(This article is from the archives of Baby Ride Easy, the Carlene Carter fan site run by Doug Stalnaker 2003-2008.)
There's more to Carlene Carter than the glossy album slicks and cowboy boots. Her temptress imagery is let down fairly drastically when it comes to real encounters with this dame. This is no putdown, though, Carlene is sweet, witty and exceptionally sharp, definitely not the dumb blonde that the papers have come to accept. In terms of her talent, Carlene has a great voice, a niche for songwriting with her hubby, the inestimable Nick Lowe and one of the strongest supporting bands ever, in the shape of Paul Carrack and Co.
Her name album 'Blue Nun' while not being a radical departure in terms of production and sound, differs greatly in the songwriting pastures. Most songs, including the single 'Do Me Lover' are aided by Carlene's well touted husband, with Nick also playing guitar on more than his quota of tracks.
"Nick and me wrote 'Do Me Lover' for myself and Paul. Nick even played guitar on quite a few of the tracks, but he didn't get credit because he said he had his name on it enough. It's the first time Nick and I have written so many songs together. There's also a lot of songs we've done together on Nick's new album that's coming out (in January)."
The most obvious difference in Carlene's new material is the bias towards a more R&B based sound. Songs like '300 Pounds of Hongry' go to prove that there's more to Carlene's repetoire than the standard country success of 'Musical Shapes'. The sound is also helped by the surroundings in which the record was produced. (This time in Eden Studios, last home of the Groovies, instead of the Who's Ramport Studios where 'Musical Shapes' was evidenced).
"The album's a little different this time, because...well, it's a little hard to explain, but it's because I've been going through all these doubts as to well, what am I supposed to be acting like. But I always act like myself, and then I think, well what if I'm not such a groovy person after all. Maybe I should start acting like real Pat Benatar, but I really can't do all that stuff. Everyone tells me 'Oh, you make these real seductive pictures and talk about sex all the time,' but I don't, I'm not really like that, it's just that I don't really think about it. I don't have any set raps at all, I can't do that."
As far as commerciality and accessibility go, Carlene may have less problems with the new album, but then there's also the problem of the States (still the largest record market in the world). It may not be a tremendous stumbling block, but in a land convinced by REO Speedwagon and their ilk, there's always the problem of correcting the tastes of younger audiences.
"In America they don't know what the heck to do with my album, they don't know what to think. They think it's real good, but they're used to all this slick stuff. So we said we'd go in and do some more tracks, and we came out with these really over the top tracks that are nothing like I'd ever done before. I don't know what'll happen to them, but they're real great pop."
It sounds like something the Record Company'll love!
"I don't have a clue what sort of audience I'd appeal to, I guess it'd be an older twenties, early thirties sort of audience. The thing is that I don't have a clue, I have a child who's almost ten years old, so for me to think that I could appeal to kids her age is very strange. I know she likes me, 'cause I'm her Mom, but her friends don't think I'm wonderful, because they don't know anybody else's Mom that sings. I can't imagine little girls groovin' on me like they would for example on Adam."
One fortunate aspect of Carlene's press is the way that F-Beat haven't exploited the sex bit as they could well have done.
"The thing is that anything that comes over as a sex thing has been my own doing, and not because I've tried to look sexy or anything, but I do think about sex a lot. I mean, everybody does. And just because I've got a mouth and I tell the truth, when it comes out in print it looks as if all I do is think about sex. And I don't, I think about music too. And unfortunately, or I should say fortunately, because I groove on it, I sometimes start writing a song and the way I see it is that you meet someone, then you fall in love and then you have babies, it's like a process. So if you're writing a song and it's a boy meets girl syndrome, eventually you're gonna get to the part where they have sex. So no matter what you do, whether it be on one track or the next one, it's just human nature that People Do Like To Have Sexual Relations Now And Then. I don't think about it all the time, but then I know Mormons who get up to no good too."
Marts - Zig Zag magazine (Dec 1981)