Carlene Carter Back and ‘Stronger’

To hell and back.
Five years ago, Carlene Carter journeyed deep into the black when one family member after another died. She lost her mother, June Carter Cash, her stepfather Johnny Cash, her half-sister, two aunts and her longtime boyfriend Howie Epstein within an eight-month period.
And Carter sank, into a swirl of drugs and arrests – dark days.
“I had a lot of close calls,” Carter said.
But Carter’s back. In March, she issued her first new album in 12 years, “Stronger.” Now she’s on the road, which includes a stop at the Paramount Center for the Arts in Bristol, Tenn., on Aug. 17.
The show, a taping for longtime PBS television’s “Mountain Stage,” is among a string of steps for Carter’s return to music.
Welcome back, Carter.
“I’m still here,” Carter said by phone last week from California. “That’s a miracle in itself.”
Carter was and remains best known for her familial ties. Her mother was June Carter Cash. Her father Carl Smith, stepfather Johnny Cash and grandmother Maybelle Carter are all members of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Carter’s recording career began in 1978 with her self-titled and rocking debut album. She followed with another nine albums in her first two decades of recording. Hit singles included an infectiously bouncy “I Fell In Love.” Now, she marks 30 years of making records.
“Isn’t that amazing?” Carter said. “I’ve been making a living as a songwriter since I was 17. I’ll be 53 in September.”
In March, Carter released “Stronger,” an emotionally raw album with 12 songs that directly address her loss of family and near loss of self.
“I did a lot of … ‘research’ for it. I ain’t ‘researching’ anymore,” Carter said. “There were a lot of prayers keeping me here on earth. Car wrecks, all kinds of nasty stuff, being around the wrong people – I was never really cut out for that stuff.”
Heart and mind deep into misery of loss, Carter turned to music. She said she wrote most of the songs that are on “Stronger” within six months of her darkest days of 2003. We call it music, but to her, it proved great medicine and therapy.
“Oh yeah, the best therapy in the world for me is to sit down and play my piano,” Carter said. “It’s therapeutic. ‘Stronger’ was about all of them. The generation was moving on, and I could hear Mama saying press on. That was her saying – press on. I just couldn’t sit down and not go on.”
So Carter presses on. She’s planning a tribute album to her 81-year-old father Carl Smith, who heralded and led country music’s honky-tonk era of the 1950s with such hits as “Loose Talk” and “Back Up Buddy.”
Carter said she has commitments from such singers as country’s Rodney Crowell, rock’s Elvis Costello and bluegrass’ Del McCoury to perform on the album. However, she’s not sure if her father will contribute. He retired from music in the 1970s and has rarely performed or recorded since.
“I wish he would,” she said.
Time will tell. As for Carter, times are good now. Life is good now.
“I’m into fun stuff now. I like mowing the yard, gardening – real stuff,” Carter said. “I’ve got a real sweet life.”

IF YOU GO
What: “Mountain Stage,” featuring Carlene Carter and Eric Church
When: Aug. 17, 7 p.m.
Where: Paramount Center for the Arts, 518 State St., Bristol, n Tenn.
Admission: $50 preferred seating with meet and greet; $35 preferred seating; $25 all other seats
Info: (423) 274-8920
Web: http://www.carlenecarter.net

TOM NETHERLAND is a freelance writer. He can be reached at .