Keep on the sunny side....

It's been awhile, as it's been a bit difficult to actually keep on the sunny side as of late. A recent documentary, "The Winding Stream," has brought it all back home, however.

I discovered the Carter Family name through the 1972 opus, "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," which brought the old and new generations together -- specifically one Mother Maybelle Carter.

But the music of the Carter Family had somehow drifted up from Poor Valley to the hills of Central Pennsylvania. Even though we had no records of this music to speak of, I knew these songs. Maybe it was riding home from my grandparents and hearing these songs on the Jamboree from WWVA on the car radio. Maybe it was the rare times my Dad would pick up that Harmony guitar and pick out the rudimentary notes of "Wildwood Flower."

Or maybe they were just part of my DNA, handed down through blood.

I only know how affecting this look at the Carter Family is to me. My dad loved this music, and I do too. A wonderful connection that I still feel many years on. 

Somehow this feels like the last innocent music ever made in this country.

Or maybe anywhere else, for that matter.