CARLENE CARTER

Carlene Carter grew up the child of June Carter and stepdaughter to Johnny Cash. With mother and father figures that shared the mantle of American music royalty and the foundation of country music outlaws, it is no surprise that Carlene emerged as a wild child in the late ‘70s, promising to put “the cunt back in country”. The ‘90s brought Carlene a string of mainstream success with hits like “I Fell in Love” and “Every Little Thing,” but the latter part of the decade saw her fall under the radar amidst personal problems and encounters with the law. As Carter regained her footing, tragedies and loss came in waves, with the loss of June, Johnny, longtime partner Howie Epstein and her sister, Rosey. With her new Yep Roc Records release, Stronger, Carter has woven a tapestry of hope and life that shines as one of her best albums to date. The new album goes to show that, at almost 100 years of legacy, the Carter family’s musical treasure is still with us today. Stronger is the first album you’ve released since Little Acts of Treason over a decade ago. There was a lot of ground covered in your personal life in the downtime between these two releases. Was there a longing to do another album, or did you feel like you were done with music? When I decided to come off the road and take a time-out, I was working on getting my life back together. My life had [gone] haywire, but it didn’t dawn on me that it would take me so long to come back. I’ve taken breaks [between records] before, but never quite this long. After my mom died, John died, and my sister died, I was really so fragile, emotionally, that it just hurt too much to sing. The last thing I had done in studio was with Momma for her last album, and so I didn’t really feel up to it. The first thing I did was the play about [the Carter Family], ‘Wildwood Flow ers’, and that got me back to being in front of an audience and singing again. I also had [no] time to process anything that was hap pening, so it took me a while to write about that period of time and put together a group of songs that were complimentary of each other. [These songs] were from my heart and not just made-up ditties. I was really ready to come back this time instead of being pressured; it was totally my own motivation. Was the underlying theme of hope and love conceptualized from the beginning for this record? The fact that I started writing again had a lot of hope in it. It wasn’t like I was thinking, “What’s the point?” or anything like that. I just had all of this stuff in me that needed to come out. [Inspiration] just kept coming, like a moving thing that I couldn’t control. Even if I had decided I didn’t want to do it, I don’t think I could have stopped myself. Was the head-on approach of your personal losses a cathartic process? Absolutely, [as it is with] anything I write. I tended to draw from things from the past, not just the past few years, but also ten fifteen years ago. It’s like therapy for me in a lot of ways. Was the re-recording of “I’m So Cool” a nod to the old fans or has it become a whole new statement to you? It was a new statement of “I’m fifty, and I’m fabulous.” [laugh] My little brother had something to do with that. He had come to see me play live, and I always open the show with “I’m So Cool”. He loved it. He’s quite younger than I am, only two years older than my daughter, and he said, “I think that, after 25 years, you can re-record that song.” You have always had a foot in rock and roll, and the other in country. Do you feel you have remained somewhat connected even to your early albums cut in Europe with the Rumour and Rockpile? I’m celebrating thirty years since my first album was released with the Rumour. People change and people grow, and I’d like to think, in thirty years, I’ve grown as an artist. I had a lot more clarity on this record; there was nobody telling me, “Do this,” or, “We don’t hear a single or any of that record company crap. That was a struggle that I had all along, back in the day. They didn’t know what to do with me in Nashville which is partly why I went to London. I didn’t fit in country or rock and roll. The oddest thing is in 1990, when ‘I Fell in Love’ came out, all I did was go [back] to Nashville and say, “Okay, I’m country now.” [Laughs] I didn’t really change anything. They were a little more open to the mini-skirted Carlene than they were in the ‘70’s. I have al ways enjoyed albums that showed all aspects of the music. I’m still that way as a performer. I’m not jumping into the crowds or anything these days. Stronger was produced by John McFee, the former Doobie Brother who also played guitar on Elvis Costello’s My Aim is True. Has this been a long-standing friendship considering the similar circles you both ran in? We’ve had a thirty-year friendship; he’s like my brother. He’s so dear to my heart and probably the most talented guy I’ve ever worked with. That’s not putting anything down on the albums I made with Howie [Epstein] or Nick. When it came time to do this record, I called him and said, “I’ve got these songs; you’ve got to hear them.” It’s almost like he’s in my brain, just a one-stop, fix-all machine. I just trusted him so much, most of the album was recorded without either of us being in the same room at the same time; he usually nailed it immediately. You’ve remained rather established as an artist in Europe. Will that cross over the pond to some shows in the U.S.? You bet. For the first time in over thirty years I am playing acoustic shows. I’m playing with Elvis Costello for a couple of dates in Tennessee at the Ryman. Elvis is [another] old friend; he was coming up with this warm-up tour for his tour with the Police, so he invited me [to join him]. I’m real excited by that. I’ve got McFee with me for a few shows in L.A.; it’s like a big cherry on top of the sundae to get to do a show with him again. We haven’t been on stage together in a long time. I’m try ing to do a little bit of everything. It’s kind of the beauty of being an old fart. BY JON LATHAM I’M CELEBRATING THIRTY YEARS SINCE MY FIRST

ALBUM WAS RELEASED WITH THE RUMOUR. PEOPLE CHANGE AND PEOPLE GROW, AND I’D LIKE TO TH INK, IN THIRTY YEARS, I’VE GROWN

AS AN ART IST. I HAD A LOT MORE CLARITY ON TH IS RECORD; THERE WAS NOBODY TELLING ME, “DO THIS,” OR, “WE DON’T HEAR A SINGLE OR

ANY OF THAT RECORD COM PANY CRAP. A MUSIC INTERVIEW Carlene Carter STILL SO AMAZING