Over in England, Carter and Lowe live in London's West End with her daughter from a previous marriage. When not working, they hang out with their musician friends, many of whom live nearby ("our little Chiswick community of people in music"). Though both have longstanding reputations as ravers, Carlene insists that they've become homebodies, each observing a fairly disciplined regimen of songwriting and studio work. Carlene has also been busy assembling a band for her late-fall U.S. tour.
This time out, she may be minding her mouth more closely. It got her into hot water at a New York club date last year, when she introduced "Swap-Meat Rag"--a song from her second LP that bluntly addresses the subject of mate-swapping--with the words, "If this song doesn't put the cunt back in country, nothing will." Unknown to her, June Carter and Johnny Cash were in the audience.
"I've never known such embarrassment," she says. "My sister Cindy told me later that John said, 'Carlene looked right at me and said that.' I don't know, I was singing this song about husband-swapping--it was all just a rude portrait of my set--and it just came out. I got Quote of the Year in Playboy." |
