The Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group who recorded between 1927 and 1944.
They were the first vocal group to become country music stars, and were among the very first groups to record commercially produced country music.
Their music had a profound influence on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock music as well as the U.S. folk music revival of the 1960s.
The original Carter Family 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. Carter’s brother Ezra Carter.
Throughout the group’s career, Sara Carter sang lead vocals and played rhythm guitar and 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 Carter’s distinctive guitar-playing style became a hallmark of the group. Her Carter Scratch Method for playing both lead and rhythm on the guitar has become one of the most copied styles of guitar playing.
They made their first recordings on August 1, 1927. The previous day, A.P. Carter had persuaded his wife Sara Carter and his sister-in-law Maybelle Carter to make the journey from Maces Spring, Virginia to Bristol, Tennessee, to audition for record producer Ralph Peer, who was seeking talent for the relatively new recording industry.
By the end of 1930, the Carter Family had sold over 300,000 records in the United States alone.
Realizing that he would benefit financially with each new song he collected and copyrighted, A.P. Carter traveled extensively throughout southwestern Virginia searching out new songs for The Carter Family to record.
A.P. also composed original songs for the group to record.
In the early 1930s, he befriended Lesley “Esley” Riddle, an African American guitar player from Kingsport, Tennessee who accompanied him on his song-collecting trips.
In the winter of 1938–39, the Carter Family relocated to Texas where they had a twice-daily radio program in Villa Acuña, Mexico, across the border from Del Rio, Texas.
In the 1939–40 season, the children of A.P. and Sara (Janette and Joe Carter) and those of Maybelle (Helen, Anita and June, who would one day marry Johnny Cash) joined the group for radio performances, by then in San Antonio, Texas (the children did not, however, perform on the group’s records).
The Carter Family’s radio programs were prerecorded and distributed to multiple border radio stations at this time.
In the fall of 1942, the Carter Family moved their radio program to Charlotte, North Carolina, for a one-year contract.
After A.P. and Sara’s marriage dissolved, Sara went on to marry A.P.’s cousin, Coy Bayes, and they moved to California.
The Carter Family disbanded in 1944.
After the death of A.P. Carter in 1960, Mother Maybelle Carter and her daughters the Carter Sisters (Anita, Helen & June Carter) began using the name “the Carter Family” for their act during the 1960s and 1970s.
In the mid 1960s Maybelle and Sara reunited briefly, recorded the 1966 album An Historic Reunion and toured together at the height of the American folk music renaissance.
In 1987, reunited sisters June Carter Cash, Helen and Anita Carter, along with June’s daughter Carlene Carter, appeared as the Carter Family.
This new lineup of the Carter Family were featured on a 1987 television episode of Austin City Limits, along with June’s husband Johnny Cash.