Short Takes : A Long Country Road for Carter

It took six albums over 12 years, but country singer Carlene Carter is finally making it big like the rest of her famous family.

“I always thought it would work out,” Carter, 35, said in the Nov. 12 issue of People magazine. “But I didn’t think it would work out so late in life.”

Carter is the daughter of June Carter Cash and ‘50s Nashville crooner Carl Smith.

But not even her stepfather--Johnny Cash--or her third husband--British rocker Nick Lowe--could jump-start a career that saw her first five albums go nowhere.

Now she’s back to country music and has a No. 1 hit, “I Fell in Love,” and a Top 20 album of the same name.

“There was a period where I was a little scared that I’d blown my chance,” she said. “But I think everything that I did, every step I took, every wrong turn led to this.”