More than a country song, it's her life

NASHVILLE — With her once ash blond hair now auburn, progressive country's crown princess Carlene Carter is the spitting image of her mother June Carter Cash. Heads turn when Maybelle Carter's granddaughter walks into the Sunset Grill, a Music City watering hole frequented by the celebrities, who scarcely earn more than a passing flicker from fellow diners. In part because of her beauty, in part because of her notoriety for living outside the lines, in part because of a pedigree that also includes father Carl Smith, stepfather Johnny Cash and a mother who co-wrote "Ring of Fire," people take notice.

Carlene, a wild child of the '70s L.A. country-rock and U.K. punk scenes, has emerged from a life that scanned far wilder than any country song. But in her own prolonged addiction and the 2003 deaths of paramour Howie Epstein, her mother, stepfather and sister Rosie, she found the strength to return to writing and created "Stronger," a song cycle coming out Tuesday that documents the pain, loss and courage it took to regain control of her life.

"In some ways, [writing] was the hardest part 'cause I lived it," says Carter. Her eyes flash with that spark that marked her irrepressibility three decades ago, when she was a country siren living on the fringe of British punk with then-husband Nick Lowe.

"But, you know, everybody's lost somebody, got their heart broken, wanted to take the snot out of someone, been madly in love. . . . It's part of real life if you're living it."

She lived it all right, and at times those around her wondered whether she'd survive the downward spiral of shady characters, drug abuse and personal tragedy.

"Once I started writing, it all flooded out of me," she says. "I've always been one of those people -- once I start something, I have to get it all out, because it gets me."

In spite of her musical laughter, Carter's been through things that would topple most. Rather than crumbling, she's emerged with a project as shiny and ebullient as her punk-era "Musical Shapes" or her 1990 mainstream country hit "I Fell in Love."

Opening "Stronger" with a revved-up train beat, "The Bitter End" serves as the prologue for a song cycle that moves through the harrowing path she'd been on with Epstein, the former bassist with Tom Petty's Heartbreakers whose own addiction troubles ended with his 2003 overdose.