The Carter Family

Anyone who says they love country music and has never heard of The Carter Family just flat-out doesn't know what they're talking about. It's like someone claiming to love Rock 'n Roll who eschews The Beatles or Elvis.

In the mid-1920's, the tall lanky A.P. Carter from Clinch Mountain, Virginia began roaming the countryside searching for folk songs. He learned them from mountain folk and arranged them for himself, his wife Sara, and their sister-in-law Maybelle. It was literally a local family act. Nobody had any idea anything would come of it.

The Carter Family's music by today's standards seems primitive and simple. A.P. sang bass (badly) and sometimes played fiddle. Sara had a lovely backwoods voice that once you hear, you'll never forget. It's beautiful, sad, haunting. Sara also played autoharp and occasionally guitar. But Maybelle was the one with the true instrumental gift.

Maybelle's playing style continues to influence country and bluegrass guitarists. She had a way of playing the melody on the bass strings while strumming chords that still amazes me. On many songs, you can hear some great blues licks. I don't know what she listened to in those Virginia mountains, but something spoke to her and stuck. She was incredible.

The Carter Family songs are usually dark in tone and often deal with lost love, a dead or dying family member, death in general, or a longing for an afterlife better than the life they lived during the Great Depression. Starkly simple, yet amazingly powerful songs. They still pack a wallop 70+ years after their release. I suspect they always will.

At the time, radio stations in the U.S. had fairly strict limits on broadcast strength. Mexico, however, had no such restrictions, so when the Carters signed on with a Mexican radio station, their music was heard all over the United States. At the height of the Great Depression, the Carter Family's music reassured down-and-out people that they were not alone; the Carters knew their hurts, their pains, their broken dreams.

Even after their success was assured and the Depression was over, the Carter Family couldn't escape another type of devastation. Sara separated herself from A.P., but still remained a part of the musical act. Yet A.P. continued to love her until his death. It's a heartbreaking story, well documented in the excellent book Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/074324382X/ref=lpr_g_1/002-6009553-1588856?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

Most of the Carter Family recordings from their early years (1928-35) are available on CD in sets or individual discs. The Rounder label released several individual discs years ago, but these are often hard to find. Many excellent import compilations are available. I bought a five-disc set (which I'm listening to right now) from JSP Records in London, very reasonably priced on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005TPB7/qid=1127588337/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-6009553-1588856?v=glance&s=music

The Bear label in Germany also has a set for sale which can run you up to $300. Even with 12 discs and a 220-page hardcover book included, that's a lot of money.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004WH98/ref=m_art_li_6/002-6009553-1588856?v=glance&s=music

I don't care for the single-disc Can the Circle Be Unbroken, which consists largely of re-recordings of tunes from the late 1930's that they had recorded better in the late 1920's. But for a first-time listener, it's probably a good place to start:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00004RC8J/qid=1127588452/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/002-6009553-1588856?v=glance&s=music

Okay, that's two long posts in a row. A shorter one next time. Or maybe not...I'm going to a Neil Gaiman booksigning tomorrow.