Roof tunes

The Carter Family's on Border Radio

by Bill Kisliuk

The Carter Family from the Blue Ridge Mountains were the first family of country music, and aspects of their sound are still audible in bluegrass hillbillies and countrypolitan charttoppers a full 70 years after the original Carters made their first recordings. But their songs have taken on a special importance in the sun-baked homes of Nuevo León, Mexico. Or rather, on the homes around that border region located just yonder from Laredo and Brownsville. That's because several of the group's acetate recordings have been recycled as roofing material by the residents of the area, where the Monterrey radio station XET used to aim its broadcasts north toward listeners on the Texas plains and on up the continent.

Fortunately for Arhoolie Records founder Chris Strachwitz, not all these discs are battling the elements today. Seventeen acetates have fallen into Strachwitz's hands, and so were born three recently released Carter Family CDs titled On Border Radio. The sounds of On Border Radio are not what made the Carters million sellers. Rather, the family's voluminous popular recordings for Victor -- now being methodically reissued by Rounder Records -- are the very fabric of country music history. But the radio transcriptions are an illuminating peek behind the scenes.

The close harmonies of A.P. Carter, his wife, Sara, and her cousin Maybelle were discovered by a traveling talent scout in 1927, at the same audition where "Singing Brakeman" Jimmie Rodgers got his start. Cousin Maybelle has had the strongest effect on the evolution of country music, as her modified flat-picking -- including a bass-string rumble known to some as the "Carter lick" -- has influenced country pickers and piano players alike. Between 250 and 300 recordings, including such popular songs as "Keep on the Sunny Side" and an early recorded rendition of the standard "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," vaulted the trio to the status of country-music legends. Later generations of Carters, like Maybelle's daughter June (a singer who married Johnny Cash) and granddaughter Carlene, have kept the flame burning.

Rounder's latest Carter Family collection is Gold Watch and Chain, which is volume seven in a continuing series. It catches the Carters in 1933 and 1934, about halfway through the original Family's 12-year run. These recordings embody the essence of what honest country and folk music has become. Wholesome themes and tragic tales -- many lashed together with strong ties to the Gospel -- are the coin of the realm, with plenty of interpretations of the popular songs of the late 19th century, a blue yodel or two, and even a primordial Western tune in "Cowboy Jack."

If Gold Watch and Chain is part of the official country-music gallery -- its title song has been covered by Emmylou Harris, among others -- then On Border Radio is more of a Kodak moment. Recorded at XET in the late '30s and early '40s, it is unusual in a number of respects. Old A.P. takes a few solo, self-accompanied turns, Maybelle and Sara offer rare instrumental pieces, and the second generation of singing Carters are heard at ages ranging from six to 12. Station breaks in Spanish and English bring the famous border-radio sound to life, as do truncated versions of the family's theme song, "Keep on the Sunny Side."

These relics may seem a lucky find, but such discoveries have become routine for Strachwitz, a self-described "rooting groundhog" for the popular music of a different time and place. The time is usually between the late '20s and the early '60s, and the place is most often the American South and Southwest. Strachwitz started out in 1959, driving from California to Texas in search of blues guitarist Lightnin' Hopkins. The next year he drove to guitarist Mance Lips-comb's home and taped him, then went on to record several other notable roots musicians. Over the years, he also began to "liberate" the products of long-forgotten labels from the South and Southwest.

As a result, Arhoolie is now purveyor of an enormous catalogue of blues, old-time music, and Tex-Mex. In addition to having important recordings by conjunto queen Lydia Mendoza, accordion titan Flaco Jiminez, zydeco king Clifton Chenier, and country-blues folks like Hopkins, Arhoolie recently released a mesmerizing series of steel-guitar gospel recordings called Sacred Steel. There are also oddities like last year's Texas Polish Roots by Brian Marshall and his Tex-Slavic Playboys.

The material for On Border Radio was unearthed by Strachwitz associate Ed Kahn, who implored his parents to search for it at the radio station while they were on a trip through Mexico. It was then licensed to Strachwitz by Jeanette Carter for her family members. Asked whether he thinks there are more Carter Family acetates out there, Strachwitz muses: "There could be. But I don't want to go around Monterrey tearing the roofs off of shacks."