Carter Family

This article is about the folk music group. For the second-generation band, seeThe Carter Sisters.For Beyoncé and Jay Z, seeThe Carters.For several American political families, seeList of United States political families (C).

The Carter Family
A. P., Maybelle, and Sara Carter (L–R) in 1927
Background information
Origin	Maces Spring, Virginia
Genres	Country folk blues gospel Americana
Years active	1927–1956
Labels	Bluebird Decca RCA Victor Vocalion Montgomery Ward Records
Members	A. P. Carter Ezra Carter Sara Carter Maybelle Carter
Past members	Helen Carter Anita Carter June Carter Cash Janette Carter Joe Carter Dale Jett Carter John Carter Cash

The Carter Familywas a traditionalAmerican folk musicgroup that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound influence onbluegrass,country,Southern Gospel,popandrock music,as well as on theU.S. folk revivalof the 1960s.

They were the first vocal group to become country music stars, and were among the first groups to record commercially produced country music. Their first recordings were made inBristol, Tennessee,for theVictor Talking Machine Companyunder producerRalph Peeron August 1, 1927. This was the day before country singerJimmie Rodgersmade his initial recordings for Victor under Peer.

The success of the Carter Family's recordings of songs such as "Wabash Cannonball","Can the Circle Be Unbroken","Wildwood Flower","Keep on the Sunny Side",and"I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes"made these songs country standards. The melody of the last was used forRoy Acuff's "The Great Speckled Bird",Hank Thompson's "The Wild Side of Life"andKitty Wells' "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels".The song became a hit all over again in these other incarnations.

The original group consisted ofSara Carter,her husbandA. P. Carter,and her sister-in-lawMaybelle Carter.Maybelle was Sara's first cousin, and was married to A.P.'s brotherEzra Carter(Eck). All three were born and raised insouthwest Virginia.They were immersed in the tight harmonies of mountaingospel musicandshape notesinging. The latter dated to the early 19th century and revivals in the South.

Throughout the group's career, Sara Carter sang lead vocals and played rhythm guitar orautoharp.Maybelle sang harmony and played lead guitar. On some songs A.P. did not perform at all; on some songs he sang harmony and background vocals, and occasionally he sang lead. Maybelle's distinctive guitar-playing style became a hallmark of the group. HerCarter Scratch(a method for playing both lead and rhythm on the guitar) has become one of the most copied styles of guitar playing.

The group (in all its incarnations, see below) recorded for a number of companies, including RCA Victor, ARC group, Columbia,Okehand various imprint labels.

History

Birthplace log cabin of A.P. Carter at theCarter FoldatMaces Springs, VirginianearHiltons, Virginia.

The Carter Family made their first recordings on August 1, 1927.The previous day,A.P. Carterhad persuaded his wifeSara Carterand his sister-in-lawMaybelle Carterto make the journey fromMaces Spring, Virginia,toBristol, Tennessee,to audition for record producerRalph Peer.Peer was seeking new talent for the relatively embryonic recording industry. The initial sessions are part of what are now called theBristol Sessions.The band received $50 for each song recorded, plus a half-cent royalty on every copy sold of each song for which they had registered a copyright. On November 4, 1927, theVictor Talking Machine Company(laterRCA Victor) released a double-sided78 rpmrecord of the group performing "Wandering Boy" and "Poor Orphan Child". On December 2, 1928, Victor released "The Storms Are on the Ocean" / "Single Girl, Married Girl",which became very popular.

By the end of 1930, the Carter Family had sold 300,000 records in the United States. Realizing that he would benefit financially with each new song he collected andcopyrighted,A.P. traveled around southwestern Virginia to find new songs; he also composed new songs. In the early 1930s, he befriendedLesley "Esley" Riddle,a black guitar player fromKingsport, Tennessee.Lesley accompanied A.P. on his song-collecting trips. In June 1931, the Carters did a recording session inBenton, Kentucky,along withJimmie Rodgers.In 1933, Maybelle met theSpeer Familyat a fair inCeredo, West Virginia,fell in love with their signature sound, and asked them to tour with the Carter Family.

Second generation

A.P. Carter General Store Museum at the Carter Fold at Maces Springs, Virginia near Hiltons, Virginia

In the winter of 1938–39, the Carter Family traveled toTexas,where they had a twice-daily program on theborder radiostationXERA(laterXERF) in Villa Acuña (nowCiudad Acuña, Mexico), across the border fromDel Rio, Texas.

In the 1939–40 season, the children of A.P. and Sara (JanetteandJoe Carter) and those of Maybelle (Helen,June,andAnita) joined the group for radio performances, by then inSan Antonio, Texas.Here the programs were prerecorded and distributed to multiple border radio stations. (The children did not, however, perform on the group's records.) In the fall of 1942, the Carters moved their program toWBTradio inCharlotte, North Carolina,for a one-year contract. They occupied the sunrise slot, with the program airing between 5:15 and 6:15 a.m.

By 1936, A.P. and Sara's marriage had dissolved. After Sara married A.P.'s cousin, Coy Bayes, they moved toCalifornia.The Carter Family disbanded in 1944.

Maybelle continued to perform with her daughtersAnita Carter,June Carter,andHelen Carterand recorded on 3 labels (RCA Victor, Columbia and Coronet) as "The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle"(sometimes billed as" The Carter Sisters "or" Maybelle Carter and the Carter Sisters "or" Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters "). In 1943, Maybelle Carter and her daughters, using the name" the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle "had a program onWRNLinRichmond, Virginia.Maybelle's brother, Hugh Jack (Doc) Addington Jr., and Carl McConnell, known as the Original Virginia Boys, also played music and sang on the radio show.

Chet Atkinsjoined them playing electric guitar in 1949 atWNOXradio inKnoxville, Tennessee.He moved with them in October 1949 toKWTOradio inSpringfield, Missouri.

Opry management didn't want the Carters to bring Chet when they were offered a regular spot on theGrand Ole Oprybut Ezra Carter (their father and manager) insisted that Chet come with them, as he was a part of their troupe or band now. Finally the Opry management agreed and Chet went with them when they were hired byWSMand the Grand Ole Opry; their first day was May 29, 1950. Chet worked with them when they did "personals" off and on for 8 years, but mostly on the live Grand Ole Opry performances. A.P., Sara, and their children Joe and Janette recorded 3 albums in the 1950s under the name of The A.P. Carter Family.

After the death of A.P. Carter in 1960, Mother Maybelle Carter and the Carter Sisters began using the name "the Carter Family" for their act during the 1960s and 1970s. Maybelle and Sara briefly reunited, recorded a reunion album (An Historic Reunion), and toured in the 1960s during the height offolk music's popularity.

A film documentary about the family,Sunny Side of Life,was released in 1985.

In 1987, reunited sisters June Carter Cash and Helen and Anita Carter, along with June's daughterCarlene Carter,appeared as the Carter Family. They were featured on a 1987 television episode ofAustin City Limits,along with June's husbandJohnny Cash.

Third generation

The Carter Family name was revived for a third time, under the nameCarter Family III.It was a project of descendants of the original Carter Family,John Carter Cash(grandson of Maybelle Carter, son of June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash) and Dale Jett (grandson of A.P. and Sara Carter), along with John's wifeLaura (Weber) Cash.They released their first album,Past & Present,in 2010.

Rosie Nix Adams,daughter of June Carter Cash and her second husband, was also a semi-regular performing member of the Carter Family.

Third Generation family memberCarlene Carter(granddaughter of Maybelle Carter) had ventured into pop music before becoming part of the 1987 Carter Family's second generation revival.

Personnel

• A. P. Carter(1927–1944, 1952–1956)
• Maybelle Carter(1927–1978)
• Sara Carter(1927–1944, 1952–1956, 1960–1971)
• Janette Carter(1939–1940, 1952–1956)
• Helen Carter(1939–1940, 1944–1996)
• June Carter Cash(1939–1940, 1944–1969, 1971–1996)
• Anita Carter(1939–1940, 1944–1996)
• Joe Carter(1952–1956)
• John Carter Cash(2012–present)
• Dale Jett (2012–present)
• Carlene Carter(1987–present)
• Laura Cash(2012–2016)

Extended family

June Carter and her sisters were distant cousins of U.S. presidentJimmy Carter.

This family tree shows the extended Carter family back four generations.

Cash Carter family tree

William Sevier Dougherty Nancy Elizabeth Kilgore Robert C. Carter Mollie Arvell Bays Margaret S. Kilgore Hugh Jackson Addington Sara Carter A. P. Carter Ezra J. Carter Maybelle Carter Gladys Carter Janette Carter Joe Carter Helen Carter Anita Carter Vivian Liberto Johnny Cash June Carter Cash Carl Smith Edwin "Rip" Nix Rosanne Cash Kathleen Cash Cindy Cash Tara Cash John Carter Cash Rosie Nix Adams Carlene Carter Nick Lowe Joseph Breen Notes:

Legacy and musical style

As important to country music as the family's repertoire of songs was Maybelle'sguitarplaying. She developed her innovative guitar technique largely in isolation; her style is today widely known as the "Carter scratch" or "Carter Family picking".While Maybelle did use a flatpick on occasion, her major method of guitar playing was the use of her thumb (with a thumbpick) along with one or two fingers. What her guitar style accomplished was to allow her to play melody lines (on the low strings of the guitar) while still maintaining rhythm using her fingers, brushing across the higher strings.

Before the Carter family's recordings, the guitar was rarely used as a lead or solo instrument among musicians.Maybelle's interweaving of a melodic line on the bass strings with intermittent strums is now a staple of steel string guitar technique. Flatpickers such asDoc Watson,Clarence WhiteandNorman Blaketook flatpicking to a higher technical level, but all acknowledge Maybelle's playing as their inspiration.

It has been noted that "by the end of the twenties, Maybelle Carter scratch... was the most widely imitated guitar style in music. Nobody did as much to popularize the guitar, because from the beginning, her playing was distinctive as any voice."

— quoted inThe Bristol Sessions: Writings About the Big Bang of Country Music(2005)

The Carter Family was elected to theCountry Music Hall of Famein 1970 and were given the nickname "The First Family of Country Music". In 1988, the Carter Family was inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fameand received itsAwardfor the song "Will the Circle Be Unbroken". In 1993, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorativepostage stamp honoring A.P., Sara, and Maybelle.In 2001, the group was inducted into theInternational Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor.In 2005, the group received theGrammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Keep on the Sunny Side,a musical play chronicling the Carter Family's rise to stardom, premiered at theBarter TheatreinAbingdon, Virginia,in 2001. Conceived and written by Douglas Pote, the play enjoyed a multiyear run, a national tour spanning 23 states, and anoriginal cast recording;the Barter has also mounted numerous revivals amid lasting popularity.

Renewed attention to the Carter Family tune "When I'm Gone" occurred after several covers performeda cappellawith a cup used to provide percussion, as inthe cup gameand dubbed theCups song,went viral and culminated with a short performance in the moviePitch Perfect.Afterwards it was released as a single byAnna Kendrick.

TheA. P. and Sara Carter House,A. P. Carter Homeplace,A. P. Carter Store,Maybelle and Ezra Carter House,andMt. Vernon Methodist Churchare listed on theNational Register of Historic Placesas components of the Carter Family Thematic Resource.

In 2017, the Carter Family's story was told in the award-winningdocumentaryseriesAmerican Epic.The film featured unseen film footage of The Carter Family performing and being interviewed,and radically improved restorations of their 1920s recordings.DirectorBernard MacMahoncommented that "we first came to the Carters through their records, but one of the other things that struck us about them is that they were involved in both of the main waves of America hearing itself for the first time. They made their first impact in that early wave of rural recordings, and then the next stage was the arrival of radio, and in the late 1930s, they went to Texas and were on XERA, a border station based in Mexico that could be heard all over the central and western United States."The Carter Family's story was profiled in the accompanying book,American Epic: The First Time America Heard Itself.

Discography

See also:Carter Family discography

Selected 78 rpm records: The Carter Family's career predated any sort of best-selling chart of country music records. (Billboarddid not have a country best sellers chart until 1944.) Below is a select list of their 78 rpm releases.

Bluebird Records

• "Anchored in Love"
• "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight"
• "Keep on the Sunny Side"
• "Little Moses"
• "Mid the Green Fields of Virginia"
• "My Clinch Mountain Home"
• "Picture on the Wall"
• "Wabash Cannonball"
• "Wildwood Flower"
• "Worried Man Blues"

Montgomery WardRecords

• "Lonesome Pine Special"
• "Two Sweethearts"
• "Where We'll Never Grow Old"

Decca Records

• "Coal Miner Blues"
• "Hello Stranger"
• "My Dixie Darling"
• "You Are My Flower"

Victor Records

• "Bury Me Beneath the Willow"
• "Foggy Mountain Top"
• "Gold Watch and Chain"
• "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes"
• "Keep on the Firing Line"
• "My Old Cottage Home"
• "On the Sea of Gallee"
• "The Church in the Wildwood"
• "The Storms Are on the Ocean"

Vocalion Records

• "Broken Hearted Love"
• "Can the Circle Be Unbroken"

General and cited references

• Carter, James 'Jimmy' (1978).Public papers of the presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977.Government Printing Office.
• Among My Klediments,June Carter Cash, Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1979.ISBN0-310-38170-3
• In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music,Nicholas Dawidoff, Vintage Books, 1998.ISBN0-375-70082-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

External links

• Country Music's First Family
• The Carter Family Memorial Music Center, Inc.
• The Carter Family Complete Song Texts
• Carter Family Fold, Hiltons, Virginia
• The Carter Family DiscographyArchived2011-10-06 at theWayback Machine
• The Carter Family: Will the Circle be Unbroken
• Carter Family recordingsat theDiscography of American Historical Recordings.