The Carter Family

The Carter Family

Source: Radioactive

The enormously popular Carter Family are much as to the country folk genre as would be Bill Monroe to bluegrass: central to the emergence of the category and setting the tone for years to come. Maybelle's career in particular would make her something of the matriarch of the genre. The original Carter Family (first configuration) consisted of Alvin (b 1891), Maybelle (b 1909 guitar) and Sara (b 1898 lead vocal married to Alvin), all three born in Virginia. By the time of their first recordings in 1927 such as Eck Robertson, John Carson, Uncle Dave Macon and the Skillet Lickers had already been recording eastern mountain music toward the eventual emergence of the bluegrass hillbilly genre. Vernon Dalhart and Carl Sprague had already recorded songs at the vanguard of country western, that to emerge as a genre due largely to country swing (as compared to swing jazz) in Hollywood. In classical, Béla Bartók had premiered 'Concerto #1' in Frankfurt in July of '27. In jazz, Duke Ellington made his first appearances at the Cotton Club in Harlem in December of '27. Rock, of course, didn't yet exist, but early R&B artist, Julia Lee, had issued 'Down Home Syncopated Blues' in 1927. Elsewise in the world 1927 saw Charles Lindbergh fly across the Atlantic and the publication of Herman Hesse's 'Steppenwolf'. Herbert Hoover was President of the United States and it was the Roaring Twenties, but the Great Depression was only a couple years ahead.

Praguefrank's, using Tony Russell's 'Country Music Records 1921-1942' (CMR), shows the Carters putting down their first tracks in Bristol, Tennessee, on August 1 of '27: 'Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow'/'Little Log Cabin by the Sea' (Victor 21074), 'The Poor Orphan Child' (Victor 20877) and 'The Storms Are on the Ocean' (Victor 20937). A session the next day witnessed 'Single Girl, Married Girl' (Victor 20937) and 'The Wandering Boy' (Victor 20877). At that time the Carters were paid $50 per song plus a half cent royalty per copy sold.

'Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow Tree'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter

Matrix BVE 39750-2 recorded 1 Aug 1927 in Bristol TN

Issued on Bluebird 78: B-6053 & Montgomery Ward 78: M-7020

'Poor Orphan Child'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter

Matrix BVE 39752-2 recorded 1 Aug 1927 in Bristol TN

Issued on Montgomery Ward M-7445 & Victor 20877

'Wildwood Flower'   Carter Family   Traditional arranged by A.P. Carter

Recorded for Victor 10 May 1928 in Camden NJ

Issued on Bluebird B-5356, Montgomery Ward M-4432 & Sunrise S-3437

'Engine One Forty Three'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter

Recorded for Victor 25 Feb 1929 in Camden NJ

Issued on Bluebird B-6223 & Montgomery Ward M-4743

'Wabash Cannonball'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter

Recorded for Victor 24 Nov 1929 in Memphis TN

Issued 1930 on Bluebird B-8350 & Montgomery Ward M-7444

'The Cannon-Ball'   Carter Family   Traditional arranged by A.P. Carter

Recorded as Matrix BVE 59979-1 for Victor 24 May 1930 in Memphis TN

Issued on Bluebird B-6020 & Montgomery Ward M-4742

'When the World's On Fire'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter

Recorded as Matrix BVE 59984-2 for Victor 24 May 1930 in Memphis TN

Issued on Montgomery Ward M-4229 & Sunrise S-3127

'My Old Cottage Home'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter

Recorded 25 May 1931 in Charlotte NC

Issued on Bluebird B-6000 & Montgomery Ward M-5011

'The Church in the Wildwood'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter

Recorded 13 Oct 1932 in Camden NJ

Issued on Bluebird B-5993

'I Never Will Marry'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter

Recorded 17 June 1933 in Camden NJ

Issued on Bluebird B-8350 & Montgomery Ward M-7356

'Keep On the Sunny Side'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter

Recorded for ARC 8 May 1935 in NYC

Issued on Conqueror 8692 & ARC 6-07-56 (1936)

'Are You Lonesome Tonight'   Carter Family   Music: Roy Turk   Lyrics: Lou Handman

Recorded 8 June 1936 at Decca Studios in NYC

Issued internationally: Decca X1206 (Australia), Melotone 45229 (Canada) & Brunswick SA1138 (South Africa)

'Lonesome Valley'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter/Carlene Carter/Al Anderson

Radio transcription recorded 10 June 1936 at Decca Studios in NYC

Issued on 'The Shadow of Clinch Mountain'   Bear Family BCD 15865-08   2000

'My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains'   Carter Family   Composition: A.P. Carter

Recorded 10 June 1937 at Decca Studios in NYC

Issued on Melotone 45310 (Canada) & Decca 5677 (1939)

It was also 1927 when 'Barn Dance' at WSM radio (founded October 1925) in Nashville was renamed 'The Grand Ole Opry'. The original Carter trio that was Sara, Alvin and Maybelle, however, wasn't associated with the Ole Opry, leaving that to Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters in the latter forties. The second generation of the Carter family had arrived in the latter thirties as five stepsisters, eventually emerging in 1944 as Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters (Helen, June and Anita). Though the Carter Family was a folk affair, later association with the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville would find Maybelle and the Carter Sisters amidst bluegrass and country western compatriots as well. Recording extensively (@ 300 songs) at locations in the eastern portion of the States while working in radio as far west as Texas, the original Carter trio nigh singlehandedly created the folk genre with millions of records released via Victor, Montgomery Ward, Bluebird, ARC, Banner, Decca, Conqueror and Okeh.

Another major name in the bloom of recorded country folk music was Jimmie Rodgers. Alvin Carter had composed 'Why There's a Tear in My Eye'' for a duet by Rodgers and Sara Carter on June 10 of 1931. They recorded that twice at the same session. Matrix BVE 69412-1 saw issue on Bluebird 6698 and Montgomery Ward M-7138. Matrix BVE 69412-3 didn't release until 1964 on the RCA Victor album, 'My Time Ain't Long'. They also put away 'The Wonderful City' on Matrix BVE 69413-2. Other titles recorded with Rodgers were three unissued tracks on the 11th of 'Jimmie Rodgers Visits the Carter Family' and 'The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers in Texas'. Those were recorded again on the 12th to get issued per Victor 23574 and Bluebird 6762.

'Why There's A Tear In My Eye'   Sara Carter w Jimmie Rodgers   Composition: A.P. Carter

Recorded on Matrix BVE 69412-3   10 June 1937 in Louisville KY

Issued on Montgomery Ward M-7137

'The Wonderful City'   Sara Carter w Jimmie Rodgers   Composition: Jimmie Rodgers & Elsie McWilliams

Recorded on Matrix BVE 69413-2   10 June 1937 in Louisville KY

Issued on 'My Time Ain't Long'   RCA Victor LPM-2865   1964

The Carter Family trio dissolved in 1943-44. Maybelle, to become known as Mother Maybelle, had already formed the Carter Sisters consisting of her daughters Helen, June and Anita. With young guitarist, Chet Atkins, as accompaniment, they joined the Opry in 1950. A reunion of the original Carter Family trio back in Bristol, TN, on April 20, 1956, came to 'Their Last Recording' ('56). Maybelle and Sara reunited as late as June 15 and 16 of 1966 in Nashville to record 'An Historic Reunion: Sara and Maybelle - The Original Carters'. The next year in July of 1967 they performed at the Newport Folk Festival together. As Alvin (A.P.) had died on November 7 of 1960 in Kingsport, TN, after which the Carter Sisters performed as the Carter Family, Maybelle and Sara accepted the election of the original Carter trio into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970. Maybelle died on October 23, 1978, in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Sara died on January 18, 1979, in Lodi, CA, buried in Hilsons, Virginia. The composer in the Carter Family trio was Alvin, writing a large number of original compositions for the group when not arranging traditionals. Among them were 'I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes' ('29), 'No Telephone in Heaven' ('29) and 'Hello Stranger' ('37). Other titles composed by Alvin.