The Carter Sisters

The Carter Sisters, (better known as their later moniker, The Carter Family) were an American singing quartet consisting of Maybelle Carter and her daughters June Carter Cash, Helen Carter, and Anita Carter. Formed during World War II, the group recorded and performed into the 1990s.

History

In the 1920s through the early 1940s, Maybelle Carter was part of the historic country music trio The Carter Family with her cousin Sara Carter and Sara's husband A. P. Carter. Maybelle's contribution to the group was singing harmony to Sara's lead vocal as well as playing guitar. Maybelle was married to A.P.'s brother Ezra Carter and had three children: June, Helen, and Anita.

In March 1943, when the original Carter Family trio stopped recording together after their WBT-AM contract ended, Maybelle Carter formed "Maybelle Carter & the Carter Sisters" with her three daughters June, Helen and Anita. Maybelle's daughters had frequently appeared with The Carter Family on their radio broadcasts of the early 1940s. The girls were young when the new act began: June at age 14; Helen, 16; and Anita, the youngest, at age 10.

The group was said to have been a mix of traditional songs of the original Carter Family with pop, gospel, and vaudeville comedy. Each daughter made her own contribution to the band.

The group (originally from Poor Valley, Virginia) made their first move to Richmond, Virginia in 1943. (They were reported as having kept their travel low key, with their father Ezra driving the group in a van to and from their destinations.) The new group first aired on radio station WRNL in Richmond on June 1, 1943. This broadcast would serve as their first commercially sponsored program and their first radio debut as "Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters." The girls' next big break was offered to them by "Sunshine Sue" of WRVA-AM. In September 1946 the group was asked to be a part of The Old Dominion Barn Dance on WRVA. The show had just begun and started small, however by the end of its first year was selling out its 1,400 seat theater twice a night, every Saturday. The group soon became a headliner for the show. Having spent five years in Richmond, the girls were yet again offered a job opportunity, this time in Knoxville, Tennessee.

In 1948, towards the end of their time in Richmond, the girls were offered the chance to work for WNOX-AM in Knoxville. They accepted and were then played on both the evening show, Tennessee Barn Dance; and the daily show, Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round.

Now known as The Carter Sisters, the group released its first record on February 2, 1949, produced in Atlanta, Georgia through RCA Victor records. The group recorded many singles in the 1950s. The sisters also individually released occasional single records but none of their recordings in this era were particularly successful, despite their fame and popularity as a concert act.

In June 1950 the group was offered a job at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. They accepted and their performances became some of their most famous and valued work. They performed with famous names such as Elvis Presley, Carl Smith (June's husband at the time), Ernest Tubb, and Johnny Cash and spent roughly ten years working the Grand Ole Opry as well as on various other radio broadcasts. They became members of the Opry in the early 1950s.[1] June also began making frequent solo performances in concert and on television during this era.

Following the death of A. P. Carter in 1960, Maybelle officially renamed the girls' group "The Carter Family" after the original act. In 1963 The Carter Family joined the Johnny Cash road show. During this period, all four members of the group occasionally recorded as solo artists; June and Helen released a number of singles that failed to chart (June would later have a solo hit in 1971 with "A Good Man" and many very successful duets with husband Johnny Cash); Anita had several minor chart records and a hit duet with Waylon Jennings, "I Got You", in 1967. Maybelle Carter recorded a number of solo albums, mostly instrumental performances, and in 1967 reunited with Sara Carter for an album of old-timey music.

In 1969 it was announced that the group would disband, but in truth the act continued and actually enjoyed its greatest success in the early 1970s with regular appearances on television's The Johnny Cash Show and the first major chart hit records of their career. In 1973, the act won "Favorite Country Vocal Group" on the American Music Awards, a surprise victory over the more commercially successful The Statler Brothers and The Osborne Brothers.

The second edition of The Carter Family released their last record, the 1977 single "Papa's Sugar" a year before Mother Maybelle's death. Helen and Anita's appearances as part of The Johnny Cash show were rare after the late 1970s. In the mid and late 1980s, Anita, Helen, and their children briefly recorded as The Carter Family for Audiograph Records and later Mercury Records. June did not participate in these recordings although she remained close to her sisters. In the 1990s Anita's health issues limited her appearances with her sisters and she was replaced on some television and concert appearances by June's daughter Rosey.

In 1989 The Carter Sisters joined The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band for the recording of their Country Music Association's Album of the Year, the followup Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. 2. In 1990, the album was celebrated on the PBS music television program Austin City Limits, which featured a performance by The Carter Sisters of "Keep on the Sunny Side" and with the full ensemble on the Carter Family song, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken", from the original 1972 album. [2]

Discography

Albums

Year Album US Country Label
1963 Country Favorites Sunset Records
1964 Keep on the Sunnyside Columbia Records
1965 The Best of the Carter Family Columbia Records
1967 Country Album Columbia Records
1970 I Walk The Line (reissues) Harmony Records
1972 Travelin' Minstrel Band 44 Columbia Records
1974 Three Generations
1976 Country's First Family 49
1982 Class Family of Country (reissues) Columbia Special Products

The Carter Family receives special billing on the cover for their background vocals on Merle Haggard's 1971 album The Land of Many Churches.


Selected Singles

Year Single Chart Positions Album
US Country CAN Country
1949 "Why Do You Weep, Dear Willow" — — singles only
"Walk Closer to Me" — —
1950 "Little Orphan Girl" — —
1953 "Wildwood Flower" — —
1954 "Time's a Wastin'" — — singles only
"You are My Flower" — —
1964 "Fair and Tender Ladies" — —
1965 "You Win Again" — —
1966 "I Walk the Line" — — Country Album
1967 "Once Around the Briar Patch" — —
1969 "If I Live Long Enough" — — singles only
1971 "A Song to Mama" 37 42 Travelin' Minstrel Band
1972 "Travelin' Minstrel Band" 42 —
"The World Needs a Melody" (with Johnny Cash) 35 55
1973 "Praise the Lord and Pass the Soup"
(with Johnny Cash & The Oak Ridge Boys)		 57 65 singles only
"Pick the Wildwood Flower" (with Johnny Cash) 34 —

Guest singles

Year Single Artist US Country Album
1963 "Busted" Johnny Cash 13 Blood, Sweat and Tears

Johnny Cash With Carter Family, The - The Three Bells (7", Promo) Columbia 38-04740 1984

Further reading

References

  1. ↑ "Opry Timeline - 1950s". Retrieved July 6, 2012.
  2. ↑ "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Denver and Friends, Austin City Limits, 1990
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