Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 23, 1993 TAG: 9310230045
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JAY DEDRICK KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
DATELINE: BOULDER, COLO. LENGTH: Medium
"He's a great inspiration," Carter said, calling from Los Angeles where she's completing a new video. "When we were doing this album I listened to Prince a lot. One song I was going to do was a Bob Dylan song, `Trust Yourself,' with a country-Prince treatment."
Leave it to Carter, who's had any number of hyphenates precede her name, to coin "country-Prince." Carter began her singing-songwriting career in the late '70s, when she was marketed as rockabilly. She dabbled in pop and rock during the '80s while married to power popster Nick Lowe.
But as a member of country's first family - granddaughter of Mother Maybelle Carter, daughter of June Carter Cash and Carl Smith, step-daughter of Johnny Cash - is it any wonder she's settled comfortably into a country career?
"I take my country blue blood and combine it with what makes me feel good musically," Carter said. "It's not rockabilly, it's more country rock.
"I hate parameters and boundaries," she added. "It's always been a problem for me, and I never understand why I have to be slotted into something. Even when they were marketing me as a rock artist, I mean, I have a country voice. Though I may have a higher level of energy than most country women singers used to have."
Like 1990's "I Fell in Love," "Little Love Letters" is a catchy collection of upbeat, smile-inducing tunes, tempered with a few sweet, heart-tugging ballads. There's plenty of pop sheen, too, thanks partly to production by Howie Epstein (one of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers and Carter's significant other).
So many of today's female country artists rely heavily on weepy ballads, but Carter said she can't help but be upbeat.
"It's a reflection of my life - I'm real happy," she said. "I always get happy when I'm playing music or writing. I also tend to write a lot about how my life is going. If I'm happy, I'm going to get a lot of happy love songs."
They're fun, too - "I love you so much I hate you," she mock-pouts in "Every Little Thing."
by CNB