The Carter Family
Old-Time (Traditional)
The Carter Family — known as "The First Family of Country Music" — were among the most important musical acts of the twentieth century, with a profound influence on bluegrass, country, folk, gospel, and rock. Their 1927 recordings at the Bristol Sessions are often called the "Big Bang" of country music, and the songs they gathered, composed, and popularized became foundational to the American roots repertoire that bluegrass would draw from for the next century.
- The original group consisted of Alvin Pleasant "A.P." Carter (1891–1960), his wife Sara Dougherty Carter (1898–1979), and her cousin Maybelle Addington Carter (1909–1978), who was married to A.P.'s brother Ezra.
- Based in Maces Spring (Poor Valley) in Scott County, Virginia, in the shadow of Clinch Mountain.
- First recorded for Ralph Peer at the Victor Talking Machine Company's Bristol Sessions on August 1, 1927 — the day before Jimmie Rodgers made his first Victor recordings.
- Sara sang lead vocals and played autoharp and guitar; Maybelle sang harmony and played lead guitar; A.P. sang bass harmony, collected songs, and arranged much of the repertoire.
- Maybelle's "Carter scratch" (or "Carter lick") — playing melody on the bass strings with her thumb while brushing the trebles with her fingers — became one of the most influential guitar techniques in American music.
- A.P. traveled throughout southwestern Virginia collecting songs, often accompanied by Lesley Riddle, a Black guitarist from Kingsport, Tennessee, who contributed significantly to the Carter repertoire and helped shape Maybelle's guitar style.
- Recorded approximately 300 songs between 1927 and 1941, including "Wildwood Flower," "Will the Circle Be Unbroken," "Keep on the Sunny Side," "Bury Me Under the Willow," "Wabash Cannonball," "Worried Man Blues," and "Little Darling, Pal of Mine."
- From 1938–1941, performed twice daily on the border radio station XERA across from Del Rio, Texas, broadcasting with a powerful signal that reached across much of North America.
- Disbanded in 1943 after Sara moved to California with her second husband; Maybelle carried on as Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters with daughters Helen, June, and Anita. June later married Johnny Cash.
- First group ever elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame (1970); inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame in 2001; received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
- A.P.'s daughter Janette founded the Carter Family Fold in 1974 on the original homestead in Hiltons, Virginia, where weekly concerts continue to preserve the family's musical legacy.
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Gold Watch and ChainSingle: Gold Watch and Chain (1933)
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I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue EyesSingle: Engine One-Forty-Three (1929)
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Keep on the Sunny SideSingle: River of Jordan (1928)
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River of Jordan (Traditional)Single: River of Jordan (1928)
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Single Girl Married GirlSingle: Single Girl Married Girl (1927)
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The Storms are on the OceanSingle: Single Girl, Married Girl (1927)
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You Are My FlowerSingle: It Is Better Farther On (1939)
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"Mother" Maybelle CarterPlayed on recordings with The Carter Family
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Sara CarterPlayed on recordings with The Carter Family
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A.P. CarterPlayed on recordings with The Carter Family
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Anita CarterPlayed on recordings with The Carter Family
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Helen CarterPlayed on recordings with The Carter Family
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June CarterPlayed on recordings with The Carter Family
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Johnny CashPlayed on recording with The Carter Family
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Lorrie Davis BennettPlayed on recording with The Carter Family