Even city people have ancestors who had their hands in the dirt.
Carlene Carter
I just know what I want, and I'm willing to butt heads with folks to get it.
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.
There's something unnatural about losing a sibling when they're young.
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.
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!'
If someone asked me to do something I didn't want to do or didn't think was right, I wouldn't do it.
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.
There are no rules when it comes to songwriting, so I'd turn Carter family songs from the 1930s into pop songs.
Eccentricity has never been discouraged in our family.
I don't know how I got out of some of the scrapes I was in. But I know that there's some sort of plan.
Sometimes, it's good to stick to your guns.
Music should be judged on what you hear, not what you think you might hear.
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.
A lot of people said I was a rebel. I wasn't.
I've always had wanderlust to try and do different things, but I always return to the music of the Carter family.
I love to be surrounded by nature.
I'm a bubbling brew of emotions, but mostly, I'm an optimistic person.
I can laugh and cry at the drop of a freakin' hat - all at the same time.
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.
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 Smiths, my Carters, the Cashes - everybody embraced me and held my arms up when I couldn't do it myself.
I'm kind of a perfectionist about my songwriting. If I don't mean it, I don't think it's any good.
I've had a few ditty hits.
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.
Lots of girls marry at 16 in Tennessee.
There was a period where I was a little scared that I'd blown my chance.
I've matured as a writer and human being. I've got some wisdom under my belt.
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.'
I'm really about my family and really proud of being a Carter.
I was thinking about it: so many of my stories are about my family life, not about being related to a lot of famous people. That's my grandma, that's my mama, my daddy, my aunt, my uncle, my stepdaddy. I'd probably tell them even if they weren't well known.
I started playing piano when I was 6, ukulele at 7.
I always wanted to be the rockin'est country chick in the universe.
If someone gets married at 15, they're either dumb or pregnant. I was both.
I'm pretty much an open book.
My songs are about who I am.
I've always been one of those people - once I start something, I have to get it all out, because it gets me.
I like things all shined up and rocking with hooky pop choruses.
I don't really have any ditties left in me anymore.
I'd had three husbands by 23. The second was a songwriter who couldn't handle the fact the little lady was doing better than him.
I have great stories. I am going to write a book.
I like to do one thing at a time and do it to the best of my ability.
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 believe everything falls into place as it's supposed to.
I don't have any regrets at all.
It's all for a reason and all happened the way it was supposed to happen.
One good thing is I was instilled with really good values. My mom treats everyone the same.
Musically, I always wanted to experiment.
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.
I always have to just be myself. Anything else, I'm not happy, and it comes out musically.
