In the twenties and thirties, country music was just beginning to assert its own identity separate from folk music but the Carter family's music was hugely influential in the development of both country and folk music in America. Not only has the music passed down the generations (tribute albums still appear at regular intervals) but the family has also produced June Carter, who was married for a time to country singer Carl Smith (father of Carlene Carter). More famously, June later married Johnny Cash (father of Rosanne Cash. So the family continues to exert an influence directly as well as via their old songs.

This compilation provides a good overview of their music, though you must allow for the age of the recordings. All the essentials are here including Wildwood flower, Keep on the sunny side, I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes (which uses the same tune as Great speckled bird, Wild side of life and It wasn't god who made honky tonk angels), Can the circle be unbroken (better known as Will the circle be unbroken), My Dixie darling (revived by Carlene Carter on her classic album, I fell in love), I never will marry (revived by Linda Ronstadt on her classic album, Simple dreams), Foggy mountain top and You are my flower.

As a basic introduction to the music of the Carter family, this works brilliantly. It doesn't do full justice to their music but boxed sets by JSP and Bear family serve that purpose.

This compilation features 25 of the Carter Family's classics taken from original 78's and were recorded in between 1927-1938. This collection actually sounds nice concerning the source material, age of recordings, etc and best of all, they are original recordings. Most of these tracks were originally released by RCA Victor, yet there are some later tracks on it as well and it features mainly their signature songs such as the title track, Keep on The Sunny Side, Worried Man Blues (later covered by the Kingston Trio as "A Worried Man"), Can The Circle Be Unbroken (later to be retitled "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" while Mother Maybelle recorded it on guitar originally, it's also worth checking out the re-recording that Maybelle play autoharp on which can be found on the Dirt Band original "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" album which is still in print and can be found right here or your local CD shop), My Dixie Darling, Wabash Cannonball, plus 2 tracks from the Bristol Sessions: Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow and Little Log Cabin By The Sea and many more. If you cannot afford the Bear Family box or the Rounder series or if you just want a nice sampler of their well known songs to enjoy while traveling, this is the best collection on the Carter Family to get and explains why they were inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970.