Are Gold Again
22. There's No One Like Mother to Me
23. In a Little Village Churchyard
24. Jealous Hearted Me

Disc: 3

1. My Native Home
2. Sweet Heaven in My View
3. No Depression
4. Bonny Blue Eyes
5. My Honey Lou
6. In the Shadow of the Eyes
7. Answer to Weeping Willow
8. You've Been a Friend to Me
9. Where the Silvery Colorado Wends It's Way
10. Lay My Head Beneath the Rose
11. The Broken Down Tramp
12. Lover's Lane
13. Hold Fast to the Right
14. Lord I'm in Your Care
15. Funny When You Feel That Way
16. In the Shadow of Clinch Mountain
17. Hello Stranger
18. Never Let the Devil Get the Upper Hand of You
19. When This Evening Sun Goes Down
20. Jim Blake's Message
21. Honey in the Rock
22. Look How This World Has Made a Change
23. The Little Girl That Played on My Knee
24. You Better Let That Liar Alone
25. Farewell Nellie
26. The Only Girl (I Ever Cared About)

Disc: 4

1. Goodbye to the Plains
2. My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains
3. Dark Haired True Lover
4. He Never Came Back
5. Happy in the Prison
6. Walking in the King's Highway
7. St. Regious Girl
8. Just a Few More Days
9. Bring Back My Boy
10. It Is Better Farther on
11. Charlie and Nellie
12. Cuban Soldier
13. The Heart That Was Broken for Me
14. You're Nothing More to Me
15. Stern Old Bachelor
16. Little Joe
17. Reckless Motorman
18. You Denied Your Love
19. Oh Take Me Back
20. You Are My Flower
21. Who's That Knocking at My Window
22. They Call Her Mother
23. Coal Miner's Blues
24. Young Freda Bolt
25. Little Poplar Log House on the Hill
26. The Dying Mother
27. Buddies in the Saddle

Disc: 5

1. Heaven's Radio
2. Beautiful Home
3. There'll Be No Distinction There
4. Give Him One More As He Goes
5. Lonesome for You Darling
6. Blackie's Gunman
7. You've Got to Righten That Wrong
8. Meeting in the Air
9. My Home Among the Hills
10. Black Jack David
11. Look Away from the Cross
12. We Shall Rise
13. I Found You Among the Roses
14. Bear Creek Blues
15. I'll Never Forsake You
16. Beautiful Isle O'er the Sea
17. It's a Long Road to Travel Alone
18. Why Do You Cry, Little Darling
19. Lonesome Homesick Blues
20. Dark and Stormy Weather
21. In the Valley of the Shenandoah
22. The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore
23. Something Got a Hold of Me
24. Fifty Miles of Elbow Room
25. Keep on the Firing Line
26. The Wave on the Sea
27. The Rambling Boy