The youngest daughter of Mother Maybelle, Anita Carter (1933-99) pursued a long and fruitful career, both as a second generation Carter Family member, and as a solo artist and songwriter. From childhood she was part of the Carter Family, both in its original incarnation and as part of the reconstituted version called Mother Maybelle & The Carter Sisters (and later as "The Carter Family"). Starting in the 1950s, she recorded as a solo singer and in a trio with some other other country-royalty gals (as Nita, Rita & Ruby) and as a duet partner for country elder Hank Snow and the up-and-coming Waylon Jennings. Emerging as a solo performer in the early 1960s, she moved into material that was more in line with the contemporary folk scene, then slowly shifted into the 'Seventies countrypolitan style, though chart success proved elusive. Sadly, Anita Carter had longterm health problems which ultimately resulted in severe organ damage, and in her final years was placed in hospice care at Johnny and June's home in Tennessee, passing away at a relatively young age, after an exceptionally active and highly productive career. Here's a quick look at her work...
Discography - Albums
Anita Carter & Hank Snow "Together Again" (RCA Victor, 1962) (LP)
(Produced by Chet Atkins & Bill Porter)
On her first "solo" album, Anita Carter reunited with country elder Hank Snow... They'd been paired together in the mid-1950s, and had a hit version of "Bluebird Island" way back in 1951, though sadly that track is not included here. The album is heavily anchored in the slick, smooth, often-reviled, pop-crossover "Nashville Sound" pioneered by producer Chet Atkins, particularly with the sightly goofy "vibraharp" work of Marvin Hughes, which overwhelmingly dominates the arrangements, as well some fairly trite "ooh-wahh, ooh-wahh" backing vocals from several unspecified Carter Family members. Nonetheless, it's a pretty nice record. Carter and Snow share a similar musical origin, her coming from the polished-up ruralism of the Carter Family, and him with a background in the deeply corny, old-fashioned pre-honky tonk sounds of his Canadian youth. They each understand and embrace the shameless sentimentality of the older country styles, and harmonize beautifully on chestnuts such as "No Letter Today," "My Adobe Hacienda," "I Never Will Marry" and "When My Blue Moon Turns To Gold Again," as well as on slightly more risque material like the cheating song, "Promised To John," which kicks things off. Although this is basically a tame-sounding Nashville Sound album, she manages to imbue a few passages with a light rural roughness, almost imperceptible, but still there to remind us all of her deep rural roots. You do have to get on their wavelength, but this is a very worthy album.
Anita Carter "Anita Carter Sings Folk Songs Old & New" (Mercury Records, 1963) (LP)
(Produced by Selby Coffeen & Tom Sparkman)
While her sister June leaned into a harder country sound touring with Johnny Cash, in her own solo career Anita Carter was initially pitched as a folk artist, capitalizing on the 'Sixties folk boom. Several of the older traditional tunes are composer-credited to various Carter Family members, while the new "folk songs" include the original version of June Carter and Merle Kilgore's song, "Love's Ring Of Fire" as well as another Merle Kilgore composition, "Sour Grapes." Country fans may find this work a little less satisfying than her later countrypolitan albums, but both styles suited Anita's pure, crystalline tone. Certainly worth a spin!
Anita Carter "Anita Of The Carter Family" (Mercury Records, 1964) (LP)
(Produced by Milt Okun & Bill Schwartau)
A couple of the Carter Sisters revisit the Carter Family legacy, once again seen through the filter of the 'Sixties folk movement, with prim arrangements from producer Milt Okun and backing from classical guitarist Ernest Calabria, bluegrass guitarist Bob Johnson, and Eric Weissberg on six-string and 12-string guitar. Though credited as an Anita Carter solo set, her sister Helen gets almost co-equal billing on the back, and provides a trilling harmony and backing vocals throughout. It's pleasant, but a bit genteel and feels a bit like a musical museum piece, subtly lacking the boisterous pop of the early Carter Family sound.
Anita Carter "So Much Love" (Capitol Records, 1972) (LP)
(Produced by Pete Drake)
A fairly florid country-folk outing... Anita Carter made her move into modern times with reasonable aplomb, though: the opening track, a lush, moody version of Linda Hargrove's "How To Be A Woman," has an almost Joni Mitchell-like density to it. Overall this is pretty slushy, but fans of the Carters, and of countrypolitan folk may want to check this disc out. The album's most uptempo number is the closer "Walk Out Of My Mind," which sports some groovy southern rock-flavored slide guitar. It's worth noting that between her folk phase and this album, Anita Carter briefly returned to RCA Victor and scored a couple of her biggest country hits, with "I'm Gonna Leave You" (one of her own compositions) and "I Got You," a duet with the pre-outlaw Waylon Jennings which peaked at #4 on the Billboard charts. Sadly, RCA didn't use that momentum to green-light another Anita Carter album, and she drifted around for a couple of years before edging her way back into the charts with a 1971 Capitol single called "Tulsa Country," which led to this album, though oddly that tune isn't included here. Thank goodness for reissue records!
Anita Carter "Yesterday" (House Of Cash, 1995)
(Produced by David Ferguson & David Shipley)
Her final album, recorded a few years before she passed away, this is another big family reunion, with Johnny and June Cash onboard as executive producers, and Johnny chiming in on guitar. Helen Carter also contributes backing vocals, as well as Anita's daughter, Lorrie Carter Bennett, and John Carter Cash rounding out the family group. Not surprisingly, there's a ton of top Nashville talent involved, most notably Chet Atkins playing lead guitar and Jack Clement on dobro, as well as stalwarts such as Roy Huskey Jr., Kenny Malone and Pat McLaughlin and several other fellas whose names are less familiar but who might have been in the House Of Cash/Carter Family orbit.
Discography - Best-Ofs
Anita Carter "Appalachian Angel" (Bear Family Records, 2004)
Wow. This massive 7-CD set covers all aspects of her career and while it's probably for diehard fans only, it is an amazing document of a likeable but little-known artist. Completists will rejoice to find such a comprehensive set, while the just-curious among us might want to try out the more modest single-disc options first...
Anita Carter "Ring Of Fire" (Bear Family Records, 1994)
This single-CD set focusses on Carter's solo work, combining two folk-oriented albums that came out in the early '60s on the Mercury label... It includes her 1962 recording of the classic, "Ring Of Fire," which was the original version of a song that later became a huge hit for Johnny Cash. (The Cash rendition also featured Mother Maybelle & The Carter Sisters singing backup...) Generally speaking, these albums hew to the folkier side of things, packed with traditional tunes such as "Fair And Tender Ladies," "Bury Me Beneath The Willow Tree" and "Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye." Although Mercury was hoping to tap into the folk boom of the early 'Sixties, the first album didn't do well commercially and as a consequence they felt freer to go a little more country on the second album. It's a little more fun, though, honestly, both albums seem a little stuffy to me. It'd be nice if Bear Family (or somebody here in the States) could also come up with a single-disc collection of Anita Carter's more country-sounding material as well, but this folkie-oriented album will certainly be of interest to fans.
Anita Carter "Songbird" (Omni Recording Company, 2009)
The sweetest voice and the fairest face of the fabled Carter Family, Anita Carter performed with the family band from early childhood on... Although she is best known as part of the trio that backed Mother Maybelle, and as a member of Johnny Cash's 1970s roadshow, Anita also recorded a modest amount of solo material -- not much, but enough to show that she was a major musical talent. Had the mellow, folk-tinged countrypolitan sound of the '70s come a decade earlier, she might have been a major star. As it was she became a welcome fixture in the Nashville scene, and her handful of records are still cherished by a select group of fans. This long-overdue retrospective set features the best of her solo recordings, including rarities such as some (sadly not all) of her single-only chart successes and even some previously unreleased studio work. Possibly too much of her latter-day Carter Family recordings, but country fans will definitely welcome the inclusion of four duets with the young Waylon Jennings, including their Top Five hit, "I Got You," as well as the single's deep-cut B-side, "No One's Gonna Miss Me," which was a (very) early Kris Kristofferson song. This set's a real treat for longtime fans, and a great introduction for younger listeners in search of lost country gold. A pity her duet single with Johnny Farrell didn't also make the cut.
Anita Carter "Song Bird" (Jasmine Records, 2023)
A companion disc to Jasmine's earlier collection by the Nita, Rita & Ruby trio (below) this generously programmed set plumbs deep down into Carter's more obscure work, including her 1951 duet with Hank Snow, "Bluebird Island," which was a big hit, but mysteriously keeps getting omitted from her best-of records. Also of note is a duet with the great Hank Williams, a warm rendition of "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You)" performed live on television in 1952. Perhaps of greatest interest may be the wealth of rock and twang-oriented singles from the 1950s which show a more rugged side of an artist who is frequently seen as a more delicate, genteel vocalist, even though she spent a hefty chunk of her career duking it out in the rough-and-tumble world of a 'Fifties country scene that was dominated by uptempo hillbilly and honkytonk music. Definitely worth a spin!
Related Records
Rita, Nita & Ruby "Rock Love" (Bear Family Records, 1985) (LP)
A collection of Anita Carter's mid-1950s rock/pop collaborations with singers Rita Robbins (1932-1986) who was not related to country star Marty Robbins (though her husband, Don Winters, was his lead guitar player) and Ruby Wright (1939-2009) daughter of honkytonk angel Kitty Wells. The short-lived trio was studio creation curated by producer Chet Atkins, though apparently they did not tour together or perform live, despite the popularity of their singles. This vinyl LP includes nineteen tracks total, which I believe was the sum total of their studio work. [Note: this material is also included as part of Anita Carter's Appalachian Angel box set, listed above.]
Rita, Nita & Ruby "Whose Baby Are You?" (Jasmine Records, 2022)
The Jasmine label has a real knack for packing in as much bang for your buck as they can, probably because European copyright laws are a lot less restrictive than American ones, and archival material becomes available more readily and less expensively. This set duplicates the trio's full nineteen-song tracklist from that old vinyl LP, with the addition of a live alternate version of "Whose Baby Are You," along with a baker's dozen of solo singles spotlighting each of the gals. Anita Carter gets the lion's share of these solo tracks, which is understandable in the sense that she was the most talented of the three, though perhaps the lesser-known Rita Robbins could use a little more exposure. But why quibble? This is a pretty swell compilation of obscure pop'n'country oldies.
Links
Hick Music Index
