A fabled country-gospel pioneer, Martha Carson (ne Irene Amburgey, 1921-2004) was a Kentucky gal who started her career in the late 1930s as a hillbilly singer in a family trio with her sisters, an act that also included her sister Opal Jean Amburgey (1925-1995) who later became known as rockabilly singer Jean Chapel. After marrying country picker James Carson, she adopted the stage name Martha Carson, and worked with him in a duet until their 1950 divorce, after which she pushed to develop her own solo career. Carson's greatest impacts were as a songwriter and as a musical innovator, helping push the southern gospel genre into a most robust, less churchy style... Much of Carson's vocal persona seems heavily influenced by blues-gospel artist Sister Rosetta Tharpe, whose earlier recordings in the 1940s exerted a powerful influence on the development of 'Fifties rock'n'roll. Carson's approximations of Tharpe's driving, bluesy style sometimes veered into cringeworthy territory, though they proved infinitely superior to countless male southern gospel singers who tried to emulate African-American R&B with much less success... and who themselves were probably imitating Martha Carson.
As seen below, Martha Carson's career went through many phases, but it is as a country gospel star -- and as a prolific songwriter -- that she made her biggest mark. Here's a quick look at her career...
Martha Carson "Journey To The Sky" (RCA Victor, 1956) (LP)
Martha Carson "Rock-A My Soul" (RCA Victor, 1958) (LP)
Martha Carson "Satisfied" (Capitol Records, 1960) (LP)
(Produced by Ken Nelson)
This is Martha Carson at her peak, delivering a swell set of slick, innovative country-gospel with strong musical backing and creative guidance from one of Nashville's finest producers, Ken Nelson. The release date on this album is slightly confusing, since these are actually older performances gathered from her first years as a solo artist, with tracks from 1951-53 that were originally released as singles, including her biggest hit, "Satisfied," which kicks the album off. Five years after Carson parted ways with Capitol and pursued a vigorously poppy sound at RCA, the folks at her old label apparently figured they should cash in and reissue some of her old stuff as an LP, and hooray for that decision, because this is great stuff. The set features plenty of nimble, legitimately twangy guitar picking courtesy of Chet Atkins, framed by uptempo arrangements and a prominent backbeat which apparently had a big influence on the early 'Fifties country scene. The rich underpinning of old-school twang provides a good bed for her still-rural vocals, with a backwoods tonality that reminds me quite a bit of one of my favorite hard-country singers, Melba Montgomery, whose own career was just starting at the time this album came out. Backing Carson on these sessions are Chet Atkins, pianist Marvin Hughes, Ernie Newton on bass, and rollicking hillbilly bandleader Bill Carlisle, of The Carlisles, a band that Martha Carson worked in for several years. Also notable are the contributions from her younger sister, vocalist and banjo player Opal Jean Amburgey (1925-1995) who was still using her hillbilly stage name Mattie O'Neill -- she would later emerge as a Sun Records rockabilly singer using the name Jean Chapel, and ultimately settle into a successful career as a popular Nashville songwriter. Nelson made the most of this great crew: when folks credit Martha Carson as a pioneering country-pop hybridist who helped influence the growth of 'Fifties rock'n'roll, this is the stuff they're talking about. (Of course, a lot of what the was doing was imitating the hip gospel-blues of Sister Rosetta Tharpe, but at this point her debt to black R&B was still relatively subtle, and not quite as cringeworthy as on her RCA pop records.
Martha Carson "A Talk With The Lord" (Capitol Records, 1961) (LP)
(Produced by Ken Nelson)
This album is of a piece with the Satisfied LP above, reissuing more of her early solo work, with classic recordings that first came out between 1951-54, using the same set of musicians and showcasing Ken Nelson's ever-skillful talents as a top-tier country producer. The set's mostly packed with Martha Carson originals, though one big notable exception is her version of "There's A Higher Power," which is one of the earliest Nashville covers of a song originally by The Louvin Brothers. This still sounds country, though on a couple of tracks there are goofy 'Fifties pop-vocals touches which foreshadow the pop crossovers to come... But mostly, this is swell stuff!
Martha Carson "Martha Carson" (Sims Records, 1964) (LP)
Martha Carson "This Old House And Other Gospel Favorites" (Scripture Records, 1964) (LP)
Martha Carson "Martha Carson's Greatest Gospel Hits" (Gusto Records, 1978) (LP)
Though she continued her live appearances and songwriting career, to the record-buying public, Martha Carson had been out of the game for over a decade when the folks at Gusto Records (formerly Starday) approached her to cut a new album with modern-day backing for some of her classic compositions. These are re-recordings, but sometimes it's fun to hear late-career records from old-school country folks... Unfortunately, the label neglected to list the backing musicians -- which wasn't uncommon for Gusto or its sub-labels.
Martha Carson "Martha Carson Sings" (RCA-Camden, 1965) (LP)
This is often listed as one of Martha Carson's proper albums, though really it's a short set of tracks culled from her late 1950s RCA albums, for the label's reissue imprint, Camden Records.
Martha Carson & James Roberts "Early Gospel Greats" (Anthology Of Country Music, 1985) (LP)
Martha Carson "Martha Carson Explodes" (Bear Family Records, 1986) (LP)
Martha Carson & James Roberts "I'm Gonna Let It Shine" (BACM, 2006)
Old-time gospel favorites from the fabled Martha Carson (1921-2004) and her husband James Roberts (aka James Carson, 1918-2007) who was the mandolin-pickin' son of old-timey Kentucky fiddler Dock Roberts. They performed together billed as "the Barn Dance Sweethearts," and recorded a healthy string of late 1940s, early 'Fifties singles, first for the Kansas City-based label, White Church Records (yikes) and later for Capitol Records. These old hillbilly-era recordings haven't seen the light of day in a long, long time, and stand in sharp contrast to Martha Carson's later solo work in the 1950s, when she embraced less-twangy, pop-oriented arrangements. The Carsons divorced in 1950, prompting Ms. Carson to pursue a solo career and to delve deeper into songwriting. Most of these tracks were also included in the collector-label vinyl LP above.
Martha Carson & James Roberts "I'll Shout And Shine" (BACM, 2005)
The companion disc to BACM's I'm Gonna Let It Shine (above) this actually focusses more on Martha Carson's solo career, with only a handful of tunes that also included her husband. Some material overlaps with her Capitol and RCA albums, though this also includes several tracks that were originally only released as singles.
