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One good thing is I was instilled with really good values. My mom treats everyone the same.
Carlene Carter
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There's something unnatural about losing a sibling when they're young.
Carlene Carter
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Even city people have ancestors who had their hands in the dirt.
Carlene Carter
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I hate parameters. They immediately alienate a bunch of people.
Carlene Carter
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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.
Carlene Carter
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I do feel I'm responsible to carrying on the music. That's what I was charged with as a kid. When I was a little girl, I was told, 'When we are gone' - when you're a kid, you never think they'll ever be gone - 'you have to keep the music alive, the Carter Family songs, and add your own songs.'
Carlene Carter
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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.
Carlene Carter
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I can laugh and cry at the drop of a freakin' hat - all at the same time.
Carlene Carter
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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.
Carlene Carter
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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.
Carlene Carter
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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.
Carlene Carter
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There was a period where I was a little scared that I'd blown my chance.
Carlene Carter
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I'm pretty much an open book.
Carlene Carter
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I love rock n' rollers.
Carlene Carter
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I got into photography when my kids were little, and I continued talking pictures over the years.
Carlene Carter
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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.
Carlene Carter
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My mom is a great entertainer.
Carlene Carter
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It's all for a reason and all happened the way it was supposed to happen.
Carlene Carter
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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.
Carlene Carter
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Sometimes, it's good to stick to your guns.
Carlene Carter
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I moved back to Tennessee in '86 or '87. That's when I worked with the Carter Family because I really wanted to understand my roots.
Carlene Carter
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My Smiths, my Carters, the Cashes - everybody embraced me and held my arms up when I couldn't do it myself.
Carlene Carter
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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.
Carlene Carter
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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.
Carlene Carter
