You can have a big hit and not get rich.
— Carlene Carter
When I first came out, country wouldn't touch me because I was way too rock, and rock wouldn't touch me because I was definitely country.
Hopefully, people will rediscover real country music. After all, it's in my blood.
I never, by any regard, ever denied any part of my family roots.
Even city people have ancestors who had their hands in the dirt.
I feel the audience are friends that have come to see us. That was always how we look on it in the Carter Family. I've never suffered stage fright.
The first time I went on stage as an adult was touring with the Johnny Cash Show. I'd sang as a child. But my grown-up initiation was as part of that band.
I've always wanted to make records that rock like hell. But also, I've never wanted to compromise that Country place deep inside.
Be yourself. And every person is unique.
The first five albums I did, I tried a little bit of everything. I was trying not to conform at all.
It's a matriarchal family, the Carters. A.P. was the original head of the Carter family, but the women were always strong. There were no questions asked in that regard; you had better be strong.
I just know what I want, and I'm willing to butt heads with folks to get it.
I challenged myself to carry on the style of guitar that my grandmother did: the Carter scratch.
Everyone deals with loss. I'm no different, but we all find our ways of coming through things. Is it tough? Of course, but you find the strength to push on through.
I always have to just be myself. Anything else, I'm not happy, and it comes out musically.
One good thing is I was instilled with really good values. My mom treats everyone the same.
I believe everything falls into place as it's supposed to.
My mom is a great entertainer.
Music should be judged on what you hear, not what you think you might hear.
I wood-shedded for a year to play Grandma's simple stuff. It's not that simple, and I don't use picks the way she does. But I played them as authentically as I could, with the flat-picking.
A lot of people said I was a rebel. I wasn't.
I love rock n' rollers.
Whenever I get to a point I'm so tired that I forgot the verse of a song, I know I'm burnt out.
My grandma passed in '78, and that's the year I started recording. It's also the year that my dad retired from his career. So it's funny how torches get passed on, and you feel a responsibility to be connected to the music that they did and try to carry it on in your own way.
Eccentricity has never been discouraged in our family.
I wanted to play rocking country music, and when I started out in the late Seventies, it took me a couple of albums to figure out how to do that.
In the late '70s, I was falling into the middle lane. I was way too country to be rock, and way too rock to be a country act.
I was always in a big hurry to do everything. Before I was 20, I was married twice and had two kids. But I don't regret any of it. I learned a lot about myself. I had a lot to say for someone my age, real early on.
Grandma and Mama showed me that you always have to give as much as you can, no matter what.
I've always been one to throw caution to the wind, and my motto has been, 'Never have a dull moment.' Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't, but I don't think I'd have it much differently.
I can laugh and cry at the drop of a freakin' hat - all at the same time.
I think, looking back, there was a lot of fear of success in me. When you are successful, you have to keep it up... it requires you to be responsible, and I had been pretty irresponsible.
It's all for a reason and all happened the way it was supposed to happen.
MusiCares was really good to me. I can't say enough how MusiCares helps other people. They really, really helped me. They have the greatest groups and support for musicians in recovery.
I grew up quick because my family was away a lot, and I took care of my sister. Then in my 20s, I went through my teens, with these 'wild abandon' things.
I hate parameters. They immediately alienate a bunch of people.
Sometimes I get emotional when I'm doing 'Lonesome Valley' or 'Wildwood Rose.'
I grew up on the side of the stage. I never had a fear of an audience. I never felt like they were separated from us. We were all in the living room, and it happens to be a big living room. I continue to operate on that assumption.
When I'm on stage, I know exactly where I am. It's not an ego thing or anything like that, but I am more in my body and aware of myself and aware of what I'm doing, and I feel more from that, from sharing the music.
I learned how to sing in front of a lot of people and to hone my skills alongside some of the greatest performers of all time.
Whenever I've not known what to do, I've always gone back to the Carter Family because there was nothing like singing with my aunts and my mom to my grandma.
Don't try to be like somebody else. You'll be miserable. You need to be yourself, and don't ever get a big head.
Basically, I grew up watching Carter girls on stage, watching my grandmother, my mom and my aunts perform. They used to say, 'Okay, Carter girls, you're on!'
I got into photography when my kids were little, and I continued talking pictures over the years.
My mother has always been open about all kinds of music and entertainment. She wanted us to see that it was not just country music and the Grand Ole Opry.
Working with Mellencamp, I made new fans, people that may have never heard of me. They may have heard I was related to the Carter Family or Johnny Cash somehow, but what they got was pure Carlene.
I fly from the seat of my pants, basically.
I always knew I would make the record that I made in 'Carter Girl.'
Musically, I always wanted to experiment.
I don't have any regrets at all.
