Random 1914 Meeting...Random Generational Legacy
Sources: [1] [2] [3], corresponding to the three generations that are documented. I'll take two biographies from each generation.
Alvin Pleasant "A.P." Carter
April 15, 1891 -- November 7,1960
A.P. learned to play the violin as a child in Poor Valley, Virginia, and sang in the local church choir. He led the Original Carter Family group from 1926 until their break-up in 1943. A.P sometimes played bass in the Carter family group and sometimes sang -- the unique vibrato in his voice attributed to the fact that he was born with "the shakes."
Married Sara Dougherty on June 18, 1915.
Maybelle Addington
May 10,1909 -- October 22,1978
Maybelle Addington grew up in a musical family, winning first prize at a Copper Creek banjo contest at the age of 12. Her guitar skills matured quickly and her signature style of blending melody and chords became known as the "Carter scratch." Maybelle later formed a group with her daughters Helen, June, and Anita called The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle. Their career included performances on various radio stations, regular appearances on the Grand Ole Opry and The Johnny Cash Show, and a tour with Elvis Presley. She and Sara Carter briefly reunited in the 1960s as a folk duo.
Married Ezra Carter on March 13, 1926.
June Carter
(Maybelle's daughter)
June 23, 1929 -- May 15, 2003
June Carter began performing with her sisters and mother as The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle. By the end of her career June won two Grammy Awards for duets with husband Johnny in 1967 and 1970, and another in 1999 for her solo album Press On.
Married Carl Smith on July 9, 1952.
Married Edwin "Rip" Nix on November 11, 1958.
Married John "Johnny" Cash on March 1, 1968.
John "Johnny" Cash
February 26, 1932 -- September 12, 2003
Known as the "man in black," Johnny Cash recorded more than 1,500 songs, had 48 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Charts, and won 11 Grammy Awards, including a 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award. From 1969-1971 he hosted The Johnny Cash Show on television, showcasing many of the great country musicians of the time, including The Carters.
Rita Jett Forrester
(Janette's daughter)
September 5, 1954 --
Rita has followed in her mother's footsteps with her work in the Carter Family Fold. Booking acts, cooking, and announcing, she is the backbone of the weekly concerts that take place at Maces Springs, Virginia -- the hometown of Carter Family music.
John Carter Cash
(June's son)
March 3, 1970 --
John is a country music performer and producer. He produced his mother's last album, Wildwood Flower, his father's last recording sessions, and a tribute album The Unbroken Circle: The Musical Heritage of the Carter Family that features such artists as George Jones, Sheryl Crow, Marty Stuart, Willie Nelson, and Shawn Colvin.
And here are a few highlights from the transcript of "The Carter Family: Will the Circle Be Unbroken"
Narrator: Their songs of love and lost, desperation and joy comforted a nation in the darkest days of the depression, and brought a rare dignity to rural Appalachia culture.
June Carter Cash, Maybelle and Ezra's daughter: They had so many tunes that formed a basis for our country Western Music as we know it today.
Gillian Welch, Musician: I have a very hard time picturing American music and in fact rural music without the Carter Family.
Narrator: America knew them as a model of domestic bliss. But their real life story had all the making of one of their songs: betrayal, loss and death....
Marty Stuart: Music in Poor Valley, Virginia was like a healer, I think it was a great communicator. It was a reason to get together and on being good neighbors and family. It was a reason to worship, it was a reason to hope and it was a reason to talk about hard times.
Narrator: Born into this rich musical tradition, A.P. Carter would make his life's mission to carry the songs of his remote valley to the wider world....
Narrator: To satisfy both Ralph Peer's publishing demands and his own ambition, A.P.'s trips grew longer and more frequent.
Rita Forrester: It was not uncommon for him to leave and not come back for two or three weeks at a time and I don't think he saw anything wrong with that, that's just what he was doing.
Mark Zwonitzer: And when he was home he was distracted, he was worried, he was trying to write songs. He was very jealous of his time and very jealous of his quiet time. And you just couldn't penetrate, you couldn't penetrate A.P. Carter.
Carter Family Singing, Archival Film: Do not disturb my waking dream, the splendor of that winding stream...
Narrator: For Sara, A.P.'s dream became just another chore.
Joe: The bright lights didn't interest her at all, it was just scratching out a little money to help feed the kids.
Mark Zwonitzer: She always loved the music there's no question about that, but, um, it, after a while, it became more about the recording dates and the travel and A.P.'s agitating to go out and do entertainments so it became the music sort of representative of all the things that were difficult in her life....
Narrator: By 1933, Sara reached a breaking point in her marriage. A.P.'s overwhelming ambitions left her own in shambles.
Carter Family Singing, Archival Film:Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me I say? Are you sorry we drifted apart?
Mark Zwonitzer: She basically fell for a fellow in the Valley named Coy Bays, who was a cousin of A.P.'s and they started what became, you know, a quiet but relatively public love affair and it was you know you can imagine it tore the family up. Coy's parents hatched a plan with A.P.'s parents that they would get Coy out of the valley and so as a family, Coy and his parents and his siblings picked up and headed west to California to make a new life.
Narrator: When Coy left, so did Sara....
Narrator: The power of radio was not lost on Sara Carter.
Mark Zwonitzer: Nobody quite knows why she did it but one night on the radio, she announced that she'd like to dedicate a song to Coy Bays, her friend in California and she sang I'm Thinking Tonight of My blue Eyes.
Sara Carter Singing, Archival Film: Oh you told me once dear that you loved me, you said that we never would part. But a link in the chain has been broken, leaves me with a sad and aching heart. Oh I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes who is.
Narrator: For six years Sara had tried to forget her love for Coy. She thought the relationship was over when he stopped responding to her letters. But her letters had not been ignored. Coy had never seen them.
Mark Zwonitzer: Coy was listening with his family and he turned to his mom and said I'm going to go get her. And his mom who's the one who had been intercepting these letters, said, well, I guess maybe you better.
Narrator: Coy drove all night to find Sara in Texas. Within three weeks they were married....
Narrator: Sara lived out the rest of her life in the simplicity and domesticity the Carter Family had come to represent. Maybelle pursued her own vision starting a new act with her daughters, Helen, June and Anita. Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters toured worldwide with greats like Chet Atkins and June Carter's husband, Johnny Cash. After nearly fifty years in the business Maybelle Carter would come to be regarded as the "Queen Mother of Country Music."...
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