The Astounding,
The Amazing ...
The Original Carter Family
AP, Tunesmith & Organizer
(1891-1960)
Sara, Lead Vocals & Autoharp
(1898-1978)
Maybelle, Guitar & Harmony Vocals
(1909-1978)
"Can the Circle Be Unbroken"
- what catches your attention
- what do you perhaps like, perhaps do not like
Place
geographically isolated - economically depressed
(Poor Valley, Hiltons, Maces Spring ~ Virginia)
Family Connections
(AP & Sara - married; Maybelle - sister-in-law)
(Sara's 2nd husband - Coy Bays - cousin)
Representative of Appalachia Tradition
(Irish-Scottish/Religious/Folk)
- 300 recordings - between 1927-1943
- millions of recordings sold
- never toured [much]
- never wealthy [by most standards]
- influenced all [possible understatement]
If, as many suggest, country music is the commercial manifestation of American folk music, then the Carter Family are country music incarnate. By combing the hills, the hymnals, their own memories, and every other source imaginable and available, A.P. and the Carter Family took the songs of their mountain community and presented them to the world at large in a way that millions of people could understand, love, and call their own.
Signature Tunes Include
Wildwood Flower, Keep on the Sunny Side, Can [Will] the
Circle Be Unbroken, Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow, Will You
Miss Me When I am Gone, Worried Man Blues, My Dixie
Darlin', On the Rock Where Moses Stood, Single Girl, Married Girl,
Cannon Ball Blues,
River of Jordan, Kissing is a Crime and My Clinch Mountain Home
Honors
Grand Ole Opry Members - 1950 [Mother Maybelle and "The Girls"]
Country Music Hall of Fame - 1970
Grammy Hall of Fame - 1988
US Postal Stamp Commemoration - 1993
Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor - 2001
Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award - 2005
"Keep on the Sunny Side"
- what catches your attention
- what do you perhaps like, perhaps do not like
Bristol Sessions - Field Recordings
76 Recordings ~ 19 Different Groups
Pop Stoneman and the Stoneman Family Band
Jimmie Rodgers
The Carter Family
[50.00 per song recorded - 600.00 for the Carters]
The Bristol Sessions
August 1927
Ralph S. Peer
from the famous Bristol Sessions
"Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow"
from PBS Special [2:22 to 8:45]
The Johnny Cash Show
"Wildwood Flower"
Mother Maybelle with the famous Gibson L-5 Guitar
Carter Sisters - Anita, Helen & June
-
what did you hear
- what catches your attention
- what do you perhaps like, perhaps do not like
Mother Maybelle's Famous Gibson L-5
- 16 inch wide body
- arch top
- "F" holes [rather than a single center hole]
- narrow "snakehead" peghead
- maple neck, ebony fingerboard
- originally set with banjo pegs
- customized over the years [tuners, pickguard, tailpiece]
- purchased with proceeds from the Bristol Sessions
- original price - approximately $200.00
- last sold for $575,000.00 [2004]
- currently "Gem Instrument" - Country Music Hall of Fame
Black, Itinerant, Crippled Traveling Companion of AP
influence on Maybelle's unique guitar style ???
The Carter Scratch
Johnny Cash - saving his life
[Memphis, Sun Studios, Early Tours with June]
("we couldn't save Hank, but we are not gonna let this boy get away from us")
Nashville & Hendersonville
Johnny Cash's commitment to the Carters and their Tradition
"Jackson"
Grand Ole Opry Members
Kate Smith Television Program
featuring Roy Acuff, Hank Sr. and June Carter, et al on Hank's Classic ~ "I Saw The Light"
(one of the last public performances by Sara & Maybelle)
video link
- close, tight harmony
- mixing of Appalachian, Religious & Delta Blues traditions
- guitar [rather than the banjo] made it an "American" Instrument
prepared for "College for a Day" - April 20, 2010
any errors or omissions are the sole responsibility of
Pete LaRue