A.P. Carter's Clinch Mountain Ballads is a compilation of recordings from the Carter Family — A.P. Carter, Sara Carter, and Maybelle Carter — the Maces Spring, Virginia trio whose Victor and ARC recordings established the foundational repertoire of commercial American country music. A.P. Carter sings and provides vocal direction; Sara Carter sings lead and plays autoharp; Maybelle Carter sings harmony and plays guitar in the "Carter scratch" style. The title evokes the Clinch Mountain landscape of Scott County, Virginia, that the Carters made central to their performing identity, and the program draws from A.P. Carter's body of assembled and composed traditional material — the ballads, sacred pieces, and sentimental songs that formed the core of what their recordings carried into the commercial market during the most productive phase of their career.