The Winding Stream

Director Beth Harrington spent 12 years working on this profile of the famed Carter Family, told through the reminiscences of relatives and historians. Harrington landed some prominent participants, most notably Johnny Cash, who passed away a few weeks after their conversation. In between biographical anecdotes, musicians including George Jones, John Prine, and Rhiannon Giddens perform Carter Family songs. Harrington also incorporates animated cut-outs, which lend the proceedings a homespun feel. According to their descendants, the Carters grew up poor in Virginia among relatives who were happy to share what they had. Patriarch A.P. (Alvin Pleasant) had a third grade education and a tremor in his hand that made him self-conscious. Before his music career took off, he worked as a door-to-door fruit tree salesman, which led him to Sara, who became his wife. They formed the Carter Family with her first cousin, Maybelle, and as their reputation grew the Victor Talking Machine Company began to release their records. A.P. also became a song collector, which necessitated months on the road and contributed to his divorce from Sara, but the band only grew with the addition of their daughters, Helen, Anita, and June (the original trio last performed in 1953). Johnny Cash remembers hearing them on border radio station XERA, where they became stars. By that time he had met June, and even though both were married to others, Cash predicted that he would wed her, which he did a few years later. About June's mother, Cash says, "Maybelle Carter was the greatest star." Harrington ends her chronicle with a look at the ways that descendants have preserved the Carter Family legacy. Highly recommended. (K. Fennessy)