Rating: 
Summary: Lonesome for You
Review: This is a beautiful, wonderful inspiration of a book. Even if you don't know anything about the Carter family or old time music, or never saw OH BROTHER WHERE ART THOU this story will touch your heart. It's as American as THE GRAPES OF WRATH and just as poetic. In fact, reading it is a great antidote to all the commercial folderol of country music, and just about anything else. When A.P. Carter was on his death bed all he would eat was a neighbor's home made apple butter. This book is as much a comfort and a simple pleasure as that apple butter. The same thing could be said of the Carter family music, I suppose.
Rating: 
Summary: A very interesting book about some classic musicians
Review: This is a great book for fans of old time music who would also like to get into the history of this interesting family. It takes you along from the early days in the mountains through their extensive musical career. It was a very interesting, even tempered account of life in the music business. I really got a good idea of the personalities involved. Johny Cash fans may get some new insights into into his background in more "traditional" forms. There seems to be none of the sensationalism that sometimes plagues books of this sort.
Just a little tip...If, like me, you had not heard as many of the Carter Family classics as you would like, go to your area libraries and get out some of the Victor reissue recordings to play as you read this book. Their style set such a standard and it helps to have recordings around as the songs are mentioned in the book.
Rating:
Summary: A very interesting book about some classic musicians
Review: This is a great book for fans of old time music who would also like to get into the history of this interesting family. It takes you along from the early days in the mountains through their extensive musical career. It was a very interesting, even tempered account of life in the music business. I really got a good idea of the personalities involved. Johny Cash fans may get some new insights into into his background in more "traditional" forms. There seems to be none of the sensationalism that sometimes plagues books of this sort.
Just a little tip...If, like me, you had not heard as many of the Carter Family classics as you would like, go to your area libraries and get out some of the Victor reissue recordings to play as you read this book. Their style set such a standard and it helps to have recordings around as the songs are mentioned in the book.
Rating: 
Summary: Poorly written, uniformed musically, informative nonetheless
Review: This is an awkward, well-researched but uneven treatment of the Carters by writers who appear to have only a passing familiarity with traditional country music but who sensed a "good story" in the family saga. It is perhaps unfair to complain of a lack of scholarship, since the authors make no claim to such and are clearly aiming at a general audience. A "popular" approach, however, needn't employ cornball, prissy prose of the sort sometimes used in efforts to make history palatable to "young adult" audiences. ("The frets seemed to pull those nimble fingers to the very place where they were supposed to be." The text contains many clueless, nonsensical musical descriptions that lead to the unfortunate conclusion that the publisher, Simon & Schuster, has not seen fit to have the book given the once-over by an editor with some minimum musical savvy. A&R man Ralph Peer is described as "an opera's worth of contrapuntal chords." (Say what?) We're informed that the music of black Kingsporters was "starting to get the bluesy feel they'd picked up on old Scott Joplin-like ragtime records." Really? What records might these be? Do the authors contend that Joplin is "bluesy?" (Maybe they've got him confused with W. C. Handy.) What is meant when the authors say that the Carters "added frets" to a performance? The authors write that Maybelle used a pick "when things got too fast for her bare fingers;" she did play "the Carter scratch" with a thumbpick, and played some numbers fingerstyle, but speed was not a consideration. A duet by Anita Carter and Hank Williams on a Kate Smith TV show is described as "sophisticated" and "complicated." We're told "copyists in NY were having a devil of a time translating Sara and Maybelle's melodies into sheet music notes." (Where did the authors glean this information? No novice copyist would have any difficulty with a Carter melody.) The Carter's music speaks for itself - attempts to validate it in the eyes of those outside the fold by attributing to it some mysterious "complexity" are misguided. Cannot the music be deep and intense and at the same time simple (relative to the rhythmic and harmonic aspects of the era's pop and jazz music)?
Along with the musical misstatements there's some plain bad writing. Elvis Presley, a onetime suitor of Anita Carter's, is described as having "riled" an audience when the authors' intent seems to be to convey that he excited rather than antagonized his listeners. (Rile: " to irritate and make angry" in my dictionary.) A total absence of footnotes or even a list of sources is does not inspire confidence in the accuracy of quotes or anecdotes. There are some quotes from Ralph Peer that show him in a bad light, but we can't find where they originally appeared, so as to judge whether they've been reproduced accurately or out of context. Without some citation of (even an anonymous) source I have a hard time accepting at face value a passing mention of Minnie Pearl (!) having propositioned both Hank Williams and Carl Smith. The caption to a photo of June Carter with Carl Smith (her first husband) identifies him as Johnny Cash (her third), bolstering the feeling that this book was not written or edited by people who know country music. After all this griping, it must be conceded that the authors, aided by access to the surviving members of the Carter circle, do a credible job of illuminating the character of A.P., Maybelle, Sara and their offspring. Light is shed on the tangle of marriages and divorces, especially Sara's split with A.P.
Rating:
Summary: A Long Overdue Masterpiece!
Review: This is probably one of the best books about an entertainer (or in this case a group of entertainers) that's ever been written. The book is scholarly and well researched, yet entertaining enough to appeal to the masses. The authors obviously have a great deal of respect for the Carters and their legacy in music. This book is a mirror of the Carter Family legacy. It is full of tradition, heartbreak, humility, sadness, love and hope. Much of the information in this book is new to even the most dedicated Carter Family fan. That makes the book well worth the read. The authors have repeated a few well-published and circulated stories about both of the first two generations of the Carter Family. However, these stories only add to the book's appeal as they are woven within a larger and more vivid picture of the clan than has ever been made public. Much of the book explores the career of the "second" Carter Family: (aka Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters). One wonders why they don't also appear on the cover. Their career lasted longer than did the Original Carter Family's and was of great importance as well. There needs to be a movie. I hope there will be.
Rating: 
Summary: What About Carlene?
Review: Those interested in "Will You Miss Me" need to do two things before reading a single word: 1) consult a good map and locate Scott County way down in the southwestern tip of Virginia where Tennessee and Kentucky meet. Bristol, TN (pop. 23,000) will be the nearest city. 2) Buy and listen to an actual Carter Family CD. This reviewer recommends "Can the Circle Be Unbroken" but there are other suitable choices. Until those steps are taken, there is no point in proceeding. Readers must have a musical and geographical context for the group. Once they begin, readers will be exposed to lengthy and deep portrayal of the lives of Alvin Pleasant (A.P.) Carter, Sara Daugherty Carter and Maybelle Addington Carter, all from Maces Springs, VA -who comprised the original "Carter Family". It was Maybelle who became the matriarch as the years went by. One is tempted to subtitle the book "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Carters". That aside, WYMM is certainly meticulous. In great detail, it relates the inter and intra family backgrounds and traces the 3 as they slowly rise to stardom during the years of the Great Depression. When Sara and A..P. sadly divorce, things change. The group becomes virtually nomadic, travelling about from show to show This was in an era (which lasted at least into the 1960s) when performers made as much money by touring as by straight record sales. And in person performances appear to have been the Carters' forte. As the story progresses, other family members emerge most notably Maybelle's daughters June and Anita. June too should not be judged by here "mere' 10 Billboard hits from 1949-1976. Her flair was also live performing. I had no idea she was so talented. Along the long and winding road of WYMM, the readers meet a callow and upcoming Elvis Presley, a declining and even dangerous Hank Williams, a fading Jimmie Rodgers in his final days, and most of all Johnny Cash. The Man in Black certainly had an effect on the Carters. They joined his so-called Road Show circa 1961. Was it a mixed blessing? (This reviewer actually suffered through a "Road Show" at Radio City Music Hall. I still want my money back). The final chapters of WYMM are mostly concerned with Mother Maybelle as she gamely soldiers on from concert to concert, even performing at the Newport Folk Festival. Hank must have rolled over in his grave that night! One family member receiving little mention is Maybelle's daughter, Carlene. She is the one this reviewer is now curious about! This reviewer hesitates to recommend WYMM to the casual reader, thus the 3 star rating. Serious (!) country fans may safely add a 4th star. But serious fans may also carp at the authors for factual mistakes and a lack of passion for the genre that so bothered other reviewers. This reviewer MISSED that miscaptioned photo of June Carter with her "husband" on Page 334, but others certainly spotted it! The fact that there even IS a page 334 is the essential problem with WYMM. There is too much detail with too much time devoted to Maybelle alone and far too much space given to minor Carter relations. That 5th star is reserved for only the most devoted followers.
Rating:
Summary: Clinch Mountain and beyond
Review: To all but a few of us -- that "few" being those who knew them personally -- A.P., Sara, and Maybelle Carter have always been little more than stoic, unsmiling, unreadable faces on the covers of Carter Family reissues. Mark Zwonitzer, assisted by Charles Hirshberg, manages to put breath and life into these three giants of country and folk music. Though they were ordinary people, they possessed an extraordinary gift, and it took them far from the shadow of their native home in Clinch Mountain, Virginia, and into the ears and hearts of people all over the world -- yet without ever revealing very much of anything about themselves. In a number of ways, this is a sad story. Alvin Pleasant Carter emerges as something of a tragic figure. He is also by far the most interesting personality of the three, even if not possessed of the stunning musical talents of Sara and Maybelle. The book comes most to life, in my opinion, when A. P., without whom none of us would have heard of the Carter Family, is at its center. As a purely human story, Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? -- the title comes from one of the family's most doleful songs -- will keep you reading far into the night. In focusing on the personal aspects, however, it foregoes the sort of deeper musical analysis some of us would like to have seen. It also lacks a discography, which one would have thought essential to a volume of this kind. Even so, this is a welcome, informative book which treats its subjects with an appealing warmth devoid of sentimental gloss.
Rating:
Summary: Clinch Mountain and beyond
Review: To all but a few of us -- that "few" being those who knew them personally -- A.P., Sara, and Maybelle Carter have always been little more than stoic, unsmiling, unreadable faces on the covers of Carter Family reissues. Mark Zwonitzer, assisted by Charles Hirshberg, manages to put breath and life into these three giants of country and folk music. Though they were ordinary people, they possessed an extraordinary gift, and it took them far from the shadow of their native home in Clinch Mountain, Virginia, and into the ears and hearts of people all over the world -- yet without ever revealing very much of anything about themselves. In a number of ways, this is a sad story. Alvin Pleasant Carter emerges as something of a tragic figure. He is also by far the most interesting personality of the three, even if not possessed of the stunning musical talents of Sara and Maybelle. The book comes most to life, in my opinion, when A. P., without whom none of us would have heard of the Carter Family, is at its center. As a purely human story, Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? -- the title comes from one of the family's most doleful songs -- will keep you reading far into the night. In focusing on the personal aspects, however, it foregoes the sort of deeper musical analysis some of us would like to have seen. It also lacks a discography, which one would have thought essential to a volume of this kind. Even so, this is a welcome, informative book which treats its subjects with an appealing warmth devoid of sentimental gloss.
Rating:
Summary: Finally...The Story of the Carter Family
Review: Zwonitzer's look at the First Family of Country Music, the Carter Family, is long overdue, but very much welcome. Finally the information and stories that fans have been waiting decades for come to life on the book's pages. And what stories they are... I wish I could have been in Bristol when A.P., his wife Sara, and cousin Maybelle Carter made their first recording for Ralph Peer. It had to be one of those timeless moments in music history when someone realized that everything that had come before was about to change. Zwonitzer captures that moment and many others for the reader. The story of how the Carter Family was formed, thrived, soared, and then torn apart is a story that beats the heck out of any soap opera. It's a wonderful story, an inspiring story, and ultimately a heartbreaking story. The style of writing is familiar and comfortable, like an old uncle sitting on the front porch, telling you what it was like when the Carter Family was still around. The best part of the book is the close examination of each of the three principal players in the Carter Family saga: The quiet, never-sitting-still A.P., leaving home for days on end, seeking out new songs for the group while further alienating his already distant wife Sara, the one person he could never forget. Maybelle, who loved performing almost as much as she loved her family. Her style of guitar playing is still studied and imitated by guitarists all over the world. And Sara - perhaps the most tragic figure of all...but I won't tell you the full story. (Otherwise you might not buy the book!) 'Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone' tells these stories so well that when it strays away from the three principal players, I grew less interested. It seemed much attention and far too many pages were devoted to too many minor characters. And so many other parts of the book were severely truncated: Where is all the information about Maybelle and Sara's reunion performances and recordings? How did they feel singing songs they hadn't performed together in over 20 years? What about the origins of some of the songs? In one portion of the book, Zwonitzer tells us that Maybelle gave interviews telling where several of the songs came from, how A.P. put them together, etc., but I wanted to know more. After all, some of these songs have stood the test of time for over 75 years. Although the book contains some disappointments, I can say the same for it that I do for the recordings: I'm thankful for what we have. It hurt me to read how the music of the Carter Family was almost forgotten by the music industry and the public in the 60's. This music is timeless. If you've never heard a Carter Family disc, buy one. Better yet, buy the 5-disc 1927-1934 set. (It's a steal on Amazon!) Then read the book. Sadly, we will probably never see their like again. But they were here for a short time, and what a difference they made and continue to make. The circle remains unbroken...but yes, we do miss them. 397 pages with photos
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