Ring of Fire

by Anita Carter

Overview

It's been well documented that June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore wrote the song "Ring of Fire," which is about her early relationship with Johnny Cash. What's less well known is that it was her youngest sister, Anita, not Johnny Cash, who cut it first, accompanied only by a pair of acoustic guitars. Ring of Fire is the German Bear Family label's presentation of Anita Carter's 1962-1964 Mercury recordings. While Carter is also a daughter of Mother Maybelle, country music, at least in the early '60s, was not her forte -- folk music was. There are 25 tracks here, all of them stunning, some of them unknown, but all of them fine. Some of the cuts here are historic debuts of songs performed by folk and country artist later on. The initial recording of "Satan's Child," written by sister Helen and Danny Dill, Kilgore's "Sour Grapes," her own "All My Trials," and the cut she wrote with June and Kilgore, "As the Sparrow Goes," are all here, as well as readings of A.P. and Maybelle tunes such as her mother's "Fair and Tender Ladies" and "In the Highways," A.P.'s "John Hardy, Bury Me Beneath the Willow," and more. There are unreleased gems here too: a recording of Harlan Howard's "A Few Short Years Ago" and Irving Gordon's "The Kentuckian Song." But more than the cuts -- produced in Nashville and New York by Jerry Kennedy, Shelby Singelton, and Milt Okun -- this recording reveals that Carter's voice is one of the purest and most expressive vehicles either country or folk ever produced. Carter's own reticence is what held her back from superstardom. The music here, most of it with two acoustic guitars, some with a double bass, is simple, even ghostly in the way it frames a voice so seemingly plaintive, yet with a range that is awe-inspiring, given how pristine her singing was, and how she could take even the corniest song ("Voice of the Bayou") and make it a believable and true statement of passion, purpose, or poisonous emotion. By the time the record ends with "Wildwood Flower," the listener has been transported out of time and space and into the heart of Carter's mysterious, darkly inviting, and spiritually resilient vocal. This is one of the best single-volume compilations Bear Family has ever done. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	05/12/1994
Label:	Bear Family Records
UPC:	4000127154347

Tracks

1. Ring of Fire
2. Fair and Tender Ladies
3. Satan's Child
4. Fly Pretty Swallow
5. As the Sparrow Goes
6. All My Trials
7. Voice of the Bayou
8. Sour Grapes
9. Johnny, I Hardly Knew You
10. My Love
11. A Few Short Years Ago
12. The Kentuckian Song
13. Brian
14. Running Back
15. Take Me Home
16. No, My Love, No
17. Farewell (Fare Thee Well)
18. This Life I'm Living
19. My Love Loves Me
20. John, John, John
21. John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man
22. I Never Will Marry
23. In the Highways
24. Bury Me Beneath the Willow
25. Beautiful Isle O'er the Sea
26. Wildwood Flower

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Anita Carter   Primary Artist,Vocals
The Jordanaires   Choir/Chorus
Eric Weissberg   Guitar,Guitar (12 String)
Charlie McCoy   Harmonica
Clyde Lombardi   Bass
Jerry Kennedy   Guitar (Acoustic)
Ray Edenton   Guitar (Acoustic)
Harold Bradley   Bass,Tenor Banjo,Guitar (Acoustic)
Buddy Harman   Drums
Helen Carter   Vocals
Margie Singleton   Choir/Chorus
Ernie Calabria   Guitar
Bob Johnson   Lute,Banjo
Bob Moore   Bass
Priscilla Mitchell   Choir/Chorus

Technical Credits

Francis Zambon   Composer
Bob Dylan   Composer
Irving Gordon   Composer
Joe Allison   Composer
Leonard Bernstein   Composer
Phil Lynott   Composer
Jerry Keller   Composer
Jerry Kennedy   Producer
Phil Collins   Composer
Mother Maybelle Carter   Composer
Ray Evans   Composer
Merle Kilgore   Composer
A.P. Carter   Composer
Milton Okun   Producer,Adaptation
Harold Bradley   Tic Tac
Harlan Howard   Composer
Helen Carter   Composer
Danny Dill   Composer
Jay Livingston   Composer
Howard Greenfield   Composer
June Carter Cash   Composer
Richard Weize   Reissue Producer
Anita Carter   Composer,Adaptation
Tom Paxton   Composer
Otto Kitsinger   Liner Notes
Delores Dinning   Composer
Bob Johnson   Composer
Hoffmann Nienburg   Artwork
Robert L. Johnson   Composer
Tom Mueller   Mastering
Traditional   Composer
Shelby Singleton   Producer