The Carter Family: Sara Carter, A.P. Carter, Maybelle Carter.
Recorded in Memphis, Tennessee in May and November 1930. Includes liner notes by Charles K. Wolfe.
The Carter Family's strength lay in its immense commercial appeal for a broad swathe of American society before and during the Depression of the early 1930s. The group had hits with a variety of styles, such as gospel, traditional, cowboy songs, and with their self-penned material. The songs on WORRIED MAN BLUES were recorded on the cusp of the Depression, mostly in Memphis, Tennessee in the spring of 1930. By this time the group had become more musically sophisticated, and three-part harmonies were the norm, rather than the exception; Sara Carter's fingerpicking guitar leads are also more to the fore here.
This collection features a typical cross-section of the above-mentioned styles, such as "Worried Man Blues" (which may have started life as a black jailhouse song), the black gospel song "On the Rock Where Moses Stood," and the ancient, much-recorded "No More the Moon Shines on Lorena." All these songs were ascribed to A.P. Carter and the Family's producer, Ralph Peer, as was the group's custom. Royalties were split between group and producer, whether the song was an original or not, a practice later notoriously adopted by bands such as the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin. minimize