{{Short description|Traditional American folk music group}} {{About|||Carter family (disambiguation)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = The Carter Family | image = Carter Family 1927.jpg | caption = A. P., Maybelle, and Sara Carter (L–R) in 1927 | image_size = 200px | origin = Maces Spring, Virginia, U.S. | genre = {{hlist|Country|folk|blues|gospel|Old-Time}} | years_active = {{flat list| * 1927–1956 }} | label = {{flat list| * Bluebird * Decca * RCA Victor * Vocalion * Montgomery Ward Records }} | website = | current_members = {{Plain list| * A. P. Carter * Ezra Carter * Sara Carter * Maybelle Carter }} | past_members = {{Plain list| * Helen Carter * Anita Carter * June Carter Cash * Janette Carter * Joe Carter * Dale Jett Carter * John Carter Cash }} }}
'''The Carter Family''' was an American folk music group that recorded and performed between 1927 and 1956. Regarded as one of the most important music acts of the early 20th century, they had a profound influence on the development of bluegrass, country, southern gospel, pop, and rock, as well as the American folk revival in the 1960s.
They were the first vocal group to become country music stars, and were among the first groups to record commercially produced country music. Their first recordings were made in Bristol, Tennessee, for the Victor Talking Machine Company under producer Ralph Peer on August 1, 1927. This was the day before country singer Jimmie Rodgers made his initial recordings for Victor under Peer.
The original group consisted of Sara Carter, her husband A. P. Carter, and her sister-in-law Maybelle Carter. Maybelle was Sara's first cousin, and was married to A. P.'s brother Ezra Carter (Eck). All three were born and raised in southwest Virginia. They were immersed in the tight harmonies of mountain gospel music and shape note singing. The latter dated to the early 19th century and revivals in the South.
Throughout the group's career, Sara Carter sang lead vocals and played rhythm guitar or autoharp. Maybelle sang harmony and played lead guitar. On some songs A. P. did not perform at all; on some songs he sang harmony and background vocals, and occasionally he sang lead. Maybelle's distinctive guitar-playing style became a hallmark of the group. Her Carter Scratch (a method for playing both lead and rhythm on the guitar) has become one of the most copied styles of guitar playing.
The success of the Carter Family's recordings of songs such as "Can the Circle Be Unbroken", "Wildwood Flower”, and "Keep on the Sunny Side” made these songs country standards that were later inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. The Carter Family was inducted in 2005 after having been the first group inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970. The group (in all its incarnations) recorded for a number of labels, including RCA Victor (and subsidiary label, Bluebird), ARC group, Columbia, Okeh and various imprint labels.
==History== [[File:Birthplace log cabin of A.P. Carter at the Carter Fold at Maces Springs, Virginia now Hiltons, Virginia.jpg|thumb|Birthplace log cabin of A.P. Carter at the Carter Fold at Maces Springs, Virginia near Hiltons, Virginia.]]
The Carter Family made their first recordings on August 1, 1927.<ref name="Carter_Clifton">{{cite AV media | people = Maybelle Carter, Bill Clifton | title = Wildwood Pickin' | at = "1: Introduction: Bill Clifton" | medium = audio CD | publisher = Vanguard Records | asin = B000000EHH}}</ref> The previous day, A.P. Carter had persuaded his wife Sara Carter and his sister-in-law Maybelle Carter to make the short 24-mile trip from Maces Spring, Virginia, to Bristol, Tennessee, to audition for record producer Ralph Peer. Peer was seeking new talent for the relatively embryonic recording industry. The initial sessions are part of what are now called the Bristol Sessions, which took place the empty second floor warehouse of the Taylor-Christian hat company.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gray |first=Michael |title=Hand me my travelin' shoes: in search of Blind Willie McTell |date=2007 |publisher=Bloomsbury |isbn=978-0-7475-6560-4 |location=London |pages=197}}</ref> The band received $50 for each song recorded, plus a half-cent royalty on every copy sold of each song for which they had registered a copyright. On November 4, 1927, the Victor Talking Machine Company (later RCA Victor) released a double-sided 78 rpm record of the group performing "Wandering Boy" and "Poor Orphan Child". On December 2, 1928, Victor released "The Storms Are on the Ocean" / "Single Girl, Married Girl", which became very popular.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
By the end of 1930, the Carter Family had sold 300,000 records in the United States. Realizing that he would benefit financially with each new song he collected and copyrighted, A.P. traveled around southwestern Virginia to find songs to record; he also composed new songs. In the early 1930s, he befriended Lesley "Esley" Riddle, a black guitar player from Kingsport, Tennessee. Lesley accompanied A.P. on his song-collecting trips. In June 1931, the Carters did a recording session in Benton, Kentucky, along with Jimmie Rodgers. In 1933, Maybelle met the Speer Family at a fair in Ceredo, West Virginia, fell in love with their signature sound, and asked them to tour with the Carter Family.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
==Second generation== thumb|A.P. Carter General Store Museum at the Carter Fold at Maces Springs, Virginia near Hiltons, Virginia The family spent time in their final years from 1938-1941 in Texas, where they had a twice-daily program on the border radio station XERA (later XERF) in Villa Acuña (now Ciudad Acuña, Mexico), across the border from Del Rio, Texas.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millard |first=Bob |url=http://archive.org/details/countrymusic70ye0000mill |title=Country music : 70 years of America's favorite music |date=1993 |publisher=New York : HarperPerennial |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-06-273244-6 |pages=34}}</ref>
In the 1939–40 season, the children of A.P. and Sara (Janette and Joe Carter) and those of Maybelle (Helen, June, and Anita) joined the group for radio performances, by then in San Antonio, Texas. Here the programs were prerecorded and distributed to multiple border radio stations. (The children did not, however, perform on the group's records.) In the fall of 1942, the Carters moved their program to WBT radio in Charlotte, North Carolina, for a one-year contract. They occupied the sunrise slot, with the program airing between 5:15 and 6:15 a.m.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
Sara divorced A.P. in 1939.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Millard |first=Bob |url=http://archive.org/details/countrymusic70ye0000mill |title=Country music : 70 years of America's favorite music |date=1993 |publisher=New York : HarperPerennial |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-06-273244-6 |pages=61}}</ref> After Sara married A.P.'s cousin, Coy Bayes, they moved to California. The Carter Family disbanded in 1944.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
Maybelle continued to perform with her daughters Anita Carter, June Carter, and Helen Carter and recorded on 3 labels (RCA Victor, Columbia and Coronet) as "The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle" (sometimes billed as "The Carter Sisters" or "Maybelle Carter and the Carter Sisters" or "Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters"). In 1943, Maybelle Carter and her daughters, using the name "the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle" had a program on WRNL in Richmond, Virginia.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Wolfe|first1=Charles K.|title=Classic Country: Legends of Country Music|date=2000|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9780415928267|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kwaUAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT50 |access-date=16 January 2015}}</ref> Maybelle's brother, Hugh Jack (Doc) Addington Jr., and Carl McConnell, known as the Original Virginia Boys, also played music and sang on the radio show.
Chet Atkins joined them playing electric guitar in 1949 at WNOX radio in Knoxville, Tennessee. He moved with them in October 1949 to KWTO radio in Springfield, Missouri.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
Opry management didn't want the Carters to bring Chet when they were offered a regular spot on the Grand Ole Opry but Ezra Carter (their father and manager) insisted that Chet come with them, as he was a part of their band now. Finally the Opry management agreed and Chet went with them when they were hired by WSM and the Grand Ole Opry; their first day was May 29, 1950. Chet worked with them when they did "personals" off and on for 8 years, but mostly on the live Grand Ole Opry performances.<ref name="Atkins_Neely"> {{cite book | last1 = Atkins | first1 = Chet | last2 = Neely | first2 = Bill | year = 1974 | title = Country Gentleman | location = Chicago | publisher = Harry Regnery Company | isbn = 0-8092-9051-0 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/countrygentleman00atki }}</ref> A.P., Sara, and their children Joe and Janette recorded 3 albums in the 1950s under the name of The A.P. Carter Family.
After the death of A.P. Carter in 1960, Mother Maybelle Carter and the Carter Sisters began using the name "the Carter Family" for their act during the 1960s and 1970s. Maybelle and Sara briefly reunited, recorded a reunion album (''An Historic Reunion''), and toured in the 1960s during the height of folk music's popularity.<ref name="YT_Sara&Maybelle_video"> {{cite AV media | people = Sara Carter, Maybelle Carter | title = Maybelle & Sara Carter Cannonball Blues | medium = video | publisher = YouTube ("bluesriff") | url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlFyGPNmOvI&mode=related&search | access-date = April 29, 2013 }}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=February 2026}}
A film documentary about the family, and in particular the second generation, ''Sunny Side of Life'', was released in 1985.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Votaw|first=Emily|date=2017-05-15|title=Catching Lightning In a Bottle: 'American Epic' Explores American Recordings|url=https://woub.org/2017/05/15/catching-lightning-in-a-bottle-american-epic-explores-american-recordings/|access-date=2024-12-11|website=WOUB Public Media|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Wolfe|first=Charles|date=1987|title=Review of The Sunny Side of Life|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/540334|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|volume=100|issue=397|pages=332–334|doi=10.2307/540334|issn=0021-8715|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
In 1987, reunited sisters June Carter Cash and Helen and Anita Carter, along with June's daughter Carlene Carter, appeared as the Carter Family. They were featured on a 1987 television episode of ''Austin City Limits'', along with June's husband Johnny Cash.<ref name="AustinCityLimits"> {{cite web | title = Austin City Limits: 1987: Johnny Cash with The Carter Family | url = https://www.pbs.org/klru/austin/artists/program170.html | access-date = April 29, 2013 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071019051131/http://www.pbs.org/klru/austin/artists/program170.html | archive-date = October 19, 2007 | publisher = PBS | location = Austin, Texas }}</ref>
== Third generation == The Carter Family name was revived for a third time,{{When|date=February 2026}} under the name '''Carter Family III'''. It was a project of descendants of the original Carter Family, John Carter Cash (grandson of Maybelle Carter, son of June Carter Cash and Johnny Cash) and Dale Jett (grandson of A.P. and Sara Carter), along with John's wife Laura (Weber) Cash. They released their first album, ''Past & Present'', in 2010.<ref>{{cite web|title=Past & Present|url=https://johncartercash.bandcamp.com/album/past-present|website=Johncartercash.bandcamp.com|access-date=12 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160430174039/http://johncartercash.bandcamp.com/album/past-present|archive-date=2016-04-30|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=February 2026}}
Rosie Nix Adams, daughter of June Carter Cash, performed with the Carter Family in the 1970s as well as on The Johnny Cash Show in 1969.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Three Generations {{!}} American Experience |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/Carterfamily-three-generations/ |access-date=2026-02-23 |website=www.pbs.org |language=en}}</ref>
Carlene Carter (granddaughter of Maybelle Carter) has had a successful career in country and rock music.<ref name=":0" /> She joined the 1987 Carter Family's second generation revival.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
==Personnel== *A. P. Carter (1927–1944, 1952–1956) *Maybelle Carter (1927–1978) *Sara Carter (1927–1944, 1952–1956, 1960–1971) *Janette Carter (1939–1940, 1952–1956) *Helen Carter (1939–1940, 1944–1996) *June Carter Cash (1939–1940, 1944–1969, 1971–1996) *Anita Carter (1939–1940, 1944–1996) *Joe Carter (1952–1956) *John Carter Cash (2012–present) *Dale Jett (2012–present) *Carlene Carter (1987–present) *Laura Cash (2012–2016)
==Extended family== June Carter and her sisters were distant cousins of U.S. president Jimmy Carter.{{Sfn | Carter | 1978 | p = 1115 (Conference on HIRE, June 14)}}
{{chart top|Cash Carter family tree }} {{unreferenced section|date=April 2015}} {{Tree chart/start|line-height:100%;}} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | }} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |,|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|.| | | | | | }} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |WSDOU|y|NEKIL| |RCCAR|y|MABAY| |MSKIL|y|HJADD| | WSDOU=William Sevier Dougherty | NEKIL=Nancy Elizabeth Kilgore | MSKIL=Margaret S. Kilgore | HJADD=Hugh Jackson Addington | MABAY=Mollie Arvell Bays | RCCAR=Robert C. Carter}} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | |,|-|-|-|^|-|-|-|.| | | |!| | | | }} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |SCART|y|APCAR| | | | | |ECART|y|MCART| | | | APCAR=A. P. Carter | ECART=Ezra J. Carter | MCART=Maybelle Carter | SCART=Sara Carter}} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |,|-|-|-|+|-|-|-|.| | | | |,|-|-|+|-|-|.| | | }} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |GLACA| |JANCA| |JOECA| | |HCART| |!| |ACART| | | HCART=Helen Carter | ACART=Anita Carter | GLACA=Gladys Carter | JANCA=Janette Carter | JOECA=Joe Carter}} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | | | | }} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |,|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|'| | | | | | }} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | |VILIB|y|JCASH|y|JCART|V|~|~|~|~|~|~|y|SMITH| | | | | | | | | | | JCASH=Johnny Cash | VILIB=Vivian Liberto | JCART=June Carter Cash | SMITH=Carl Smith}} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | |!| | | |!| | | |L|y|ERNIX| | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | | ERNIX = Edwin "Rip" Nix}} {{Tree chart| | |,|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|v|-|-|-|(| | | |!| | | | |!| | | | | |!| | | | | | | | | | | | | }} {{Tree chart| |RCASH| |KCASH| |CCASH| |TCASH| |JCCAS| | |RNIXA| | | |RCSMI|V|~|~|~|~|~|~|NICKL| | | RCASH=Rosanne Cash | KCASH=Kathleen Cash | CCASH=Cindy Cash | TCASH=Tara Cash | JCCAS=John Carter Cash | RNIXA=Rosie Nix Adams | RCSMI=Carlene Carter | NICKL=Nick Lowe}} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |L|~|JOBRE| | | | | | | | JOBRE=Joseph Breen}} {{Tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | }} {{Tree chart/end}} '''Notes:''' {{notelist-lr}}<!--- use either{{Efn-lr}} and/or <ref group=lower-roman /> To fill this notelist --> {{chart bottom}}
==Musical style== As important to country music as the family's repertoire of songs was Maybelle's guitar playing. She developed her innovative guitar technique largely in isolation; her style is today widely known as the "Carter scratch" or "Carter Family picking". While Maybelle did use a flatpick on occasion, her major method of guitar playing was the use of her thumb (with a thumbpick) along with one or two fingers. What her guitar style accomplished was to allow her to play melody lines (on the low strings of the guitar) while still maintaining rhythm using her fingers, brushing across the higher strings. Nicholas Dawidoff described their style as “wistfully melodic."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dawidoff |first=Nicholas |url=http://archive.org/details/incountryofcount0000dawi_e2m3 |title=In the country of country |date=1998 |publisher=New York : Vintage Books |others=Internet Archive |isbn=978-0-375-70082-8 |pages=12}}</ref>
''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock'' described their music as having simple harmonies and unique guitar-based arrangements.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock |last=Heatley |first=Michael |year=2007 |publisher=Star Fire |location=London |isbn=978-1-84451-996-5 |pages=19|url=https://archive.org/details/definitiveillust0000unse_n8u2/page/19/mode/1up}}</ref> Before the Carter family's recordings, the guitar was rarely used as a lead or solo instrument among musicians.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} Maybelle's interweaving of a melodic line on the bass strings with intermittent strums is now a staple of steel string guitar technique. Flatpickers such as Doc Watson, Clarence White and Norman Blake took flatpicking to a higher technical level, but all acknowledge Maybelle's playing as their inspiration.
{{blockquote|It has been noted that "by the end of the twenties, Maybelle Carter scratch ... was the most widely imitated guitar style in music. Nobody did as much to popularize the guitar, because from the beginning, her playing was distinctive as any voice."|quoted in ''The Bristol Sessions: Writings About the Big Bang of Country Music'' (2005)<ref name="Wolfe_Olson"> {{cite book | first1 = Charles K. | last1 = Wolfe | first2 = Ted | last2 = Olson | year = 2005 | title = The Bristol Sessions: Writings About the Big Bang of Country Music | page = 74 | publisher = McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers | isbn = 0-7864-1945-8 }}</ref>}} == Legacy == The Carter Family was the first group elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970 and were given the nickname "The First Family of Country Music".<ref name="CMHF"> {{cite web | last = Wolfe | first = Charles | title = Carter Family | publisher = Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum | url = http://www.countrymusichalloffame.org/full-list-of-inductees/view/carter-family | access-date = April 29, 2013 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110807062544/http://countrymusichalloffame.org/full-list-of-inductees/view/carter-family | archive-date = August 7, 2011 }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> In 1993, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp honoring A.P., Sara, and Maybelle.<ref>{{Cite web |title=29c Carter Family single |url=https://postalmuseum.si.edu/object/npm_1994.2073.74 |access-date=2026-02-23 |website=postalmuseum.si.edu}}</ref> The Grammy Hall of Fame inducted multiple songs including "Can the Circle Be Unbroken" in 1998, "Wildwood Flower" in 1999, and "Keep on the Sunny Side" in 2006.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Grammy Hall Of Fame {{!}} Hall of Fame Artists {{!}} GRAMMY.com |url=https://grammy.com/awards/hall-of-fame-award |access-date=2026-02-23 |website=grammy.com}}</ref> In 2001, the group was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Carter Family |url=https://www.bluegrasshall.org/inductees/the-carter-family/ |access-date=2026-02-23 |website=Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame & Museum |language=en-US}}</ref> In 2005, the group received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lifetime Achievement Award {{!}} GRAMMY.com |url=https://grammy.com/awards/lifetime-achievement-awards |access-date=2026-02-23 |website=grammy.com}}</ref>
''Keep on the Sunny Side'', a musical play chronicling the Carter Family's rise to stardom, premiered at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, in 2001. Written by Douglas Pote, the play enjoyed a multiyear run, a national tour spanning 23 states, and an original cast recording; the Barter has also mounted revivals.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
Renewed attention to the Carter Family tune "When I'm Gone" occurred after several covers performed a cappella with a cup used to provide percussion, as in the cup game and dubbed the Cups song, went viral and culminated with a short performance in the movie ''Pitch Perfect''. Afterwards it was released as a single by Anna Kendrick.{{Citation needed|date=February 2026}}
The A. P. and Sara Carter House, A. P. Carter Homeplace, A. P. Carter Store, Maybelle and Ezra Carter House, and Mt. Vernon Methodist Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as components of the Carter Family Thematic Resource.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Wayback Machine |url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/64000880_text |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250803095444/https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/NRHP/64000880_text |archive-date=2025-08-03 |access-date=2026-02-23 |website=npgallery.nps.gov}}</ref>{{Additional citation needed|date=February 2026}}
In 2017, the Carter Family's story was told in the award-winning documentary series ''American Epic.''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/latestnews/2017/arena-american-epic|title=BBC – Arena: American Epic – Media Centre|website=Bbc.co.uk|language=en-GB|access-date=2018-06-29|date=May 8, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Votaw|first=Emily|date=2017-05-15|title=Catching Lightning In a Bottle: 'American Epic' Explores American Recordings|url=https://woub.org/2017/05/15/catching-lightning-in-a-bottle-american-epic-explores-american-recordings/|access-date=2024-12-11|website=WOUB Public Media|language=en-US}}</ref> The film featured unseen film footage of The Carter Family performing and being interviewed,<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.mensjournal.com/entertainment/mule-calls-and-outlaws-a-conversation-of-with-american-epic-director-bernard-mcmahon-w483800/|title=Mule Calls and Outlaws: A Conversation With 'American Epic' Director Bernard MacMahon|date=2017-05-23|work=Men's Journal|access-date=2018-06-29|language=en-US}}</ref> and radically improved restorations of their 1920s recordings.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-american-epic-20170513-story.html|title='American Epic' explores how a business crisis ignited a musical revolution|last=Lewis|first=Randy|website=Los Angeles Times|date=14 May 2017|access-date=2018-06-29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.stereophile.com/content/american-epic|title=American Epic|date=2017-06-12|work=Stereophile|access-date=2018-06-29|language=en}}</ref> Director Bernard MacMahon commented that "we first came to the Carters through their records, but one of the other things that struck us about them is that they were involved in both of the main waves of America hearing itself for the first time. They made their first impact in that early wave of rural recordings, and then the next stage was the arrival of radio, and in the late 1930s, they went to Texas and were on XERA, a border station based in Mexico that could be heard all over the central and western United States."<ref>{{Cite book|title=American Epic {{!}} The First Time America Heard itself|last1=Wald|first1=Elijah|last2=McGourty|first2=Allison|author3-link=Bernard MacMahon (filmmaker)|last3=MacMahon|first3=Bernard|publisher=Simon & Schuster|year=2017|isbn=9781501135606|location=New York|pages=74|author2-link=Allison McGourty|author1-link=Elijah Wald}}</ref> The Carter Family's story was profiled in the accompanying book, ''American Epic: The First Time America Heard Itself''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=http://www.simonandschuster.com/books/American-Epic/Bernard-MacMahon/9781501135606|title=American Epic|date=2017-05-02|isbn=9781501135606|language=en|last1=MacMahon|first1=Bernard|last2=McGourty|first2=Allison|last3=Wald|first3=Elijah|publisher=Simon and Schuster }}</ref>
==Discography== {{See also|Carter Family discography}}
Selected 78 rpm records: The Carter Family's career predated any sort of best-selling chart of country music records. (''Billboard'' did not have a country best sellers chart until 1944.) Below is a select list of their 78 rpm releases.
{{columns-list|colwidth=22em| '''Bluebird Records''' * "Anchored in Love" * "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight" * "Keep on the Sunny Side" * "Little Moses" * "Mid the Green Fields of Virginia" * "My Clinch Mountain Home" * "Picture on the Wall" * "Wabash Cannonball" * "Wildwood Flower" * "Worried Man Blues" '''Victor Records''' * "Bury Me Beneath the Willow" * "Foggy Mountain Top" * "Gold Watch and Chain" * "I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes" * "Keep on the Firing Line" * "My Old Cottage Home" * "On the Sea of Gallee" * "The Church in the Wildwood" * "The Storms are on the Ocean" '''Montgomery Ward Records''' * "Lonesome Pine Special" * "Two Sweethearts" * "Where We'll Never Grow Old" '''Decca Records''' * "Coal Miner Blues" * "Hello Stranger" * "My Dixie Darling" * "You Are My Flower" * "Young Freeda Bolt" '''Vocalion Records''' * "Broken Hearted Love" * "Can the Circle Be Unbroken" }}
== Citations == {{Reflist}}
== General and cited references == * ''Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone?: The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music'', Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2002 * ''[https://openlibrary.org/works/OL3295757W/In_the_Country_of_Country?edition=key%3A/books/OL7426119M In the Country of Country: A Journey to the Roots of American Music]'', Nicholas Dawidoff, Vintage Books, 1998. {{ISBN|0-375-70082-X}} * ''Among My Klediments'', June Carter Cash, Grand Rapids, MI, Zondervan, 1979. {{ISBN|0-310-38170-3}} * {{Cite book |last=Carter |first=James 'Jimmy' |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=biqLkX0CCzQC |title=Public papers of the presidents of the United States: Jimmy Carter, 1977 |publisher=Government Printing Office |year=1978}}
==External links== {{commons category}} *[https://ca.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/carter-family-historic-bristol-recordings-video/ken-burns-country-music/kenburnsclassroom/ The Carter Family's Historic Bristol Recordings] on ''Country Music'' by Ken Burns (2019) * [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/carterfamily/ The Carter Family: Will the Circle be Unbroken] an American Experience Documentary by PBS (2005) * [https://www.npr.org/2002/07/16/1146742/country-musics-first-family Country Music's First Family] on Morning Edition (NPR) (2002)
{{s-start}} {{s-ach|aw}} {{succession box | before = Gram Parsons | title = AMA Presidents Award | years = 2004 | after = John Hartford }} {{s-end}} {{Carter Family|state=expanded}} {{June Carter Cash}} {{American Music Award for Favorite Country Band/Duo/Group}} {{International Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame}} {{1970s Country Music Hall of Fame}} {{Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carter Family}} Category:Cash–Carter family Category:1927 establishments in Virginia Category:1956 disestablishments in Virginia Category:American country music groups Category:American folk singers Category:Banner Records artists Category:Country Music Hall of Fame inductees Category:Family musical groups Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Johnny Cash Category:Liberty Records artists Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1956 Category:Musical groups established in 1927 Category:Musical groups from Appalachia Category:Musical groups from Virginia Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Victor Records artists Category:Culture of Virginia Category:Vocalion Records artists