In The Shadow Of Clinch Mountain

New Again
Noteworthy Disc-Overies

In The Shadow Of The Clinch Mountain, This is unquestionable the most important country reissue recording of the year – and possibly of any year. Bear Family has done nothing less than bring us every commercial recording ever released by the original Carter Family, compiling the trio’s enormously influential sides for Victor, ATC, Bluebird and Decca of 1927-41. These 292 performances provided country music with a bedrock repertoire-“keep On The Sunny Side” “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” “Wabash Cannonball” “Wildwood Flower” “Foggy Mountain Top” “Gold Watch And Chain” ”I’m Thinking Tonight Of My Blues Eyes” all entered our musical vocabulary from this fountainhead act. Maybelle Carter’s guitar playing helped elevate the instrument to country’s front rank, and her style is still the standard for folk players everywhere.

Sara’s lonesome alto and the homemade quality of the Carter arrangements are light years away from what country music sounds like today. For novices, this music will seem almost as foreign as Slovenian folk dances. But there is something so haunting, so profoundly soulful about the Carter Family that it is easy to become addicted it’s sound once you’ve immersed yourself in it. That’s why tunes like “Hello Stranger” “lovers Return” “Over The Garden Wall” keep bubbling up in revival, year after year. This is a set to treasure. In addition to the complete music, it includes a splendid hardcover biography by outstanding country historian Charles Wolfe. And in an embarrassment of riches, it also includes every known photograph of A.P. Sara, and Maybelle Carter, the parents of us all. In a word, Essential