Soundtrack

Congratulations to our friend Beth Harrington, director of the moving Carter Family documentary 'The Winding Stream'... The soundtrack to the movie has been named one of the best country music albums of 2015!

The release date is Oct 16...
http://omnivorerecordings.com/music/the-winding-stream/

The film itself is currently touring the country...
http://www.argotpictures.com/film/the-winding-stream/

Meanwhile, in Music City...

If you're shopping for comics in Nashville, "Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song" is on the shelf at Brainfreeze Comics!

Spotted in Paris...

Sarah McIntyre (who is a superstar children's book illustrator in London) spotted "La Famille Carter" in the bookshop of the Centre Pompidou in Paris!  She sends this photo:

And if anyone reading this is flying Air France in August of 2015, please look for a comic by me in their in-flight magazine!

If I was in Bristol, I'd do this...

See Dale Jett (who is the grandson of A.P.) and Wayne Henderson with A.P. Carter's Martin guitar!

http://www.tnvacation.com/events/45587/

I am told by Ron McConnell (who heard from Dave Lewis) that the Birthplace of Country Music Museum's Carter Family exhibition can only be seen until the end of this month.

Big Planet signing last summer

Thank you to Mike Rhode for documenting my signing at Big Planet Comics in Bethesda, MD on his Comics DC blog...
http://comicsdc.blogspot.com/2014/06/dave-lasky-at-big-planet-comics.html

He took some great photos, including one of Martha Burns and me. I was thrilled that she was willing to play a set of Carter Family tunes...

Belatedly, I want to thank everyone who came out to see me (in the horrible DC-area traffic), including classmates from elementary school to college, and my Aunt Bev and Uncle Mark!  Thanks to Greg Bennet for hosting at his lovely Big Planet Comics Bethesda store!

(Trivia: The store is located just a few blocks from where the Red Fox Inn, a historic bluegrass venue, was once located.  Martha and I stopped to look at the spot afterwards, now called Positano Ristorante Italiano. I took a moment to remember autoharp master Ron Penix, who had played at the Red Fox, and who had recently passed away.)

New from Rosanne Cash

I just stumbled across this nice article about Rosanne Cash and her new album (which mentions The Carter Family), written by Geoffrey Himes for Smithsonian Magazine...
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/rosanne-cash-discovering-new-artistic-terrain-180953047/?utm_source=twitter.com&no-ist

The Carter Family is Part of "The Best American Comics of 2014!"

We're delighted and excited to be a part of the newest installment in this venerable series of books. Critics are already raving about this 2014 edition.

Paul Constant of The Stranger has said: "...I find myself declaring to you that The Best American Comics 2014 is the best edition of The Best American Comics to ever be published." He adds:

The end result is a book you can hand anyone as an overview of where comics are as an art form in the year 2014. In fact, I may even take my earlier hypocritical claim one step further and call this the best book I've ever read in the whole Best American series. It's informative, funny, surprising, and a satisfying reading experience on its own. This should be the book that every Best American guest editor aspires to emulate in years to come.

Click HERE to read a witty and informative interview of Scott McCloud by the Washington Post's Scott Cavna.

Bill Kartalopoulos, the series editor for this project, discusses his work on the anthologies in THIS INTERVIEW. These books are invaluable for making the more adventurous byroads of comics art accessible to the average reader--the person or persons who would blanch at the thought of entering a typical comic book shop, but who might peruse this book in the more dignified setting of a bookstore or library.

An unusual chapter from the Carter Family graphic novel was chosen for this book. "The Program is Morally Good" (pp. 79-83 in the GN) attempts to capture the atmosphere of the original Carter Family in live performance. It was one of many challenging moments in which David Lasky and I had the task of bringing the feeling of music to the silent printed (and drawn) page.

I enjoyed coloring this sequence, as it gave me several different lighting sources to influence my palette--from the pale pre-dawn that opens the chapter to the claustrophobic, humid lamplit scenes of the Carters in concert. David's atmosphere of the performance panels really brings this interlude to life.

We're just one facet of this book, which features sequences from Chris Ware's blockbuster Building Stories, Ben Katchor, Charles Burns, R. Crumb and Aline Kominsky, Adrian Tomine, Tom Hart, Ron Rege Jr., The Hernandez Brothers and many other notables. It's a great honor to be in such esteemed comics company. David and I encourage you to check out this new volume, which will give you a strong taster of what's going on in the diverse, challenging and enriching world of today's comics and graphic novels.