The Winding Stream

The Carters are America’s first family of country music. Trio, Sara and Maybelle Carter are the precursors of the genre who began their careers in the 1920s as the first professional country band and propagators of American folk. Each successive generation of Carters – later joined by the Cash family – continued the clan’s tradition by archiving old recordings and lyrics as well as offering their updated arrangements all the while maintaining respect for the preceding generation. The Winding Stream by documentary filmmaker Beth Harrington is a cinematic return to the roots of American folk and country music. Interviews with living family members mix with archive footage, old recordings and fragments of animated family photographs. The legendary Johnny Cash is the family’s biggest name, but in Harrington’s film, Cash is one of many stars. After all, if it weren’t for the Carters, his career might have completely different.