The Carter Family remains the first family of Country music. Establishing “old-time songs” as roots of a music tradition that continues to the present day. Alvin Pleasant (A.P.) Carter, the family patriarch, was an ambitious man, with a drive for making a living with music. Initially, performing as a trio –A.P., Sara, and Maybelle–the Carter Family met Ralph Peer in 1926.  Peer, a New York City music producer, talent scout and publisher, recognized the popular appeal of the group and together they helped establish a successful commercial genre known as “Hillbilly Music” (Jimmie Rogers, Carter Family). A predecessor of “Country & Western”, hillbilly music was regional, from Poor Valley (VA). A.P.  re-arranged the old tunes, which were sold to a growing market for this music. The Carter Family sound was dramatic, dark, poetic, their songs were especially relevant during the Great Depression, when people could relate to the personal struggles that so many families faced. As songcatchers, A.P. searched high and low for new material with his collecting partner, Lesley “Esly” Riddle, an African American musician whose influence on the Carter Family helped to shape country music.

“Will the Circle Be Unbroken?” is one of the Carter Family’s enduring classics, performed here by Leigh Jonaitis (vocals), Andy Krikun (vocals and autoharp), John La Barbera (guitar), and Rod Shepard (bass, producer).

“Soldier’s Joy” emerged from the “fiddle tune” tradition featuring folk instruments such as the fiddle (violin), guitar, banjo, mandolin, dulcimer, harmonica, accompanied by homemade instruments such as the washboard, jug, and washtub bass. This performance of the traditional fiddle tune “Soldier’s Joy” features Leigh Jonaitis (washboard), Andy Krikun (vocals and guitar), John La Barbera (mandolin), Paul Lee (fiddle), and Rod Shepard (bass, producer).