Some 18 years ago, after the Christmas holiday, my young (5 year old) son stood at my bedside at 7:30 on the morning he was due to return to school. Without any preamble he declared in a loud voice, ‘I want to be Cash.’ Unpacking this sentence with a rather fuzzy post-festive head, I realised he was not referring to a country legend but was instead declaring his preference for method of payment for his school lunch for the proceeding term. It seemed packed lunches were no longer a requirement and he wanted to accompany those who paid cash at the start of the week for their midday meal.
However from that time on I often thought about that great sentence and how easily it might have been said by any of us that we wanted to be Cash? Who wouldn’t? The coolest of country stars, the Man in Black had the mystery, charm and devilment that ensures legendary status. Twenty one years on from his passing we are still talking about him and, more importantly, still listening.
The same goes for his wife June Carter who’s death was only a few short months before his own and without whom, it seemed, he could not go on. The recent documentary of ‘June’ is a wonderful testimony to June Carter’s legacy and that of her remarkable family. The Carter Family, June’s immediate mother father, mother, uncles and aunts were there at the Big Bang of Country Music when Ralph Peer came down to Bristol, Tennessee to record Jimmie Rodgers as well as the songs of the Carters. It was this event that Johnny Cash described as ‘the single most important event in the history of country music.’
All this leads to a conversation i recorded a few weeks back with the woman who now carries forward the great tradition of the family. Carlene Carter is the daughter of June and Carl Smith and step daughter to Johnny Cash. Her own story is a fascinating tale of where from where the ‘On The Line‘ movie stopped until the present day. Her own memories of life growing up as part of the first family of country music are essential listening and as well as that there is a rich back catalogue of solo recordings bearing testimony to her gifted singing and songwriting. Like her mother June, Carlene is also an actress whose performances in London’s west end, I enjoyed back in the 80’s.
It’s all of this that will form the conversation in the second hour of this week’s Another Country as I talk to Carlene Carter about her music, the music of her family and her remarkable life. Before that we will celebrate the music of the Carter Cash extended family featuring June Carter, Carl Smith , Johnny Cash, Roseanne Cash, Marty Stuart, Rodney Crowell and Nick Lowe.
It’s two hours in the company of legends and it’s all available on BBC Sounds and BBC Radio Scotand from five past eight this Tuesday evening. Join me if you can.
