“卡特一家人”是乡村乐坛第一个流行组合。“卡特一家人”由创始人A.P.Carter,他的妻子Sara,以及弟媳Maybelle三人组成。他们在30、40年代录制的那些歌曲，对于我们来说，可谓是乡村音乐之源。
19世纪90年代，A.P.Carter和他的妻子Sara在维  
维吉尼亚Clinch山脉度过了他们的童年。1915年，两人结婚并开始一起演出。随后，A.P.Carter的弟媳Maybelle也加入了这个组合。1928年，“卡特一家人”签约维克多唱片（Victor Records）。20世纪30年代，他们录制了数以百计的歌曲，其中大部分以单曲的形式发行。A.P. Carter痴迷于英美民谣，因而那些几乎被人遗忘了的曲调会在“卡特一家人”的唱片中重现。
由于时处美国经济大萧条，尽管“卡特一家人”的唱片很成功，但他们未能借此进行巡回演出，因而对于他们而言，生活仍旧很艰苦。卡特一家人从维克多唱片（Victor Records）跳槽到了ARC，之后改签迪卡唱片（Decca Records）。30年代末通过一系列的电台演出，“卡特一家人”再度走红，但就在组合有所起色的时候，A.P.Carter和Sara在1939年分手，此后不久，整个组合解散。
20世纪50年代民谣歌曲兴起，A.P.Carter、Sara和他们的女儿Janette重组“卡特一家人”。在1956年解散前，他们共录制了100多首歌曲。A.P.Carter去世后，60年代中期，Maybelle 和Sara Carter以 “卡特一家人”的名义巡回演出。
1970年，“卡特一家人”成为第一个被列入“乡村名人堂”的组合。
附注
Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter： 生于1891年12月15日,维吉尼亚的Maces Springs, 卒于1960年11月7日。
Sara Dougherty Carter Bayes：生于1898年6月21日，维吉尼亚的Flat Woods，卒于1979年1月8日。
Maybelle Addington Carter：生于1909年5月10日，维吉尼亚的Copper Creek，卒于1978年10月23日。
推荐歌曲：
1.Wabash Cannonball
2.Will the Circle Be Unbroken
3.John Hardy Was a Desperate Man
4.Wildwood Flower  
by David Vinopal
The most influential group in country music history, the Carter Family switched the emphasis from hillbilly instrumentals to vocals, made scores of their songs part of the standard country music canon, and made a style of guitar playing, Carter picking, the dominant technique for decades. Along with Jimmie Rodgers, the Carter Family were among the first country music stars. Comprised of a gaunt, shy gospel quartet member named Alvin P. Carter and two reserved country girls — his wife, Sara, and their sister-in-law, Maybelle — the Carter Family sang a pure, simple harmony that influenced not only the numerous other family groups of the 30s and the 40s, but folk, bluegrass, and rock musicians like Woody Guthrie, Bill Monroe, the Kingston Trio, Doc Watson, Bob Dylan, and Emmylou Harris, to mention just a few.
Its unlikely that bluegrass music would have existed without the Carter Family. A.P., the family patriarch, collected hundreds of British/Appalachian folk songs and, in arranging these for recording, enhanced the pure beauty of these facts-of-life tunes and at the same time saved them for future generations. Those hundreds of songs the trio members found around their Virginia and Tennessee homes, after being sung by A.P., Sara, and Maybelle, became Carter songs, even though these were folk songs and in the public domain. Among the more than 300 sides they recorded are Worried Man Blues, Wabash Cannonball, Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Wildwood Flower, and Keep on the Sunny Side.
The Carter Familys instrumental backup, like their vocals, was unique. On her Gibson L-5 guitar, Maybelle played a bass-strings lead (the guitar being tuned down from the standard pitch) that is the mainstay of bluegrass guitarists to the present. Sara accompanied her on the autoharp or on a second guitar, while A.P. devoted his talent to singing in a haunting though idiosyncratic bass or baritone. Although the original Carter Family disbanded in 1943, enough of their recordings remained in the vaults to keep the group current through the 40s. Furthermore, their influence was evident through further generations of musicians, in all forms of popular music, through the end of the century.
Initially, the Carter Family consisted of just A.P. and Sara. Born and raised in the Clinch Mountains of Virginia, A.P. (b. Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter, April 15, 1891; d. November 7, 1960) learned to play fiddle as a child, with his mother teaching him several traditional and old-time songs; his father had played violin as a young man, but abandoned the instrument once he married. Once he became an adult, he began singing with two uncles and his older sister in a gospel quartet, but he became restless and soon moved to Indiana, where he worked on the railroad. By 1911, he had returned to Virginia, where he sold fruit trees and wrote songs in his spare time.
While he was traveling and selling trees, he met Sara (b. Sara Dougherty, July 21, 1898; d. January 8, 1979). According to legend, she was on her porch playing the autoharp and singing Engine 143 when he met her. Like A.P., Sara learned how to sing and play through her family. As a child, she learned a variety of instruments, including autoharp, guitar, and banjo, and she played with her friends and cousins.
A.P. and Sara fell in love and married on June 18, 1915, settling in Maces Springs, where he worked various jobs while the two of them sang at local parties, socials, and gatherings. For the next 11 years, they played locally. During that time, the duo auditioned for Brunswick Records, but the label was only willing to sign A.P. and only if he recorded fiddle dance songs under the name Fiddlin Doc; he rejected their offer, believing that it was against his parents religious beliefs.
Eventually, Maybelle Carter (b. Maybelle Addington, May 10, 1909; d. October 23, 1978) — who had married A.P.s brother Ezra — began singing and playing guitar with Sara and A.P. Following Maybelles addition to the Carter Family in 1926, the group began auditioning at labels in earnest. In 1927, the group auditioned for Ralph Peer, a New York-based A&R man for Victor Records who was scouting for local talent in Bristol, TN. The Carters recorded six tracks, including The Wandering Boy and Single Girl, Married Girl. Victor released several of the songs as singles, and when the records sold well, the label offered the group a long-range contract.
The Carter Family signed with Victor in 1928, and over the next seven years the group recorded most of its most famous songs, including Wabash Cannonball, Im Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes, John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man, Wildwood Flower, and Keep on the Sunny Side, which became the Carters signature song. By the end of the 20s, the group had become a well-known national act, but its income was hurt considerably by the Great Depression. Because of the financial crisis, the Carters were unable to play concerts in cities across the U.S. and were stuck playing schoolhouses in Virginia. Eventually, all of the members became so strapped for cash they had to move away from home to find work. In 1929, A.P. moved to Detroit temporarily while Maybelle and her husband relocated to Washington, D.C.
In addition to the stress of the Great Depression, A.P. and Saras marriage began to fray, and the couple separated in 1932. For the next few years, the Carters only saw each other at recording sessions, partially because the Depression had cut into the country audience and partially because the women were raising their families. In 1935, the Carters left Victor for ARC, where they re-recorded their most famous songs. The following year, they signed to Decca.
Eventually, the group signed a lucrative radio contract with XERF in Del Rio, TX, which led to contracts at a few other stations along the Mexican and Texas border. Because of their locations, these stations could broadcast at levels that were far stronger than other American radio stations, so the Carters radio performances could be heard throughout the nation, either in their live form or as radio transcriptions. As a result, the bands popularity increased dramatically, and their Decca records became extremely popular.
Just as their career was back in full swing, Sara and A.P.s marriage fell apart, with the couple divorcing in 1939. Nevertheless, the Carter Family continued to perform, remaining in Texas until 1941, when they moved to a radio station in Charlotte, NC. During the early 40s, the band briefly recorded for Columbia before re-signing with Victor in 1941. Two years later, Sara decided to retire and move out to California with her new husband, Coy Bayes (who was A.P.s cousin), while A.P. moved back to Virginia, where he ran a country store. Maybelle Carter began recording and touring with her daughters, Helen, June, and Anita.
A.P. and Sara re-formed the Carter Family with their grown children in 1952, performing a concert in Maces Spring. Following the successful concert, the Kentucky-based Acme signed A.P., Sara, and their daughter Janette to a contract, and over the next four years they recorded nearly 100 songs that didnt gain much attention at the time. In 1956, the Carter Family disbanded for the second time. Four years later, A.P. died at his Maces Spring home. Following his death, the Carter Familys original recordings began to be reissued. In 1966, Maybelle persuaded Sara to reunite to play a number of folk festivals and record an album for Columbia. In 1970, the Carter Family became the first group to be elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame, which is a fitting tribute to their immense influence and legacy.