The Carter Family: Sara Carter, Jeanette Carter, Helen Carter, June Carter, Anita Carter (vocals, guitar, autoharp); A.P. Carter, Maybelle Carter (vocals, guitar).
Additional personnel: Brother Bill Guild (spoken vocals).
Recorded at XET Studios, Monterrey, Mexico in 1939. Includes liner notes by Ed Kahn.
ON BORDER RADIO is a collection of transcriptions the Carter Family, including the Carter children, made for Mexican radio station XET.
These radio transcriptions show something of a different aspect of the Carter Family. The group is heard here in a setting that's not exactly casual, but is much more informal than that of their more familiar commercially recorded material. The selections here cover the Family's familiar turf of gospel, sentimental songs and popular cowboy songs, plus some Mexican-influenced songs such as "You Are My Flower," and also feature siblings Jeanette, June, and Helen.
The latter lack the polish of the regular trio of A.P., Maybelle, and Sara, but their contributions, particularly "Corina," are nevertheless endearing in a pre-adolescent kind of way. The Carter Family never commercially released many of the songs collected here, a fact that makes this set all the more interesting. A.P. Carter makes a rare solo appearance on "I Can Not Be Your Sweetheart"; his tremulous vocal is immensely appealing and almost worth the price of the CD by itself. Several spirited instrumentals such as "Red Wing" are also included here.
