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 a few unreleased items 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," you have been transported out of time and space and into the heart of Carter's mysterious, darkly inviting, and spiritually resilient vocal.

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Listen and learn

The first autoharp I heard was John Sebastian in the Lovin’ Spoonfuls “You didn’t have to be so nice”

In fact, the Autoharp, invented in the 1870s, a fad in the 1890s, became a virtuoso instrument among these and a few other players in the early to mid 20th century.

Spirited breakdowns, sentimental and gospel songs — some played as instrumentals — and even a bluegrass song are presented here in this re-release of the only documentary of traditional Southern Autoharp players.

The guitar and mandolin entered the music in the late 19th century. Sometimes accordions, concertinas, pianos, and flutes or pennywhistles are found in contemporary old-time ensembles. Bones, too. And let's not forget the dulcimer and hammered dulcimer. And the harmonica and autoharp. Old-time music has usually been made on whatever instrument was at hand, so many more instruments could be mentioned.

'Masters of Old-Time Country Autoharp' features autoharp aces Ernest "Pops" Stoneman; John Kilby Snow; and Neriah and Kenneth Benfield. Stoneman, born in Virginia in 1893, was the first person to record with an autoharp in the 1920s. With his family, Stoneman earned a career revival in the 1960s, appearing on the Grand Ole Opry and co-hosting a syndicated TV show. North Carolina native Neriah Benfield and his son Kenneth offer masterful, traditional Southern autoharp styles. Carpenter John Kilby Snow offers a more modern style, including his innovative "drag notes" (sliding up to a note or chord).

The album also features cameos by Mike Seeger himself and the legendary Hazel Dickens. The field recordings were made in 1957 and 1961.This collection includes much loved hymns, waltzes, sentimental songs, folk songs and instrumentals, including "John Henry," "She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain," "Old Joe Clark," "Sweet Sunny South," "Shortening Bread," "Wildwood Flower" and "Jacob's Ladder" ( Kenneth Benfield) the last has been covered by Bruce Springsteen.


Over many years listening I have heard very few people that are able to make an autoharp sound interesting when played solo. The fact is that this is a novelty instrument enabling someone with very little musical knowledge to play a basic accompaniment to a song or another instrument. I think that on that basis it works fine and probably has spurred people on to play something a little more challenging.

As used by The Carter Family and the Stoneman Family for instance it worked well but where it is the sole instrument I find it hard to listen to for very long.