The Carter Family made music together.
They sang and played the guitar. They were a family. Their songs are still loved today. Do you like to sing with your family?
The Carter Family made music together.
Three family members sang songs. They played the guitar and the autoharp. Maybelle had a special way to play. She used her thumb to play a melody. She also used her fingers to keep a beat. This helped her play two parts at once.
Their songs became very famous. People still love their music today.
The Carter Family was a famous music group.
They made music from 1927 to 1956. The group had three members. Sara Carter sang and played the autoharp. A. P. Carter sang and helped find new songs. Maybelle Carter played the guitar.
Maybelle had a special style. It is called the "Carter Scratch." She used her thumb to play a melody. Then she used her fingers to keep the rhythm. This let her play two parts at once. This way of playing changed how people used guitars. Their songs became very famous. Some songs like "Keep on the Sunny Side" are country standards. The group was the first to join the Country Music Hall of Fame. They were also called "The First Family of Country Music." Their music helped start many new styles. These styles include bluegrass and rock music. Even today, people still play their songs. Their story is told in books and films.
The Carter Family was a famous American folk music group. They performed and recorded from 1927 until 1956. People call them "The First Family of Country Music." Their music helped shape many styles like bluegrass and rock. They were also the first vocal group to become country stars. Their songs are still very important to music today.
Making their music required great skill and teamwork. Sara Carter sang the lead parts. She also played the rhythm guitar or the autoharp. Maybelle Carter sang harmony and played the lead guitar. Her special way of playing is called the "Carter Scratch." She used her thumb to play the melody on low strings. Then she used her fingers to brush the high strings for rhythm. This allowed her to play two parts at once.
The group began in the mountains of southwest Virginia. The original members were Sara, her husband A. P., and Maybelle. Maybelle was also Sara's first cousin. They grew up singing mountain gospel music. On August 1, 1927, they went to Bristol, Tennessee. They went there to audition for producer Ralph Peer. They recorded in an empty warehouse for the Victor Talking Machine Company.
The Carters became very successful very quickly. By the end of 1930, they sold 300,000 records. They earned $50 for every song they recorded. A. P. Carter also traveled to find new songs to record. He even befriended a guitar player named Lesley Riddle. In the 1930s, the family performed on radio stations. They even worked on a border station in Mexico. This station could be heard across much of the United States.
Their musical legacy lives on through many generations. They were the first group in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Their famous songs include "Wildwood Flower" and "Keep on the Sunny Side." Many of these songs are in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Later, Maybelle's daughters performed as "The Carter Sisters." Even their grandchildren have made music together. Their story is told in books and even a documentary film.
The Carter Family was a pioneering American folk music group. They recorded and performed from 1927 until 1956. They are often called "The First Family of Country Music." This group had a massive influence on many musical genres. These include bluegrass, country, southern gospel, pop, and rock music. They were also vital to the American folk revival of the 1960s. As the first vocal group to become country music stars, they changed the industry. They were among the first to record commercially produced country music.
Making their music required specific roles and unique technical skills. The original group included Sara Carter, her husband A. P. Carter, and Maybelle Carter. Maybelle was Sara's first cousin. Sara provided lead vocals and played rhythm guitar or the autoharp. Maybelle provided harmony vocals and played the lead guitar. A. P. Carter sometimes sang harmony, background vocals, or lead vocals. He also sometimes did not perform on certain songs. Maybelle developed a famous guitar technique called the "Carter Scratch." She used a thumbpick on her thumb and her fingers to play. This allowed her to play melody lines on low strings. Simultaneously, she used her fingers to brush the higher strings for rhythm. This style became a staple of steel string guitar technique.
Their professional journey began with the historic Bristol Sessions. In 1927, A. P. Carter persuaded his family to travel to Bristol, Tennessee. They went there to audition for producer Ralph Peer. Peer was looking for new talent for the growing recording industry. The group recorded in an empty warehouse at the Taylor-Christian hat company. These sessions took place on August 1, 1927. This was the day before Jimmie Rodgers made his first recordings for Victor. The group received $50 for each song they recorded. They also earned a half-cent royalty for every copy sold of copyrighted songs.
Success came quickly to the family through their recordings. On November 4, 1927, Victor released their first double-sided 78 rpm record. This record featured "Wandering Boy" and "Poor Orphan Child." Later, the 1928 release of "The Storms Are on the Ocean" became very popular. By the end of 1930, the family had sold 300,000 records in the United States. To find more material, A. P. Carter traveled around southwestern Virginia. He searched for new songs to collect and copyright. He also composed his own original songs. During the early 1930s, he worked with a black guitar player named Lesley Riddle. Riddle accompanied A. P. on his song-collecting trips.
As the years passed, the group's structure and location changed. In 1933, Maybelle met the Speer Family at a fair in West Virginia. She liked their sound and asked them to tour with the Carters. From 1938 to 1941, the family lived in Texas. They performed twice daily on the border radio station XERA. This station was located in Villa Acuña, Mexico, across from Del Rio, Texas. During the 1939–40 season, the children of A. P., Sara, and Maybelle joined them for radio. However, the children did not perform on the group's commercial records. In 1942, the family moved to a radio station in North Carolina. They held a one-year contract for a sunrise time slot.
After the original group disbanded in 1944, the musical legacy continued through descendants. Maybelle Carter performed with her daughters as "The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle." They worked with musicians like Chet Atkins, who played electric guitar for them. The family also joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1950. Later, Maybelle and Sara reunited for a tour during the 1960s folk revival. The third generation also kept the name alive through a project called Carter Family III. This included John Carter Cash and Dale Jett. They released their first album, "Past & Present," in 2010. This shows how the family's influence spans many decades.
The impact of the Carter Family is recognized by many major institutions. They were the first group inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970. In 2005, they received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Several of their songs are in the Grammy Hall of Fame. These include "Can the Circle Be Unbroken," "Wildwood Flower," and "Keep on the Sunny Side." In 1993, the U.S. Postal Service issued a stamp in their honor. Their history is also preserved in books and the documentary series "American Epic." Their music remains a foundation for many modern artists today.
Where will your curiosity go next?
🖼️ Images & Media (2)
More to explore
✨ What else?
Related topics you might enjoy
🔬 Go deeper
More advanced topics to explore
🪜 Step back
Simpler topics to build understanding
What is Nepedia?
A free, ad-free encyclopedia for children. Every article is written at five reading levels, so the same page works for a five-year-old and a fifteen-year-old — use the level switcher above to see this one change. No account needed to read.