Stardom was never in the cards for Helen Carter, even though she spent a lifetime working with country musicians whose stars would shine much more brightly. As a member of the most famous family in country music, Helen belonged to the first generation of hillbilly-star progeny. Music, the road, and performing were all she ever knew. But she stuck with that life not because she sought fame and recognition, but because she loved music. Perhaps because she never achieved true stardom, her passing on June 2 at the age of 70 has gone largely unrecognized.
Helen Carter’s association with country-music history began quite literally from birth—even before. Her mother, Maybelle, was a member of the original Carter Family, along with Helen’s aunt and uncle, Sara and A.P. Carter. In the summer of 1927, the three musicians traveled 25 miles over rough roads to make their first recordings in Bristol, Va. At the time, Maybelle was only six weeks away from giving birth to Helen, her first daughter.
Helen’s own introduction to show business came in 1939, singing on a Mexican “border blaster” station; at the time, she and her two younger sisters performed as an appendix to the Carter Family’s act. But by 1943, Sara and A.P. had gone their separate ways, and Maybelle and the three girls took over the Carter Family name and legacy. The next few years found the quartet crisscrossing the South, doing countless radio and stage appearances. Along the way, the three siblings transformed themselves from an old-timey folk group into a troop of professional entertainers.
Helen didn’t have the purest voice of the three sisters—that belonged to Anita. Nor was she was the best showman—that was June, who went on to much greater fame as the wife and partner of Johnny Cash. But Helen was always there, masterfully playing a variety of instruments, supplying a solid vocal foundation, and crafting songs that built on country music’s past and present. On the few solo recordings she made, Helen Carter proved more than capable at playing the hillbilly diva. A pair of singles recorded with Chet Atkins for Okeh in 1953 nicely showed off her abilities. A playful, cornfed sexuality shines through “I Like My Lovin’ Overtime” and “Like All Get Out,” while Helen slips easily into the role of heartbreak queen on “Unfit Mother” and “You’re Right (But I Wish You Were Wrong).”
Helen continued to make solo recordings, but she never had much success on her own. She did, however, make the charts as a member of the Carter Family, who appeared with Johnny Cash on the 1963 hit “Busted.” Meanwhile, her own songs fared better when recorded by other people, such as Margie Bowes, who had a hit in 1959 with “Poor Old Heartsick Me.”
Helen Carter may never have been a celebrity, but the history of popular music is written, at least in part, by the countless performers whose names have long since been forgotten. And Carter was, if anything, devoted to country music. That’s reason enough to honor her memory.
—Randy Fox
Believe it or not, we do try to listen to the dozens of self-produced or indie-label CDs and tapes that people send our way. Here’s a sampling of the local records we’ve received lately:
Boo Boo Bunny, Kids Love It A few months ago, we speculated that this group of Murfreesboro Campus Pub hooligans could be the most offensive band in local music history, and with their new CD they clinch the title. The cleanest of the 11 punk-pop tracks is “The Hemorrhoid Song” (“Feelin’ heinous/From discomfort in my anus”); the worst of the titles even the Scene won’t print, except for the stomach-turning “Wash It First.” Some of this is sidesplittingly obnoxious, some indefensibly vile, but we’ll give ’em this much—they found the most novel couplet we’ve ever heard that ends with “LeAnn Rimes.”
The Edisons, The Edisons (Van Dog) “Jesus filled the emptiness in my life,” writes frontman/songwriter Steve Nation in the liner notes, but even without the testimony you’d know Jesus is just all right with him: The first song recreates the Doobie Brothers so faithfully you mentally fill in the chorus with “Listen to the music,” and the second features a perfect imitation-Byrds 12-string solo. However, “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Hell” is the first Christian pop song we’ve ever heard that sounds like ZZ Top. Not bad, but not nationwide, either. (44 Music Square E., Suite 307, Nashville, TN 37203)
Fearless Freap, Alchemy (RobSum) On their third CD, the Nashville band that never stops touring punches up its mix of modern rock, funk, and loping jams with a full horn section, tape loops, and guests ranging from Kurtis McFarland to man-of-1,000-instruments Fats Kaplin. Say hey to drummer (and former Scene employee) Mark Williams when the group performs Tuesday night at Playoff’s. (P.O. Box 148357, Nashville, TN 37214)
Otherness, Somewhere Between Something & Nothing (Subspace) The first full-length CD by one of the only local bands we’ve heard that plays live techno. Keyboardist/ vocalist Jeff Bruner started the Nashville synthesizer duo Belief four years ago; after his partner, Lawrence Mazzetti, died in 1995, Bruner hooked up with guitarist/vocalist Ken Barr, keyboardist/guitarist Philip Hood, and drummer Shannon Williams. The percussion tracks could use a lot more oomph, but the use of piano flourishes and a processed guitar that sounds like a squalling bobcat holds the promise of more and better. (othernes@edge.net., subspace1@hotmail.com.)
Laura Powers, Legends of the Goddess (Punch) A concept album (and the first LP in a trilogy) about Celtic mythology by a relocated world traveler who claims Loreena McKennitt, Enya, Jackson Browne, and early Dire Straits as musical influences. For people who thought the soundtrack was the best part of Titanic. (909 18th Avenue S., Nashville, TN 37212)
Jackson Slade, River of Gold (Cold Beauty) Breezy backyard-cookout country-rock that recalls the days when the Bellamy Brothers, Firefall, the Marshall Tucker Band, and Pure Prairie League ruled the airwaves. If you secretly crank up “Let Your Love Flow” or “Heard It in a Love Song” in your car on hot summer days, this Tullahoma vocalist’s first record belongs in your CD deck. It even has a nice big sound for a self-released LP, thanks to producer/cohort Kevin Wicker. (1370 Short Springs Rd., Tullahoma, TN 37388)
—Jim Ridley
Séanachie, the Irish restaurant and pub at the corner of Fourth and Broadway, has starting booking live Celtic music full-time. Multi-instrumentalist Argyle Bell, a familiar presence on the Nashville nightclub scene, has been hired as musical director. In the past, Bell organized two successful Celtic Music Festivals at the Station Inn, and he has produced recordings by a Celtic band, the Limerick Rakes.
“Having Celtic music six nights a week on Lower Broad is probably a bit adventurous for Nashville,” Bell says. “But we think it can work. It brings something exciting and different to the music scene.”
Bell knows about adventures and challenges—he recently returned from spending a month in Argentina performing rockabilly, bluegrass, and Cajun music with a band of South American musicians. A onetime member of The Cactus Brothers and the organizer of a series of local Gram Parsons tributes in the 1980s, Bell was hired by Séanachie to help the club develop its live-music offerings.
For starters, he plans to mix local Celtic bands with touring groups, most of whom have bypassed Nashville in the past. Murfreesboro Celtic rockers Secret Commonwealth have begun regular performances at the club, and next month two women from Dublin, Ireland, will take up an extended residency, performing in a band that features fiddle, mandolin, accordion, Dobro, banjo, and harmonica. In early July, Bell has booked a two-day run by Paddy’s Lament, a New Orleans band that plays Celtic-influenced music at punk tempos. He has also initiated a Celtic writer’s night on Wednesdays, but he notes that the evening is for instrumentalists as well as for singer-songwriters.
Bell says he’s willing to deviate slightly in his bookings, but the music must at least be close in spirit to the Celtic tradition. For example, the club recently hosted a traditional Cajun band, Roux de Bayou, for a successful two-night stand. But Bell’s main mission, he says, is “to create a Celtic cathedral in the heart of downtown Nashville.” We wish him luck.
—Michael McCall
