Carter Family-Lane Country
The signature template established by The Carter Family: melody-and-bass guitar playing (the "Carter scratch"), autoharp accompaniment, and tight three-part family harmony over traditional and gospel-tinged song material. Tempos are gentle and steady, the feel domestic and hymn-like, and the arrangements favor clarity and singability. Maybelle Carter's thumb-led lead-on-the-bass-strings guitar technique is the defining instrumental fingerprint.
History
This lane is named for the approach pioneered by The Carter Family — A.P., Sara, and Maybelle — after their 1927 Bristol Sessions recordings. A.P. collected and arranged traditional Appalachian songs, Sara sang lead and played autoharp and guitar, and Maybelle developed the "Carter scratch," a guitar method that put melody on the bass strings while strumming rhythm, which became one of the most imitated techniques in American music. Their catalog of "Wildwood Flower," "Wabash Cannonball," and "Keep on the Sunny Side" became foundational country standards.
Defining artists
Essential listening
- Wildwood Flower — The Carter FamilySpotifyYouTube
- Keep on the Sunny Side — The Carter FamilySpotifyYouTube
- Wabash Cannonball — The Carter FamilySpotifyYouTube
- Will the Circle Be Unbroken — The Carter FamilySpotifyYouTube
- Worried Man Blues — The Carter FamilySpotifyYouTube
- Hello Stranger — The Carter FamilySpotifyYouTube
Sources
- Mark Zwonitzer, "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? The Carter Family"
- Country Music Hall of Fame, Carter Family entry
- Bill C. Malone, "Country Music, U.S.A."