A. P. Carter

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A.P. Carter (December 15, 1891 - November 7, 1960) was an American Country music musician and founding member of the well known Carter Family group.

He was born Alvin Pleasant Delaney Carter in Maces Spring, Virginia (Poor Valley), the son of Robert C. Carter and Mollie Arvelle Bays. A.P. was sometimes called "Doc."

On June 18, 1915, he married Sara Dougherty and they had three children: Gladys (Millard), Janette (Jett), and Joe. In 1927, he formed the Carter Family band together with his wife. They were joined by her cousin, Maybelle, who was married to A.P.'s brother, Ezra Carter, and they together formed perhaps the first commercial rural Country music group. Carter was known for travelling extensively throughout the country and collecting and blending songs, particularly from Appalachian musicians. Some of the songs became so closely identified with A. P. Carter that he has been popularly, but mistakenly, credited with writing them. For example, "Keep on the Sunny Side of Life" was published in 1901 with the words being credited to Ada Blenkhorn and the music credited to Howard Entwisle, [1] and "The Meeting in the Air" has been published giving credit for music and words to I. G. Martin.[2]

The Carter family eventually dissolved in the 1940s. This was largely a result of Sara having an affair with and remarrying to A.P.'s cousin, in part due to A.P.'s long absences from home in search of new musical ideas.

Despite dying in relative obscurity, A. P. Carter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970. In 1993, his image appeared on a U.S. postage stamp honoring the Carter Family. In 2001 he was inducted posthumously into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor.

PBS aired a one-hour show on A.P. Carter and the Carter Family on American Experience.

In recent years, The Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia has performed a play based on A.P.'s life called "Keep On The Sunny Side".

A.P. Carter is interred in the Mt. Vernon United Methodist Church graveyard in Hiltons, Virginia.[3]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Geibel, Adam and R. Frank Lehman, eds. Uplifted Voices (song no. 9). Philadelphia: Geibel and Lehman, 1901.
  2. ^ Tillman, Charlie D. The Revival No. 6 (song no. 159). Atlanta, GA: Charlie Tillman Song Book Co., nd.
  3. ^ [1]
  • Will you miss me when I'm gone? : the Carter Family and their legacy in American music, Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2002

[edit] External links


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