The Circle of Life

THE WINDING STREAM (B+) - A compelling story overcomes pedestrian filmmaking in this fond portrait of the Carter Family, the founders of modern country music.

Journeyman filmmaker Beth Harrington assembles both members of the family -- including famous son-in-law Johnny Cash -- and admirers, such as Murry Hammond from the Old 97's. It features some fine modern performances from the likes of Sheryl Crow, George Jones, John Prine and Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, paying tribute to the Carters of Maces Springs, Va.: A.P., wife Sara, and her sister, Maybelle (married to A.P.'s brother), who also later performed with her own daughters, Helen, June and Anita.

The archival footage is often fascinating, but Harrington has a penchant for mucking it up with ridiculous, crude animations of photographs, to the point of distraction. Another curious note is the presence of a lot of dead folks in interviews, including Jones, Cash and Maybelle. Harrington apparently started this movie as far back as 2003, the year Cash died, and only recently finished it.

But there's no denying the music. Your toe will be tapping to originals and interpretations of "Keep On the Sunny Side," "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," "Hello, Stranger" (memorably performed by Giddens and Hubby Jenkins), "Worried Man Blues," and the title track, beautifully rendered by Johnny's daughter, Rosanne Cash, in a swirling finale.

Harrington takes some enjoyable detours while telling the story. She follows the trio to Del Rio, Texas, in 1938, where they chased the money of an eccentric who founded a border-radio station, XET, which boomed 500,000 watts [cq] all over the hemisphere, helping cement the Carter Family's reputation and popularity. She spends a lot of time on the road with "Mother" Maybelle, through more modern video, including her revival in the early '70s with the neo-tradionalists the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Her contributions as a pioneering guitarist are settled.

This plays like a solid "American Masters" special on PBS, and the joy it exudes is undeniable.

BONUS TRACK
We also re-watched "The Broken Circle Breakdown" (our No. 2 movie of 2013), which could become a January tradition, though can the heart take it every year? Even sadder than the first time. The couple in that movie names their daughter Maybelle and performs bluegrass standards. It hit me during Townes Van Zandt's "If I Needed You" that the first part of their duet is about them but that the song soon becomes about the wife and their cancer-stricken daughter, laying bare a mother's helplessness.

Here is Veerle Baetens with "Wayfaring Stranger": 



Here's the soundtrack:



And, finally, Johnny Cash with the title song from "The Winding Stream," which his daughter performs before the final credits roll: