The Carter Family was a rural country music group that performed between 1927 and 1943. Their music had a profound
impact on later bluegrass, country, "pop", and rock musicians,
as well as the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s.
The original group was a trio comprised of Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter (A.P.), his wife, Sara Dougherty Carter (autoharp), and Maybelle Carter (guitar). Maybelle was married to A.P.'s brother Ezra (Eck) Carter. All three were born and raised in southwestern Virginia where they were immersed in the tight harmonies of mountain gospel music and shape note singing. Maybelle's distinctive and innovative guitar playing style quickly became a hallmark of the group. Maybelle's daughter, June Carter joined the group in the early 1940s.
The Carters got their start on July 31, 1927 when A.P. convinced
Sara and Maybelle (pregnant at the time) to make the journey from
Maces Springs, Virginia to Bristol, Tennessee to audition
for record producer Ralph Peer who was seeking new talent for
the relatively embryonic recording industry. They received $50 for
each song they recorded.
In the Fall of 1927 the Victor recording company released a
double-sided 78 rpm record of the group performing "Wandering Boy"
and "Poor Orphan Child". In 1928 another record was released with
"The Storms Are on the Ocean" and "Single Girl, Married Girl". This
one proved very popular.
On May 27, 1928, Peer had the group travel to Camden, New Jersey
where they recorded many of what would become their signature songs,
including:
- "Meet me by the Moonlight Alone"
- "Keep on the Sunny Side"
- "Little Darling, Pal of Mine"
- "Forsaken Love"
- "Anchored in Love"
- "I Ain't Goin' to Work Tomorrow"
- "Will You Miss Me when I'm Gone"
- "Wildwood Flower"
- "River of Jordan"
- "Chewing Gum"
- "John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man"
The group realized $600 for this effort and left with a contract
that assured a small royalty for sales of their records and sheet
music.
During a February 1929 recording session they memorialized:
- "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes"
- "My Clinch Mountain Home"
- "Sweet Fern"
- "Grave on the Green Hillside"
- "Little Moses"
- "Don't Forget This Song"
- "Engine 143"
By the end of 1930 they had sold 300,000 records nationally.
Realizing that he would benefit financially with
each new song he collected and copyrighted, A.P.
travelled around the southwestern Virginia area in
search of new songs. In the early 1930s, he befriended
Lesley (Esley) Riddle, a black guitar player from Kingsport.
Esley accompanied A.P. on his song collecting trips.
Riddle's blues guitar playing style influenced the Carters,
especially Maybelle who learned new guitar techniques from
watching him play.
In June, 1931, the Carters did a recording session in
Nashville, Tennessee along with country legend,
Jimmie Rodgers.
In the winter of 1938-1939, the Carter Family travelled to Texas,
where they had a twice-daily program on border radio
station XERA (later XERF) in Villa Acuña (now
Ciudad Acuña),
Mexico, across the border from Del Rio, Texas.
Beginning with the 1939/1940 season,
June Carter joined the group, this time in San Antonio, Texas, where the
programs were pre-recorded and distributed to multiple border radio
stations (XELO, XEG, XERB, and XEPN).
In Fall, 1942, the Carters moved their program to WBT radio in
Charlotte, North Carolina for a one-year contract. They occupied
the sunrise slot with the program airing between 5:15 and 6:15 a.m.
Throughout their time together, the Carter Family also appeared
in many live performances, often in local schools and churches.
In 1943, the group disbanded after Sara moved permanently to
California.
During the 1960s, revivalist folksingers performed much of the
material the Carters had collected or written. For example,
on her early Vanguard albums, folk performer Joan Baez sang: "Wildwood
Flower", "Little Moses", "Engine 143", "Little Darling, Pal of Mine",
and "Gospel Ship".
They were elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970 and they were given the nickname "The First Family of Country Music." In 1988, the Carter Family was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame and received its
Award for
the song "Can the Circle Be Unbroken".
In 1993, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative
postage stamp honoring A.P., Sara, and Maybelle.
In 2001, the group was in inducted into the
International Bluegrass Music Association's Hall of Honor.
External links
- Country Music's First Family
- Songs of the Carter Family
- Rhythmic Asymmetry in the Music of the Carter family
References
- Among my klediments, June Carter Cash, Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1979. ASIN 0310381703, ISBN 0-310-38170-3
- In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music, Nicholas Dawidoff, Vintage Books, 1998. ISBN 0-375-70082-x
- Will you miss me when I'm gone? : the Carter Family and their legacy in American music, Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2002
