Intrepid Rock Journalism: Carlene Carter

Author's Note: This feature on musician Carlene Carter appeared in the January 15, 2009 edition of Frederickburg Virginny's bastion of news and information, The Free-Lance Star. In a first for my intrepid rock journalism career, my work was picked up by two different bloggers. Find briefs on my feature here and here. Enjoy:

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As the daughter of honky-tonk legend Carl Smith and June Carter—and the step-daughter of Johnny Cash—Carlene Carter was born into country music royalty.

Sidetracked by personal demons and losses, she’s back and still carrying on the family tradition. Carter and her band will perform at The Barns at Wolf Trap on Saturday.

Growing up, Carter certainly had the genes to follow in her parents’ footsteps, but it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that she was going to be a country singer.

“I always knew I wanted to be a musician,” Carter said in a recent phone interview.

“I just didn’t know exactly how it was going to pan out. It wasn’t always a given that I would go into the family business and make a living at it.”

She eventually did go into the family business, embarking on a career that is now going on 30 years. While she peaked commercially in the early ’90s with hits “I Fell in Love” and “Every Little Thing,” she was often known more for her offstage troubles, which included wild partying and bouts with addiction, than her music.

Carter has also seen more than her share of sorrow. In 2003, she experienced the deaths of not only her famous mother and step-father, but also her younger sister, Rosey, and her longtime partner, Howie Epstein, who played bass for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Her latest album, “Stronger,” intimately recounts her journey back from those depths, and marks her first record released in more than a decade.

Carter said many of the songs, particularly “Judgment Day,” which discusses Epstein’s death, are always emotional to sing on stage.

“That song in particular—I always have a little bit of a hard time getting through it, but I do,” she said.

“I don’t stop, but sometimes I crack up a little bit, and that’s OK. That’s the reason I wrote it—to share that moment in my life with other people.”

Carter, 53, appears to have her troubles behind her. She has grandchildren now, and credits new husband Joe Breen (her fourth) with helping motivate her to create her new album. Wed in 2006, Carter says that she and Breen travel the road together as much as they can, and have never been apart for more than a week.

“Joe and I really like being together, so that’s kinda handy, because we’re married,” Carter said.

A performer himself, Breen often joins Carter onstage for the shotgun-wedding classic “Jackson.” He also added his voice to her album on the track “It Takes One to Know Me,” which Carter wrote at age 17 as a gift for Johnny Cash.

“I gave [‘It Takes One to Know Me’] to Big John, my step-daddy, for his birthday that year because I didn’t have enough money to buy him a present,” Carter said.

“Since songs are so personal to our family, I thought that was the best present I could give him.”

Cash and June Carter would later record the song together—only Carlene Carter did not find out until after they had both passed away, when her step-brother, John Carter Cash, asked her to add her voice to the recording.

“So I got to sing with Mama and John again after they both were gone, which I never thought would ever happen,” Carter said.

“It was a pretty personal song, and it was written for him, to sing in his voice. When I do it [in concert], I sing it to John, as if he was still here.”

Those family ties continue to inspire Carter, as she’s currently working on a tribute album for her father, Carl Smith. She feels a responsibility to carry on her family’s musical legacy, starting with her grandmother Maybelle Carter, through the Carter Sisters and Johnny Cash, to today.

“It was always instilled in us to do that—to carry on the Carter legacy while still making new music,” she said.