Search - Carter Family :: Sunshine In The Shadows: Their Complete Victor Recordings - 1931-1932

The Gospel of Country, Pt. 5

01/27/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"What an amazing body of work this is. A.P. Carter is, perhaps, the great under-appreciated founder of country music. Over a fifteen-or-so year period he searched, rooted out, re-formed, re-wrote and generally cobbled together a catalog of music that literally everyone in country returns to, to this day. This brilliant reissue series from Rounder is starting to disappear but this volume is one of the best, with even stronger than average material, and the added, fascinating bonus of Jimmie Rodgers interacting with the Carters. Yes, this is from another age and a little of it at a time works best, but at their finest, on "Where We'll Never Grow Old", the exquisite simplicity and startling harmony are breathtakingly beautiful, and the pieces themselves often have a depth and complexity rarely achieved today. A must for understanding country music and still the essential well-spring of great songs (just ask Parton-Ronstadt-Harris)."