Ring of Fire (1989)

About this title: It's been well documented that June Carter Cash and Merle Kilgore wrote the song "Ring of Fire," which is about her early relationship with Johnny Cash. What's less well known is that it was her youngest sister, Anita, not Johnny Cash, who cut it first, accompanied only by a pair of acoustic guitars. Ring of Fire is the German Bear Family label's presentation of Anita Carter's 1962-1964 Mercury recordings. While Carter is also a daughter of Mother Maybelle, country music, at least in the early '60s, was not her forte -- folk music was. There are 25 tracks here, all of them stunning, some of ... read more

Tracks:

1. Ring of Fire [Cash/Kilgore]
2. Fair and Tender Ladies [Carter]
3. Satan's Child [Carter/Dill]
4. Fly Pretty Swallow [Davidson/Glaser Bro]
5. As the Sparrow Goes [Carter/Cash/Kilgore]
6. All My Trials [Carter]
7. Voice of the Bayou [Johnson/L./Johnson]
8. Sour Grapes [Allison/Kilgore]
9. Johnny, I Hardly Knew You [Carter]
10. My Love [Carter/Dinning]
11. A Few Short Years Ago [Howard]
12. The Kentuckian Song [Gordon]
13. Brian [Greenfield/Keller]
14. Running Back [Zambon]
15. Take Me Home [Traditional]
16. No, My Love, No [Traditional]
17. Farewell (Fare Thee Well) [Dylan]
18. This Life I'm Living [Traditional]
19. My Love Loves Me [Evans/Livingston]
20. John, John, John [Paxton]
21. John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man [Carter]
22. I Never Will Marry [Carter]
23. In the Highways [Carter]
24. Bury Me Beneath the Willow [Carter]
25. Beautiful Isle O'er the Sea [Carter]
26. Wildwood Flower [Carter]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.