Carter Family was probably the most popular and influential group in the early history of country music in the United States. Family members greatly influenced the development of country music during the 1920’s through their original compositions, reworkings of folk songs, and performances of older popular and sentimental songs.
The three original members of the Carter Family were born and raised in the Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia. In 1915, A. P. (Alvin Pleasant) Carter (1891-1960) married Sara Dougherty (1898-1971), a singer who accompanied herself on guitar , banjo , and autoharp. A. P. also sang, and the two began performing together at local functions. In 1926, Sara’s cousin Maybelle Addington (1909-1978) married Ezra Carter, A. P.’s younger brother. Maybelle was a talented instrumentalist as well as a singer, and began performing with A. P. and Sara as the Carter Family.
The Carter Family made their first recordings in 1927. During their career, they recorded more than 250 songs. Many became standards of country music, including “Wildwood Flower,” “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes,” “Keep on the Sunny Side,” and “Wabash Cannonball.” Maybelle was influential as an instrumentalist because she was among the first guitarists in country music to play melody instead of just chords to accompany singers.
The Carters were never full-time musicians. However, they made many personal appearances, mostly in the mid-South. From 1938 to 1941, they lived in Del Rio, Texas, and performed on a powerful radio station that operated across the border in Mexico. These broadcasts carried the family’s music to much of North America.
The original Carter Family broke up in 1943. Maybelle continued to perform with her daughters Helen, June, and Anita. June Carter became the best known of the second generation of Carters. In 1968, she married country singer Johnny Cash , and often performed and recorded with him. A. P. and Sara, who divorced in 1932, recorded with their children Joe and Janette in the 1950’s. Sara and Maybelle reunited briefly in 1967 to record one album. The music of the original Carter Family gained new followers among Northern urban audiences during the folk music revival of the 1960’s. The Carter Family was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970.
Today, Carter Family III carries on the musical tradition of the Carter Family. The members of Carter Family III include Dale Jett, the grandson of A. P. and Sara Carter, and John Carter Cash, the grandson of Maybelle Carter and the son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.
