Carlene Carter with The Carter Family at Cash Fest and Grand Ole Opry!

It has just been announced that Carlene Carter along with multiple generations of The Carter Family, will be appearing at Cash Fest on Sunday, November 10 at Nashville’s War Memorial Auditorium.  The event coincides with the release of The Gift, the YouTube documentary that chronicles and celebrates “The Journey of Johnny Cash.”  The concert is being produced by Best Fest which, in the past, has presented Dylan Fest, Petty Fest, Neil Fest, Stones Fest and other tribute concert programs in New York, Los Angeles, Austin, San Francisco and Nashville.  Among the other artists slated to perform at Cash Fest are Little Big Town, Dennis Quaid, Perry and Etty Farrell, Elle King, Todd Snider, Grace Potter as well as John Carter Cash and Ana Christina Cash.

Carlene is, of course, the daughter of June Carter who married Johnny Cash on March 1, 1968 when Carlene was still a pre-teen.  She grew up in the home of her stepfather whom she always referred to as “Big John.”  She toured and appeared on TV with Cash at an early age as part of the iteration of The Carter Family that included her grandmother, Mother Maybelle Carter, her mother as well as her aunts Helen and Anita.  The legacy of the Carter Family looms large in country music history and was a focus of the celebrated Ken Burns’ Country Music series in which Carlene appears numerous times.  More recently, Reviver Entertainment Group’s Legacy label released The Carter Family – Across Generations, produced by John Carter Cash, Johnny and June’s son and Carlene’s brother.  The project juxtaposes five generations of the Carter Family on one album with Carlene playing a pivotal role; it serves as an audio thread to tell the story of country music’s undisputed first family and Johnny Cash is heard on three of the album’s tracks.

At Cash Fest, Carlene Carter with The Carter Family will include Dale Jett, Tiffany Anastasia Lowe, Lorrie Carter Bennett and John Carter Cash.  Dale Jett is a grandson of A.P. and Sara Carter, Lorrie Carter Bennett is a granddaughter of Mother Maybelle Carter and daughter of Anita Carter, Tiffany Anastasia Lowe is Carlene’s daughter and great granddaughter of Mother Maybelle Carter.  The event will mark the second public performance of Carlene Carter with The Carter Family, as they debut earlier in the week when they guest on The Grand Ole Opry on Tuesday, November 5th.

Carlene commented, “Big John respected, admired and lived the music of The Carter Family. In a sense, they became his own family even before he married momma. Grandma (Maybelle) loved him and provided him with a soft place to land in her home when he was struggling with addiction. I believe that Carter Family music took him back to his childhood in Dyess when he first heard them on the radio. He was drawn to The Carter Family by destiny because the way he felt when he sang with them was always meant to be.”

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