I Ain’t Got Time · There’s an Open Door Waiting for Me

“James and Martha” were James and Martha Carson, a husband-and-wife duo who sang gospel songs, with James on mandolin and Martha on rhythm guitar. He was born James William Roberts, son of the old-time fiddler Fiddlin’ Doc Roberts, and she was born Irene Amburgey in Neon, Kentucky. She came to Atlanta’s WSB Barn Dance with her sisters, who performed as Minnie, Marthie and Mattie. The couple married in 1939 and sang duets on the show, billed as the “Barn Dance Sweethearts.” They took the name Carson after a radio announcer got their name wrong on the air.

Their first records, for the small White Church label, were probably made at radio station WGST in Atlanta, late in 1946, with Delbert Dyer producing. White Church issued three singles in 1946, among them “I’m Gonna Let It Shine” and “He Will Set Your Fields on Fire,” and a fourth, “There’s an Open Door Waiting for Me” with “I Ain’t Got Time,” in 1948.

Capitol signed them next, with Dee Kilpatrick producing. Their first Capitol session, on 31 March 1949 at the Emory Hotel in Atlanta, included new versions of “I Ain’t Got Time” and “Budded on Earth to Bloom in Heaven.” Capitol issued “I Ain’t Got Time” that April, with “When God Dips His Pen of Love in My Heart” on the other side. Later sessions took place at WGST in August and December 1949, the second of them with the Johnson Gospel Singers. In 1950 they moved to Castle Studio in Nashville’s Tulane Hotel, where they recorded “I’ll Fly Away,” “Man of Galilee” and a new version of “He Will Set Your Fields on Fire” on 18 June, and “Shining City” on 23 October. Capitol kept issuing the duo’s singles until September 1951, and paired two of the older sides again in August 1952.

The couple divorced in 1950, while they were working at WNOX in Knoxville. Martha went on as a solo artist, recording her own song “Satisfied” for Capitol at Castle Studio in November 1951, and later moved to RCA Victor.

Session details drawn in part from the Bluegrass Discography.