MP3 Exclusives New Arrivals   Alt-Country Alternative Blues Electronic Jambands Jazz Metal Pop Punk R&B Rap/Hip Hop Reggae Rock   Top Downloads Features Archive Contests Control Panel MUSICBLITZ Alert!   METALBLITZ REGGAEBLITZ BLUESBLITZ Musician's Friend   Alt-Country Alternative Blues Electronic Jambands Jazz Hip Hop Metal Pop Punk R&B Reggae Rock   Getting Started Free Players	Welcome !      The Carter Family Apart from Jimmie Rodgers, no recording artist had as much impact on early country music as the Carter Family. Prior to the Family's recording debut, country music (then called "hillbilly music") focused primarily on old timey instrumentals -- the Carters' emphasis on vocals and lyrics radically changed that forever. Indeed, much of what makes up the basics of folk, country and bluegrass -- rough-yet-heartfelt vocal harmonization, simple melodies and "fact of life" lyricism -- come from the early Carter Family recordings. Melodically, there was very little variation from one song to the next, but much like Jimmie Rodgers's "Blue Yodels," this sense of familiarity drew listeners to the Carters. Maybelle Carter's style of guitar -- playing the bass lines with the thumb while strumming the melody, often called "church" or "Carter" picking -- has become the musical standard for any self-respecting folk or country troubadour. Married in 1915, A.P. Carter and Sara Dougherty both came from strong musical families in the Clinch Mountains of Virginia and played a number of mountain instruments. Playing local dances and church functions, the Carters didn't find a formula that worked commercially until sister-in-law Maybelle joined in 1926. The wife of A.P.'s brother Ezra, Maybelle brought a sturdy vocal harmony to the group as well as solid, unique style of guitar playing. Victor Records A&R man Ralph Peer auditioned the Carter Family in 1927 in Bristol, Tenn., and the six sides the Family recorded (in a session that also included the debut recordings of Jimmie Rodgers) garnered them a contract with the label. For the next eight years, the Family recorded hundreds of spiritual and secular songs from A.P.'s vast repertoire of traditional mountain songs, and the Family became nationally known artists. The Great Depression sidetracked the Carters as a touring act, but they remained a commercial force through continued recording and radio contracts with Texas border stations -- they disbanded officially in 1941. But the Carter Family saga wasn’t over. "Mother" Maybelle continued to perform and record with her daughters Anita, Helen and June; after June married Johnny Cash, they joined the Man in Black’s touring road show. A.P. and Sara Carter (along with daughter Jeanette) got back in the game in 1952, capitalizing on the then-burgeoning boom in folk music, splitting again in 1956. A.P. died four years later. Sara and Maybelle reunited briefly in 1966 -- Maybelle died in 1978 and Sara a year later. In the year 2000, the Family's rough-hewn harmonizing and Maybelle's simple guitar picking may sound incredibly primitive, even cliched, but one has to remember it was the Carter Family who invented those same cliches. Nearly 80 years later, “Can The Circle Be Unbroken” “Single Girl, Married Girl,” “Keep on the Sunnyside” and innumerable other Carter standards have become the cornerstone of American folk and country music.     The Carter Family Diamonds In The Rough MP3 Alt-Country Country music's First Family take us to church with a rough-hewn diamond of gospel glory.
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