She worked up an especially fine comic groove in 1954 with Mom and the sisters on "He Went Slippin' Around." It starts with the premise that a wife has responded to a husband slipping around by dumping banana peels on their front steps. This image of slipping around on the steps might, however, distract from the darker strain of humor that arises as she just flat kills the guy with a butcher knife. Hardy, har har! I don't know who this I. Smith is who's credited with writing this psycho comedy. but I'm definitely scared of them Carter women. They might run a little bit "wild and mean." But we'll get back to that.

Of course, June's work intersects and provides counterpoint to her famously somber husband. She (and Merle Kilgore) wrote Johnny's best song, "Ring of Fire." His hit version with those cool horns would probably be considered definitive, but it's certainly good to have her autoharp dominated rendition for contrast.

Probably the biggest record with her name as performer though was "Jackson." This comes from the 1967 album Carryin' On With Johnny Cash & June Carter, which makes this actually the document of their courtship before they were married in 1968. It's also the classic example of how she would tend to lighten the mood for Johnny.

There were numerous great recordings chronicling their romance, but it strikes me listening to these collections how much ground is represented just with "Jackson" and their duet of "If I Were a Carpenter" from 1969. Throw in "Ring of Fire" and the 1999 recording of "Far Side Banks of Jordan" and you've got a pretty good chunk of a legendary romance captured for the ages.

Nearly half of the 1999 Press On album comes from re-recordings of songs from an out of print 1975 album Appalachian Pride. Conveniently and revealingly, the Keep on the Sunny Side collection has the 1975 recordings. Usually one would be skeptical of re-recordings of your old songs. However, they sound really different not just stylistically, but in the underlying emotional communication. Moreover, I'd pick the 1999 recordings clearly over the 1975 versions for nearly ever song.

Most improved award goes to "Losin' You" which shows the limitations of humor, and where it might sometimes have been something of a limitation. In 1975, she's still half playing it off for a joke. Note some of the cheesy keyboards. By 1999, she's got a whole different and more serious reading of the same tune. It's not somber, really, but something's heavier and more real.

It seems as if only late in life did she become really comfortable with addressing heavier dramatic states such as the pure tragedy of "Tall Loverman" with no vaudeville punchlines. The Press On recordings uniformly have more emotional throw weight than the earlier recordings.