Ken Burns' "Country Music" highlights the Carter Family

I caught the first episode of "Country Music", the new epic documentary by Ken Burns, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The Carter Family was prominently highlighted, as well as Leslie Riddle. It was gratifying to see some of the historic moments that I'd drawn in the Carter Family graphic novel chronicled in the Burns style with old photos, voiceovers, interviews, and of course: music.

Positive reviews are appearing, and for anyone who missed it, I believe the episode can be viewed online here.

-David Lasky


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Maybelle Carter Honored on NPR

It's exciting to see a whole series of articles on NPR's website honoring Maybelle Carter as one of "8 Women Who Invented American Popular Music."

Today is the birth anniversary of Maybelle Carter...

On this day in 1909, Maybelle Carter, one of the most important musicians in American music was born in Nickelsville, Virginia. Thanks, David Steward, for linking me to this Writer's Almanac page which marks the occasion and describes Maybelle's role in the historic Bristol Sessions.

This image of Maybelle at the Bristol Sessions is actually the color layer (without the usual inked linework on top of it), exquisitely created by Frank M. Young, from our graphic novel "The Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song."

-DL

Single Girl, Married Girl

Today, as pages are posted from the Bristol Sessions chapter, we come across what is maybe my favorite page in the book: Sara and Maybelle recording "Single Girl, Married Girl."

Here's a larger version...

In a separate post, I will talk about the page and show the stages of its evolution.

Sara Sings "Single Girl": Celebrating the 85th Birthday of The Big Bang Of Country Music!

To David and I, one of the great moments in Don't Forget This Song is when Sara and Maybelle record "Single Girl, Married Girl" on the second day of their very first recording session.

This took place at the epochal "Bristol Sessions," which is seen by many country music scholars as "the Big Bang" of country music. An entire chapter in our book is devoted to the Bristol Sessions, which also introduced the extraordinary Jimmie Rodgers to the musical world.

Above is Sara and Maybelle's exquisite 1927 original of "Single Girl, Married Girl." Take a few minutes and savor one of the finest performances in Sara Carter's career--she struck gold in her first recording session.