Film Clip
Will The Circle Be Unbroken,
The Carter Family. PBS
I have reviewed the various
CD’d put out by the Carter Family elsewhere in this space. Many of the thoughts
expressed there apply here, as well. The recent, now somewhat eclipsed, renewed
interest in the mountain music of the 1920’s and 30’s highlighted in such films
as The Song Catcher and Brother, Where Art Thou necessarily had to create a
renewed interest in the Carter Family. I might add that the success of the Walk
the Line about the relationship between the legendary Johnny Cash and one of
the next generations of Carter’s, June expanded on that base.
What this PBS production has
done, and done well, is put the music of the Carters in perspective as it
relates to their time, their religious sentiments and their roots in the simple
mountain lifestyle. I have mentioned elsewhere and it bears repeating here that
this fundamentalist religious sentiment expressed throughout their work does
not have that same razor-edged feel that we find with today’s evangelicals.
They took their beating during the Scopes Trial era and turned inward. Fair
enough. That thy also produced some very simple and interesting music is the
product of that withdrawal.
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