Click here to see The Music Barn's selection of The Carter Family recordings for sale
Appalachian music was nothing new back in 1927 but the only way you could hear it was on the front porches of the mountain cabins or at the dances and get-togethers the people had so they could cut loose and relax from the hard working lives they led. A New Yorker by the name of Ralph Peer set out to change all that and, on the first of August of that year, he set up a portable recording studio above a store in Bristol, Tennessee (or Virginia, depending on which side of town you called home) and invited the local pickers to come and record their music. Of the many who showed up to play and sing, the most notable of them was a young man by the name of Jimmie Rodgers and a family group consisting of A. P. Carter (Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter), his wife, Sara and Alvin’s sister-in-law, Maybelle -- The Carter Family.
A. P. hailed from the Clinch Mountains of Virginia, born there in April of 1891. His father had played fiddle as a young man but gave it up when he got married and, when little Alvin was old enough to become interested in it, the fiddle fell into his hands and he learned to play it. The old-time songs he learned early on were taught by his mother, not his father. After a few years, he sang for a while in a gospel quartet consisting of himself, two of his uncles and his older sister.
Wanting to get out and see some of the world, he went to Indiana and got a job on the railroad but, by the time he was 20, he was back in Virginia where he traveled around selling fruit trees. His passion for music continued and, when he wasn’t selling trees, he was writing songs. Soon his passion was to find another outlet. While on one of his tree selling trips, so the story goes, he heard a girl by the name of Sara Dougherty playing the autoharp and singing while sitting on her front porch. The song (also, as the story goes) was “Engine 143.” Sara had also learned to play and sing through her family’s influence and, in addition to the autoharp, played guitar and banjo. A. P. and Sara were married on the eighteenth of June in 1915 and settled in Maces Spring, where they started singing together at local parties and get-togethers.
At one point while they were singing as a duo, they auditioned for Brunswick Records. Brunswick was willing to sign A. P. to record fiddle tunes under the name “Fiddlin’ Doc”. He didn’t think much of the idea, partly because it didn’t include Sara and partly because he felt it went against his religious upbringing to play dance songs.
In 1926, A. P. and Sara’s duo became a trio with the addition of Maybelle (Addington) Carter, who had married A. P.’s brother, Ezra. Now fortified with Maybelle’s unique guitar style, the group began searching out record companies. In 1927, they made the magic happen at Ralph Peer’s little studio. They signed with Victor the following year and recorded with them for seven years. After Victor, they went with ARC (which later became Columbia) for a year and then with Decca. They had long been nationally well known but, while with Decca, they also hooked up with radio station XERF in Del Rio, Texas. By putting the transmitter on the Mexican side of the border, XERF was able to send out a signal far exceeding the 50,000 watts, which was allowed in the states. Their broadcasts were heard throughout the United States and record sales soared.
But, even in the midst of success and plenty, dark clouds often loom. Sara and A. P.’s marriage was coming unglued and they divorced in 1939. But with the idea that, this isn’t personal, it’s business, the group hung in there and continued to perform together. But finally, in 1943, Sara moved to California with her new husband and the “Carter Family” was officially disbanded.
The Carters had recorded upwards of 350 songs in their career and had created a musical influence far more extensive than anyone ever imagined. They certainly influenced the course of Country Music, bringing vocals to the forefront whereas, in earlier times, the old-time music, as they called it then, was mostly fiddle and banjo dance tunes. Some say that, with Maybelle’s style of picking out the lead on the bass strings while keeping the rhythm going on the trebles, they also laid the groundwork for what was to become, under the guidance to Bill Monroe, Blue Grass. This style of picking and strumming became known as Carter Pickin’. Also, combined with the hammering-on that was another Maybelle Carter trademark, it was known to the folkies of the 50’s and 60’s as the “Carter Family Lick.” Many of us (yes, I was one of those folkies -- someday, if I’m feeling really dangerous, I might tell you some of the other things I’ve been) learned it second hand from others who were influenced by the Carters -- folks (no pun intended) like Joan Baez and Bob Dylan. We learned and sang many of the songs that A. P. had so meticulously collected and even parodies like the Kingston Trio’s smash hit “MTA,” about a man who rides “forever ‘neath the streets of Boston, he’s the man who’ll never return.” “MTA” was a clever adaptation of the Carter song, “The Ship That Never Returned.”
After the breakup of the group, A. P. went back to Maces Spring, Virginia and became a storekeeper. Only Maybelle continued to perform, this time with her three daughters, Helen, June and Anita, the beginnings of a dynasty. They were billed as “Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters.” Then, in about 1952, A. P. and Sara decided to put the group back together with their own offspring and do a special concert in Maces Spring. The concert was such a success that A. P., Sara and their daughter Janette were signed by Acme and they recorded with them for the next four years. They added another 100 songs to their tremendous recording library. Finally, in ‘56, they called it quits for good and in November, 1960, A. P. died.
Occasionally, during the years, Sara and her cousin, Maybelle would re-unite for a special performance (yes, Sara and Maybelle were cousins, A. P. and Sara were married and Maybelle married A. P.’s brother. That made her a sister-in-law. Then, Sara left A. P. and married his cousin. . .Are you following this? It’s easy to see how the Lonzo and Oscar tune; “I’m My Own Grand-Paw” came about.) but mainly, this was the time for the Carter Sisters to shine. From the 50’s on, the girls performed on such well-respected platforms as Red Foley’s Ozark Jubilee and WSM’s revered, Grand Ole Opry. They also each pursued individual careers as well. Anita recorded for RCA where she made it into the top 10 with a 1951 duet with Hank Snow, “Bluebird Island.” Later, she would record with a rock ’n’ roll teen girl trio, ‘Nita, Rita and Ruby and, in the sixties, teamed up for several duets with a young Waylon Jennings. Anita passed away in 1999.
Helen recorded with Tennessee Records, then Columbia and also, Starday. She was also a talented writer and her songs have been recorded by nearly a hundred artists. She died in 1998.
Little sister, June clowned it up on the Opry and she recorded for Liberty, RCA and Columbia. She also added her voice to those of a couple of clowns by the name of Homer and Jethro on “Baby, It’s Cold Outside.” In addition to her singing career, June studied acting and landed several TV roles. Now the wife of yet another country legend, Johnny Cash, she was previously married to the great Carl Smith (“There She Goes”) and from that union came yet another pickin’ and singin’ Carter to carry on the tradition. She was born Rebecca Carlene Smith, but we know and love her as Carlene Carter.
They were (and are) a true American treasure who were known and loved the world over and who helped to shape American popular music for many decades. That influence is still being felt today and I see no reason to think that it won’t continue on for many generations to come.
And, if you want to hear what Appalachian music was like back around 1927, go to a good library or record shop and lay your hands on some of the good, old, Original Carter Family records. If you close your eyes, as you sway to the rhythm of Maybelle’s Guitar and Sara’s autoharp, you might just imagine yourself sitting in a rocking chair on the porch of some remote mountain cabin enjoying the company of good folks and maybe even a little sip of the neighbors ‘shine.
Cal Adams