The Carter Family’s sound consisted of clear, simple vocal harmonies and complementary musical accompaniment. Other folk and hillbilly groups of the time often sacrificed vocal clahty in favour of loud instrumentation.
The Carter Family was a pioneering group that profoundly influenced country, bluegrass, and ë folk music. They were the first musicians to record the traditional hymns and folk tunes of the South— “the songs everyone knew”—and, by doing so, they gave the people of the Appalachians a sense of cultural pride.
The Carter Family were Alvin Pleasant Carter, known as A. P. (1891–1960), his wife, Sara Dougherty Carter (1898–1979), and her distant cousin Maybelle Addington Carter (1909–78). Soon after A. P. and Sara married in 1915, the two began performing near their Virginia mountain home. Maybelle married A. P.’s brother Ezra in 1926, and the trio soon decided to pursue music professionally. Sara sang lead, Maybelle sang harmony, and both women played guitar and autoharp (a kind of zither in which chords are produced with the aid of dampers). A. P., who had a deep bass voice, sang, and played the fiddle.
The Carters recorded their first songs in 1927, and over the next 14 years they recorded nearly 300 more. They seldom toured, but their popularity spread through their extensive recordings and, after 1938, their live radio show. A. P. was an avid collector of old songs, especially Appalachian ballads, and these made up much of the Carter Family repertoire. Their hits included many songs that are still country and bluegrass standards today, such as “Wabash Cannonball,” “Foggy Mountain Top,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” and “My Clinch Mountain Home.” “Wildwood Flower,” which became an anthem for country guitarists, sold more than a million copies.
Maybelle was a highly talented and innovative guitarist. She picked the melody with her thumb while brushing the strings for rhythm. This style, known as the “Carter lick,” influenced scores of later country musicians. A. P. and Sara separated in 1933, but the group continued to record together until 1940, finally disbanding in 1943.
The Carter Family’s sound consisted of clear, simple vocal harmonies and complementary musical accompaniment. Other folk and hillbilly groups of the time often sacrificed vocal clahty in favour of loud instrumentation.
Maybelle formed a group with her daughters Anita, Helen, and June, called the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle. They joined the Grand Old Opry in 1949, and Maybelle was a regular there until 1967. June Carter married country musician Johnny CASH, and the group appeared regularly on his television show during the 1960s. At the 1963 Newport Folk Festival, Maybelle was recognised for her influence on Woody GUTHRIE and, through him, on Bob DYLAN and others.
In 1970, the Carter Family became the first group elected to the U.S. Country Music Hall of Fame. In the mid-1970s, Joe and Janette Carter (A. P. and Sara’s children) began a series of Carter Family reunion concerts featuring Sara. The songs of the Carter Family have been recorded by dozens of country, bluegrass, and folk musicians, including Lester Flatt and Earl SCRUGGS, Emmylou HARRIS, Joan BAEZ, and the WEAVERS.
Stan Hieronymus
SEE ALSO:
COUNTRY; FOLK MUSIC; HILLBILLY MUSIC.
FURTHER READING
Carter, Janette. Living with Memories (Hiltons, VA: Carter Family Memorial Music Center, 1983);
Krishef, R., and S. Harris. The Carter Family (Minneapolis, MN: Lerner, 1978).
SUGGESTED LISTENING
Anchored in Love: The Complete Victor Recordings 1927–28; Country Music Hall of Fame.