Search - Chet Atkins :: Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle With Chet Atkins

"It's time for the Carter Sisters. . .."

H. F. Corbin | ATLANTA, GA USA | 07/14/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"What we have here is a series of tapes from radio shows that the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle recorded with guitarist Chet Atkins in 1950 in Nashville. The emcee is Joe Slattery while June Carter introduces the songs. There are three fiddle solos included along with eight Atkins guitar solos. Thirty-nine cuts are included, a gracious plenty for any CD so if you are a Carter family fan, you get your money's worth.



The vocals consist of duets, trios, quartets, solos, etc. There's a pretty mixed bag of selections. When I listened to the CD it occurred to me that this group had to know the words and music to literally hundreds of songs. Two that I find way past the television show "Heehaw" are "You Made Toothpicks Of The Timber Of My Heart" and "My Little Pup with the Patent Leather Nose." (Nobody ever said the words to country music were subtle.) Anita Carter sings a beautiful rendition of a song she was to record soon after she sang it here, "There'll Be No Teardrops Tonight." The group sings two traditional gospel songs, "In The Shadow of the Cross" and "I Am A Pilgrim" as well as one they wrote themselves, "The Day of Wrath."



The three best songs on this CD for me are the ones that feature Maybelle Carter. Far more talented than any of her daughters, she should have been singing much more instead of standing in the wings letting her children get all the air play. Her songs are "When I'm Gone" (the only time that she plays the guitar, a sound that is recognizable instantly), "Little Darling, Pal Of Mine," (an A. P. Carter song) and "I Still Do."



This CD is a valuable edition to the later Carter Family recordings (Maybelle and her daughters), but there are many other LP's that should be made available on CD, particularly the two album LP that Maybelle recorded near the end of her life. It's a keeper."