"[ birds chirping and train horn whistling ]" "[ opening chords of "Bear Creek" plays ]" "♪ Way up on Bear Creek ♪" "♪ Watching the sun go down ♪" "♪ Way up on Bear Creek ♪" "♪ Watching the sun go down ♪" "♪ Well, it makes feel like ♪" "♪ I'm on my last go 'round ♪" "WOMAN:" "If I had to characterize the Carter Family and their music, I would say it's primal." "It's so rooted." "It's so raw." "It's so spare." "It's so direct." "♪ Well, the water up on Bear Creek ♪" "♪ Tastes like cherry wine ♪" "Memphis is the birthplace of rock 'n' roll, but then when you go back farther, those mountains up there, the Clinch Mountains..." "MAN:" "That's the starting point right there, going backwards all the way to A.P. and Maybelle and Sara." "LAUDERDALE:" "They were the first superstar country group." "♪ One drink of that water ♪" "♪ You stay drunk all the time ♪" "People should know who they are just like they should know who the first president of the United States was." "WOMAN:" "You can say "the Carter Family" to people, and they just look at you with a blank stare, but if you sing a couple of the songs " ""Keep On the Sunny Side" or "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" -- they immediately go, "Oh!"" "It's just American." "♪ If you stay up on Bear Creek ♪" "♪ You'll get like Jesse James ♪" "♪ You'll take two pistols ♪" "♪ And rob that Bear Creek train ♪" "HANNA:" "If you listen to a Johnny Cash record, if you're interested in where it came from, you're gonna end up at the Carter Family." "It's not gonna take you very long." "JOHNNY CASH:" "When I was a boy living in the cotton country in Arkansas, at night after working in the fields," "I had my ear right in that radio, and when my Dad would yell to go to bed," "I would just turn the volume down but put my ear closer, you know, 'cause I had to hear the Carter Family." "♪ I'm going high ♪" "MAN:" "It's get-togethers, it's births, it's funerals -- lots of funerals." "The Carters like the graveyard." "♪ I'm going high ♪" "There's nothing standing between their human heart and your human ears." "It's a lesson in honesty." "They'll just flat-out expose you for the faker that you are." "[ laughs ]" "ROSANNE CASH:" "The Carter Family is like The Beatles in that threads and fingers of their music are woven into everything that came after them." "You want to hear the real story?" "All right." "All right." "[ "Bear Creek" ends ]" "[ Carter Family's "Winding Stream" plays ]" "♪ Oh, give to me a winding stream ♪" "♪ It must not be too wide ♪" "♪ Where waving leaves from maple trees ♪" "♪ Do meet from either side ♪" "♪ The water must be deep enough ♪" "♪ To float a small canoe ♪" "♪ With no one else but you ♪" "♪ Do not disturb ♪" "♪ My waking dream ♪" "♪ The splendor of ♪" "♪ That winding stream ♪" "♪ Flower in my canoe ♪" "♪ Her eyes, they look me through ♪" "♪ A maiden fair with golden hair ♪" "♪ Looks very much like you... ♪" "[ ♪♪ ]" "WOMAN:" "Poor Valley." "Maces Springs, Virginia." "It's, um, God's Country, I guess you'd say." "♪ Far away on the hills ♪" "♪ To a sunny mountainside ♪" "♪ Many years ago we parted ♪" "♪ My little Ruth and I ♪" "♪ From this sunny mountainside ♪" "We have family lined up all the way down the valley." "The whole family was born there, and they were God-fearing people." "And they didn't make a lot of money, but they would give you what they had." "♪ Carry me back to old Virginny ♪" "♪ Back to my Clinch Mountain home ♪" "It's hard to make a living out of a farm -- dirt and the mountains." "Everybody tried to farm, and most of them had one cow and a hog or two." "And you put it down on paper, it sounds like you was very rich." "We probably was rich." "It wasn't money-wise, but it sure was a different way of life to what it is now." "♪ At my old Clinch Mountain home ♪" "My daddy was pleasant." "His name was Alvin Pleasant Carter." "WOMAN:" "My granddad grew up different from other children." "He only went, really, to about the third grade." "And the children, of course, made fun of his tremor in his hands." "And, of course, he was an extremely sensitive child." "JANETTE CARTER:" "My daddy liked to walk up and down the railroads." "And he'd always have his hands behind his back." "WOMAN:" "A lot of times you'd pass him, and you'd say something to him, and he didn't hardly answer you." "He was always in deep thought." "JANETTE CARTER:" "He was a very kind man." "Unless he got mad, and if got mad, you better let him alone, 'cause he had a temper." "He never did spank me but three times, but I remember all of 'em." "And he wasn't a great farmer." "I know one of my neighbors said to me once, said, "A.P.'s not a very good farmer."" "And it irritated me that he'd say something about my uncle, and I said, "No, and you or I can't write songs either."" "[ playing "I'm in Your Care" ]" "♪ Oh, Lord, I'm in your care ♪" "♪ Oh, Lord, I'm in your care ♪" "♪ Your loving arms around me ♪" "♪ Evil cannot harm me ♪" "♪ Oh, Lord, I'm in your care ♪" "♪ When I was sick, I was in your care ♪" "♪ When I was sick, I was in your care ♪" "FORRESTER:" "In 1906, A.P., his father, and his brothers helped to actually take timber out of Clinch Mountain to erect Mt." "Vernon Church, which is the church that now" "I guess the seventh generation of Carter children attend." "♪ I'm a reckless child, but I'm in your care ♪" "My granddad, he had this deep, deep religious upbringing and attended a lot of singing schools, sang in the choir at Mt." "Vernon Church." "He started out playing the fiddle, but that bothered his mother because she thought the fiddle was a devil's instrument." "♪ Lord, I'm in your care ♪" "A.P. Carter had an amazing and inspired love for music." "It carried him, it drove him." "I truly believe that the reason that he became a traveling salesman was so that he could go from town to town, front porch to front porch, train yard to train yard, to meet different people, different walks of life," "and pick up songs along the way." "[ opening of "Engine 143" plays ]" "FORRESTER:" "My granddad, he walked across Clinch Mountain, which would take you a good full day." "And at that time he was selling fruit trees." "So he would just go to different houses to sell these trees." "And he came into the yard where she lived, and he heard a woman singing and playing the autoharp." "And she was singing "Engine 143."" "♪ The doctor said to Georgie ♪" "♪ Your life cannot be saved ♪" "♪ Murdered upon the railroad ♪" "♪ And laid in a lonesome grave ♪" "♪ His face was covered up with blood ♪" "♪ His eyes you could not see ♪" "♪ And the very last words poor Georgie said ♪" "♪ Was nearer, my God, to Thee ♪" "And he said he stood and listened for a long time, and he thought it was the most beautiful thing he'd ever heard." "And he introduced himself and told her he was there to sell some fruit trees." "And she let him know that she was selling dishes, and would he like to buy some of her dishes." "He told her that if she came with him, he'd take the entire set." "They married fairly young." "I think she was just... not much more than 16, going on 17, and he was a few years older." "But they married and then, of course, moved to this side of the mountain." "Fern, watch these thistles, honey." " They'll stick in ya." " Yeah, I know." " You see that gate up there?" " Yeah, I see that gate." "We come down the break of the hill, and then we'd walk down thataway." "That's the only way I came as a child." "That'd be a lot closer." "Look, here's an old part of a bedstead." "Yeah." "You know, Aunt Sara may have -- she might have even slept in this, did you know it?" "She could have, that bed." "People, we'll have to be careful." "The porch is just about gone." "Please watch your step." "[ opening of "Picture on the Wall" plays ]" "FORRESTER:" "My grandmother lost her mother at about age 3." "Her mother died." "When her mother passed away, her father kept the three sons with him and gave her and her sister to an aunt to raise." "And that had to have a very profound effect on her, you know, growing up without her mother." "♪ There's an old and faded picture on the wall ♪" "♪ That has been a-hanging there for many a-year ♪" "♪ 'Tis a picture of my mother ♪" "♪ For I know there is no other ♪" "♪ That can take the place of mother on the wall ♪" "♪ On the wall ♪ ♪ On the wall ♪" "♪ On the wall ♪ ♪ On the wall ♪" "♪ How I love that dear old picture on the wall ♪" "And of course Aunt Maybelle and my grandmother were first cousins and grew up pretty much together and were making music from the time they were little girls together." "WOMAN:" "Just like any other country girl." "They put up pickles, they canned, they churned, they had cows, did a garden," "I'd say just like everybody else in this country." "Just a hard, but good life." "MAN:" "Sara and Maybelle, they were first cousins." "And they married brothers." "So that made us kids almost double first, you know, about one and three-quarter, I guess you'd call it." "JOHN CARTER CASH:" "A.P. and Sara and Maybelle were very different people, there's no doubt." "But they had a unique and beautiful shared love for music." "Maybelle and Sara probably weren't quite as serious about it in the beginning, and I think A.P. gave 'em a little push and got them to look at the possibility that this might end up being their career." "[ ♪♪ ]" "MAN:" "Back in the 1920s, the record companies had gotten interested in recording what they called "old time" music." "They didn't use the word "country" back in those days." "But the idea was it was kind of folk music from the mountains." "And so Ralph Peer was hired by RCA Victor to go after this music." "WOMAN:" "Ralph Peer took a chance to say, "Okay, let's go down and see what's down here and record it and see if anybody will buy this stuff."" "CHARLES WOLFE:" "So he took off in the summer of 1927." "His idea was to go into these towns, set up a temporary studio, and try to lure people in for recordings." "And he arrived in Bristol in late July, and he thinks, "I really need now to go cattle call and see who I can bring out."" "[ ♪♪ ]" "They were answering an ad they found in the paper from Ralph Peer." "The ad was asking musicians and singers to come and make records for Victor Talking Machine Company." "FORRESTER:" "My granddad, of course, he didn't have a car." "He ended up borrowing Maybelle's husband's car, Uncle Eck's car." "And Aunt Maybelle was eight months pregnant." "I imagine the very last thing she wanted to do was go to Bristol in the scorching August heat." "JOHNNY CASH:" "They got ready to go, and A.P. asked Maybelle if she had her guitar." "And she said, "No, I don't need that, do I?"" "And he said, "Yeah, better bring your guitar."" "So Maybelle, A.P., and I, we decided we'd go up." "Of course, we didn't think anything about it, just thought it more or less just a trip." "CHARLES WOLFE:" "And they were supposed to have gotten there in the afternoon." "Even though it's not a very long drive to Bristol today, back in those days they had to go on dirt roads, and so they had all kinds of problems." "They had to forge streams, it was hot, they had blowouts." "They didn't get into Bristol until that evening." "But when they showed up, Peer said," ""Come on over anyway, and let's try to get some work done."" "Their first sessions were actually held in a temporary studio down on Main Street, on the second floor of a hat company." "Ralph Peer was in a little glassed-in room, and he would press a button." "The light would go on red and then it would go to green, and then they would start singing." "♪ Oh, bury me under the weeping willow ♪" "♪ Yes, under the weeping willow tree ♪" "♪ So he may know where I am sleeping ♪" "♪ And perhaps he will weep for me ♪" "In those days, they didn't have different microphones for each singer." "And they very quickly found out that Sara's voice was really powerful." "♪ I hear a low faint voice that says ♪" "♪ Papa and Mama's dead ♪" "♪ And it comes from the poor orphan child ♪" "♪ That must be clothed and fed ♪" "A.P. never did really sing very loud." "He would stand in back of them and kind of move around and every now and then lean in and, as he said, do a little "bassin' in."" "♪ Savior, lead them by the hand ♪" "♪ Savior, lead them by the hand ♪" "CHARLES WOLFE:" "So they recorded four songs in about 90 minutes that night, and Peer was very pleased." "So he said, "We would like for you to come back and do some more songs tomorrow morning." "Could you do that?"" "And they said, "Yes, we can."" "And the next morning, he goes in to meet the Carters, and lo and behold, A.P. has gone missing, and only Sara and Maybelle are there." "And then she says, "We can do the songs ourselves okay."" "And he says, "Well, okay."" "And I know we made "Single Girl, Married Girl,"" "and I didn't want to sing that song." "I didn't like it." "And I told Mr. Peer, I says, "I don't like that." "I'd rather not sing that."" ""Oh," he says, "I want you to sing that."" "So I sung "The Single Girl" solo." "♪ Single girl, single girl ♪" "♪ She's going dressed fine ♪" "CHARLES WOLFE:" "Sara began singing her song "Single Girl,"" "and that just absolutely blew Peer's mind." "♪ Married girl, the married girl ♪" "♪ She wears just any kind ♪" "She sang it at the very top of her range, real mountain singing." "♪ Single girl, single girl ♪" "♪ She goes to the store and buys ♪" "♪ Married girl, the married girl ♪" "♪ She rocks the cradle and cries ♪" "At that time, women didn't do a lot of singing." "The singing was done mostly by men." "And to record a song like "Single Girl, Married Girl"" "was very unusual, because women here were, for the most part, at home, doing the chores." "They certainly were not liberated." "CHARLES WOLFE:" "It turns out that A.P. was not there because he was out trying to buy a tire so they could have a decent tire to drive home on." "And at the end of those two sessions, they were given a check and sent on their way." "They took off back home, and they say that afternoon" "A.P. was back in his garden, working away." "Time passes, and the records are not released." "FORRESTER:" "They had sort of forgotten about it, I think." "They'd come home and gone back to doing what they'd always done, children and chores." "And my grandmother probably thought that was kind of a waste of their time." "So we made it home and never thought no more about it, you know, never dreamed about the record business a-turnin' out what it did." "CHARLES WOLFE:" "Three or four months later," "Mr. McClister, who ran the music store, wheeled a Victrola out on the streets of Bristol and started playing The Carter Family." "♪ I'm going away to leave you, love ♪" "And, of course, began selling records hand over fist." "♪ But I'll return to you some time ♪" "♪ If I go 10,000 miles ♪" "A few weeks later, a check arrived, and it was a pretty good-sized check." "Well, at this point A.P. didn't apparently even know the records were out." "When we got the first royalty, why, the "Single Girl, Married Girl" had sold the most, the very one that I didn't want to sing." "[ ♪♪ ]" "CHARLES WOLFE:" "Ralph Peer said, "Look," "I think you're gonna be making a lot of records, and I think it's to your advantage to take royalties."" "And it was only then that A.P. began to realize you made some money by going out and making records but that the real money came from the songs." "And so A.P. Carter gets an education in the music business from the master." "So Peer wants to treat A.P. Carter as if he's his star quarterback." "This guy is the money man." "He's the one who's going to keep these songs coming." "And what was amazing is that Peer was asking A.P." "to show up every three or four months with a bag full of new songs." "And guess what?" "A.P. did it." "[ ♪♪ ]" "♪ It takes a worried man to sing a worried song ♪" "♪ It takes a worried man to sing a worried song ♪" "♪ I'm worried now, but I won't be worried long ♪" "MAN:" "At this point, A.P. was doing pretty much ethnomusicology." "He was really obsessed about collecting songs." "If he heard there was an unknown song, he'd go down and collect that tune." "MAN:" "He said, "I could just look at a house and say," "'You know, there's a song up there.'"" "And so he would go up to these houses, and sure enough, there would be songs and people would sing them for us." "♪ I went across the river and I lay down to sleep ♪" "♪ I went across the river and I lay down to sleep ♪" "♪ When I woke up, I had shackles on my feet ♪" "♪ Twenty-nine links... ♪" "FORRESTER:" "My granddad would go anywhere to hunt a song." "And he'd go for weeks at a time." "At that time, songs were things that people traded, exchanged, shared." "It wasn't like anyone owned a song." "It was a community thing." "It belonged to everybody." "And they told stories." "I mean, that's how they handed down their history, was by song." "♪ I'm worried now, but I won't be worried long ♪" "ROSANNE CASH:" "When we look at what happened from our vantage point in the 21st century, it seems alarming somewhat that A.P. went and collected these songs." "But the fact that he collected them saved them from obscurity." "[ playing folk tune ]" "♪ Hello, stranger ♪" "♪ Put your loving hand in mine ♪" "♪ Oh, hello, stranger ♪" "♪ Put your loving hand in mine ♪" "♪ You are a stranger ♪" "♪ But you're a pal of mine ♪" "MAN:" "One of A.P.'s trips took him to the African-American community of Kingsport, Tennessee." "And he met Lesley Riddle, and they struck up a friendship, and he asked Lesley to go out and find more songs with him." "I can't imagine what it was like for a white guy and a black guy to go collecting." "FLEMONS:" "They traveled together for 10 years." "And so A.P. would collect the words, and then Lesley would collect the tune." "♪ Oh, every time ♪" "♪ I ride the Sixth and Fourth Street car ♪" "♪ Oh, every time ♪" "♪ I ride the Sixth and Fourth Street car ♪" "♪ I can see my baby ♪" "♪ Peepin' through the bars ♪" "BULGER:" "They were just like sponges." "They took Tin Pan Alley songs, they took sheet music songs that people would have been singing around the parlor, gospel songs, shape note songs." "You name it, they took it." "CHARLES WOLFE:" "A.P. would go out and collect these songs and write them down on scraps of paper." "And when he would come home from one of his trips, he would unload his pockets, and he'd just pull out all these scraps of envelopes and papers." "And he would show these songs to Sara and then to Maybelle, and then the next stage would begin." "They would shorten lines, they would add beats, they would work out a guitar accompaniment." "So it was a wonderful mini-production line, and A.P. was the great arranger." "The Carter Family, they were the performers and they were the ones who made the popular records, and they made the money on the records along with Ralph Peer, and Lesley Riddle didn't really make any money." "And we don't know if Lesley Riddle was bitter over it or if he was okay with it." "It's always hard to tell what the intentions are around this sort of swapping of music." "But a lot of times the story is that you have this popular white performer, but there's a black person in the background in every one of the scenes almost." "And just acknowledging that they're there, that's a very important thing." "♪ Hello, stranger ♪" "♪ Put your lovin' hand in mine ♪" "♪ Oh, hello, stranger ♪" "♪ Put your lovin' hand in mine ♪" "♪ You are a stranger ♪" "♪ And you're a pal of mine ♪ [ clicks tongue ]" "[ ♪♪ ]" "CLIFTON:" "One February he got up and left Sara on the mountain, middle of the winter, with no wood for the fire, no money to buy any groceries, and said, "I need to go find some songs,"" "and just got up and left." "And there she was with three small children." "He just didn't think about that." "He had blinders on when it came to music, and he didn't see left or right." "It was music." "WOMAN:" "And anything that needed to be done," "Sara was the one that had to do it." "And she got tired of that after years and years and just kind of, I think, developed a lot of resentment there that couldn't be undone." "She also didn't like the life in the spotlight as much." "She felt like she was being made to do that." "Eventually it just was too hard for her." "And A.P. had asked his cousin Coy Bays to kind of help while he was gone and look after things and help take her on errands, fix things." "And they spent a lot of time together and they ended up falling for each other, and it changed everything." "Coy was A.P.'s cousin, and no one really knew how to feel about it, so Coy's family just packed up and moved to California." "There was nothing that was going to save" "A.P. and Sara's marriage at that point." "The damage had been done, and the marriage was broken." "And Sara went back home to Copper Creek on the other side of the mountain." "[ ♪♪ ]" "[ radio announcer speaking in Spanish ]" "RADIO ANNOUNCER:" "In other words, this is Station XET Monterrey, down Mexico way." "Border radio refers to super high-powered radio stations that were built on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexican border by outlaw broadcasters who went foul of the Federal Radio Commission and had their license removed and had to go somewhere to get around U.S. government regulations about broadcasting." "One of the first people to have his license removed was a gentleman by the name of Dr. John R. Brinkley, the "big daddy" of border radio." "In the early 1920s, Dr. Brinkley perfected an operation that I like to call an early version of Viagra." "And what Dr. Brinkley did was he took a small slice of a goat gonad and inserted it into a man's personal area." "He did many, many of these operations on many famous people all around the world." "So Dr. Brinkley made a fortune." "Well, Dr. Brinkley eventually had his license removed for his questionable medical practices." "So Dr. Brinkley moved to Del Rio, Texas, this little community down on the border, and started up the station XERA across the Rio Grande in old Mexico in the little town of Villa Acuña." "So he was outside all of the regulations of the FRC." "He could broadcast on any power he wanted to, and he could say anything he wanted to." "Women, many of them, are cold and frigid due to the fact that their clitoris is hooded and needs un-hooding, which I call a circumcision of a woman." "It's a minor little affair, and properly done, as we do it here in our hospital, it exposes the clitoris to sensation." "[ ♪♪ ]" "CRAWFORD:" "Radio was just beginning to prove its worth as an advertising medium, and border radio was like a magnet for broadcasting and entertaining weirdos who would come and try to sell things on the air." "They were the first ones to let preachers on the air to ask for money." "They sold medicines, they told fortunes." "They sold "genuine simulated diamonds."" "Another product was autographed pictures of Jesus Christ." "In addition, you had musicians." "You had yodeling cowboys and singing cowboys." "You had Bob Wills, the Father of Western Swing." "They were the first ones to really popularize country music." "So it was like a psychic country-western medicine show circus 24 hours a day." "One of the biggest sellers of medicines was a guy named Harry O'Neill." "And he's selling Peruna:" "guaranteed to help boost your cold-fighting, cold-chasing ability." "So he looks around America to try to find the people who will appeal to his clientele." "ANNOUNCER:" "Let me introduce you to the original Carter Family:" "A.P., Sara, Maybelle, Janette, Helen, June, and Anita." "[ Carter Family's "Keep On the Sunny Side" plays ]" "We went to Del Rio, Texas, to work for Consolidated Drug Company on XERA, it used to be, that blasted all over the world." "[ chuckles ]" "Mm, mercy." "CRAWFORD:" "The highest power that a station licensed by the FRC could have was 50,000 watts." "Well, Brinkley's station was 250,000 watts, and they built a directional antenna on it so that the effective radiated power going north was a million watts, from XERA." "And there were lights that would flash kind of like the Northern Lights coming off the wire." "JOE CARTER:" "That place was so hot with electricity, you could just touch a wire fence and it would burn you." "CRAWFORD:" "We've heard that people could hear this station on their bedsprings and even on the fillings in their teeth." "JOE CARTER:" "A feller had an old tin can, and he punched two holes in it and run a wire through it and stretched that wire up to the roof and tied it off and set that on a piece of flat iron, and you could listen." "And you could tell what was a-playin' in the radio station." "CRAWFORD:" "It was the Internet of that era, 'cause you could hear this station literally all over the world." "♪ Oh, listen to the train ♪" "♪ Coming down the line ♪" "♪ Trying to make up all of her lost time ♪" "The Carter Family were there at the height of the power of XERA." "And Dr. Brinkley actually pays them $75 a week to perform." "So they are the royalty on the border radio station, because they don't have to pull the mail." "They're getting paid." "JOHNNY CASH:" "The first time I heard the Carter Family was on border radio, and I thought it was wonderful music." "ROSANNE CASH:" "He actually got the signal from Arkansas and heard little June Carter, you know, when she was a preteen." "♪ Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes ♪" "♪ Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes ♪" "♪ Beautiful, beautiful brown eyes ♪" "♪ I'll never love blue eyes again ♪" "CRAWFORD:" "The Carter kids were child stars of the era, really." "And they really started pulling the mail, as many as 25,000 letters a week." "JANETTE CARTER:" "Helen, June, and Anita sung together." "I sung solos by myself." "I was 16 years old." "It bothered my parents to be away from their children, and that's the reason they put us on the program, I guess, to keep my parents from going back home and not coming back." "[ ♪♪ ]" "CRAWFORD:" "A.P. and Sara were split up at this time, and you could really feel the tension in their music and their performances." "There was a lot of sadness, there was a lot of heartache." "It wasn't a happy family." "♪ It would have been better for us both had we never ♪" "♪ In this wide and wicked world had never met ♪" "LAURA CASH:" "Sara was very unhappy at the border radio stations, and out of the blue one night on the radio, she sent out a song to Coy Bays," ""I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes."" "She hadn't talked to him in six years and just wondered if he'd be listening." "♪ Oh, I'm thinking tonight of my blue eyes ♪" "♪ And I wonder if he ever thinks of me ♪" "Border radio, of course, transmitted all over America, and sure enough, he heard it." "He was with his parents in California and came in and told his mom and dad, "I'm going to get her."" "So Coy loads up and drives to Texas and takes his bride, and they were married within a week." "JOE CARTER:" "My daddy, he didn't approve of that, you know." "He hated when the other man was his cousin, first cousin, you know." "Growing up, all that we knew was that it hurt my granddad to talk about it, and therefore, we didn't talk about it." "♪ But a link in the chain has been broken ♪" "♪ Leaves me with a sad and aching heart ♪" "[ ♪♪ ]" "FORRESTER:" "When she left, she was thinking of what was best for her children." "And she knew that her children with their father had a wonderful support system and that they had his mother, they had his sisters, they had, you know, basically what they needed." "And I guess she knew that they had everything they needed here and that she could not give them that." "I'm sure she was judged very harshly by a lot of people, and I imagine that's one reason that the distance gave her some comfort." "[ ♪♪ ]" "CHARLES WOLFE:" "A photographer from LIFE magazine decided that they wanted to do a feature on the Carter Family, and they went up into Maces Springs and shot the pictures." "[ shutter clicks ]" "[ shutter clicks ] [ shutter clicks ]" "[ shutter clicks ]" "And June remembers he filled a whole wastebasket full of those big old-fashioned flash bulbs." "The problem was they were scheduled to do that story in LIFE magazine for the issue of December 7, 1941." "And of course it never got run." "CLIFTON:" "And the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor." "My theory is that the Carters were bombed out of their career." "I think if that LIFE magazine had come out as planned, there would have been an incredible amount of work for the Carters all over this country." "CHARLES WOLFE:" "With the war starting up, the kind of sentimental songs of home, they would have been heard overseas, they would have won thousands of new fans all over the country." "But it didn't happen." "It was a kind of cusp in their career." "And Maybelle was the only one of the bunch that really saw the future in professional country music." "And once she got her kids to where they could sing pretty well, she immediately took off and started forging her own career." "[ ♪♪ ]" "ROSANNE CASH:" "Maybelle had three daughters:" "Helen, Anita, and June." "And after the original Carter Family wasn't performing anymore," "Maybelle took them on the road with her, and it was Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters." "They were very young when they started this." "I think maybe June was 9." "And, Anita, I think was still sleeping in guitar cases at this point." "By the time I got to know Helen and Anita and June and Maybelle," "I was 10 years old, maybe." "And they had virtually been on the road their entire lives." "[ playing "The Wildwood Flower" ]" "♪ Oh, I'll twine with my mingles and waving black hair ♪" "♪ With the roses so red and the lilies so fair ♪" "♪ And the myrtle so bright with the emerald dew ♪" "♪ The pale and the leader and eyes look like blue ♪" "Maybelle invented the Carter scratch, where she could play lead guitar and rhythm guitar at the same time." "Nobody else did that." "Because it was just the three of them," "A.P. and Sara and Maybelle, she invented that out of necessity." "Her guitar playing on "The Wildwood Flower" is phenomenal." "It's quintessential." "It should be in the Smithsonian, that guitar part." "♪ Oh, he taught me to love him and promised to love... ♪" "When I would see them backstage or before doing a show," "I was struck by this naturalness they had about them." "♪ I'm wondering no misery can tell ♪" "♪ He's left me no warning... ♪" "They had their bag of shoes and their clothes and their makeup, and they just kind of did this ritual that had no angst about it or no performance anxiety, or nothing." "It was just part of what they did." "It was so natural." "They just brought their selves to every performance." "I've carried that with me into adulthood, into my own life as a performer, the lack of anxiety, the naturalness about it, the bag of shoes." "[ laughs ]" "Let's everybody smack their hands for Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters." "[ cheers and applause ]" "[ Carter Sisters singing "Sweet Talkin' Man" ]" "JOHN CARTER CASH:" "Chet worked with them for years, and he had quite a reputation as being an amazing guitar player." "When it came time that they got a big offer from the Grand Ole Opry to move to Nashville, it was suggested that they didn't bring" "Mr. Atkins with them." "They thought he was a little too jazzy for the Opry." "My grandpa Ezra, he made the deals." "He said, "Well, you get the whole kit and caboodle or you don't get anything."" "JOHN CARTER CASH:" "In the end, they won out, and Chet moved to Nashville with Maybelle and the Carter girls and began his stint on the Grand Ole Opry with them, and the rest is history." "♪ And if he told me that he thought I could fly... ♪" "WOMAN:" "Helen was the glue." "She made everything work in the sense of anything was missing," "Helen could play it or sing it." "She was probably the best songwriter of all of them." "♪ Sweet talkin' man ♪" "♪ I can't be free ♪" "♪ And I don't care if he hasn't got a dime ♪" "♪ All I need to know is that he's all mine ♪" "♪ I got a man... ♪" "SALYER:" "And Anita was the singer." "There's just no greater voice." "She could do it all." "She could hit the high notes that nobody could touch, and she did it in such a beautiful sound." "♪ Today I passed you on the street ♪" "♪ And my heart fell at your feet ♪" "♪ I can't help it if I'm still in love with you ♪" "♪ Somebody else stood by your side ♪" "♪ And he looked so satisfied... ♪" "SALYER:" "Anita had more of a pop sound voice, but she never pushed her career, but she had a beautiful voice that she never fulfilled to the limit, I never thought." "DAVIS:" "She was way ahead of her time, I think, as far as her voice, and definitely everybody in the music business anyway knew what she was capable of doing and knew that she could do it." "♪ I can't help it if I'm still in love with you ♪" "Family was very important to her, and she chose to stay with the family, and to the day she died, that was what she was happy with doing." "Ladies and gentlemen, June Carter." "Thank you." "Thanks, y'all." "Yeah, no kiddin', folks." "Y'all don't know just what it means for me to get to be on this show here tonight." "It means a lot more than the prestige of the thing, or it means more than applause." "It means money, is what it means." "Oh, no, June, June, honey, you shouldn't say that." "JOHN CARTER CASH:" "My mother always had an amazing sense of humor." "And early on she realized that she didn't have the talent of playing guitar that her sister Helen had." "She didn't have the voice that Anita had." "CARLENE CARTER:" "She wanted to be an actress." "She wanted to be an entertainer." "Because she didn't think she was a very good singer, she found a way to entertain, and that was through her comedy." "SALYER:" "You know, everybody said June wasn't a singer." "June would say it, "I'm not a singer."" "But she had the stage personality that everybody loved." "♪ On Saturday night where I was born ♪" "♪ Down on the farm ♪" "♪ Guitars pickin' and we start singin' ♪" "♪ Till the break of dawn ♪" "♪ About 12 o'clock everything gets hot ♪" "♪ And up steps ole Jones ♪" "♪ We start a-clappin' and he starts singin' ♪" "♪ A cute little country song ♪" "♪ Boll Weevil, Boll Weevil ♪" "♪ Why'd you go and stay?" "♪" "♪ You'll get a lickin' as sure as I'm sittin' ♪" "♪ On this bale of hay ♪ [ whistling and cheering ]" "♪ On Saturday night where I was born ♪" "♪ Down on the farm... ♪" "I met June Carter backstage at the Grand Ole Opry in 1956, and I met Mother Maybelle, Helen, and Anita." "Of course, I fell in love with that June, that red-headed one, that dancer, the one that pulled the jokes, the funny one." "She stole my heart right away, right away." "That night I told her, I said," ""I'm going to marry you someday."" "But at the time, we were both with somebody else." "[ song ends and crowd cheers and applauds ] [ opening of Johnny Cash's "Big River" plays ]" "♪ Now I taught the weeping willow how to cry ♪" "♪ And I showed the clouds how to cover up a clear blue sky ♪" "♪ And the tears that I cried for that woman ♪" "♪ Are gonna flood you, Big River ♪" "♪ Then I'm gonna sit right here until I die ♪" "When I was in the Air Force in Germany, in the early '50s, and trying to learn to play the guitar, the licks I learned on the guitar were Carter Family licks." "And that carried over into my recordings at Sun Records in 1955." "♪ And I followed you, Big River, when you called ♪" "FORRESTER:" "Johnny Cash came into our life when he met June, and we loved him from the first time he ever came here." "June asked me to go up to see her old home place up at Maces Springs, Virginia." "You know where that is, of course." "Maces Springs, that's near Hiltons." "I remember distinctly him coming to visit us, and I was a very little girl." "And, of course, we grew up without a lot here." "I remember being worried about what we would feed him, you know." "And we went into the garden for vegetables to fix lunch, which he loved." "She says, "Well, you know where Grandma Carter lives." "Well, go over the knob and then go up Clinch Mountain about 200 feet, and there's a whole bunch of huckleberries."" "But he was so gracious and so good to us from the very first day we met him." "I thought June was crazy." "Because he wasn't -- you know, he wasn't -- oh, he was nice, he's so mannerly and everything, and I thought, "This guy..."" "He would look at you, and you would be almost intimidated because you felt like he not only was listening to you intently, he was looking into your soul." "That's why I thought, "Gosh, what a man," you know?" "He's almost more than a man." "♪ Now I taught the weeping willow how to cry, cry, cry ♪" "He was different like A.P. was different." "They were talented people that had been sent here that we did not understand." "June would say, "He's such a good man if he could just get straightened out."" "And I thought, "June," -- I kept thinking," ""You'd better wait till he gets straightened out."" "She'd seen his addiction." "She'd seen his marriage fall apart, you know, with his first wife." "I believe that when he asked her to marry him that she knew full and well that it was a dangerous proposition." "♪ I am a pilgrim and a stranger ♪" "♪ Just traveling through this wearisome land ♪" "He was in turmoil, he was in pain and struggle." "Some people say that it was my mother's love that saved him or turned him around or changed his life." "I think if he hadn't have changed, he would have died, and I think it was the fear of that in him, more than anything." "But when you're at that point in your life, and when someone is there that loves you and that you love, that person is invaluable." "And that person was my mother to my dad." "♪ I've got a home in that yonder city, good Lord ♪" "SALYER:" "It was a round-the-clock vigil with him." "He went through hell and back to get through that ordeal." "I don't think June could have handled that alone without some support from her family." "At times she was about ready to give up on him." "But, like June used to say, he's worth saving." "JOHN CARTER CASH:" "My dad came back and found his spiritual roots in great due fact to the people that were there to support him." "Of course, my mother, but also my mother's father, Ezra, and Maybelle, and other members of the Carter family." "♪ -- of his garment, good Lord ♪" "♪ And, well, I know..." "it'd make me whole ♪ [ applause ]" "When my father began to work with Maybelle and the Carter girls, he was attracted to them because of their music that he'd listened to his whole life." "What he found were people of his own kind." "He found people that were connected to him directly in a matter of heart." "They were of the same heart." "Mother Maybelle, Helen, Anita, the Carter Family." "[ ♪♪ ]" "JOHNNY CASH:" "In '63, I asked June to bring her family on the road, and she brought Mother Maybelle, Helen, and Anita." "So I had the whole Carter Family clan on the show with me." "Then in '67, June and I found ourselves both single." "So, March 1st, 1968, we got married." "And we were two peas in a pod." "We were never apart." "June and I were never apart." "FORRESTER:" "He adored Aunt Maybelle, June's mother," "I believe almost as much as he loved June." "I know that he always thought it was awful that Aunt Maybelle had been on the road all of her life and worked all of her life, and there was a time that she was sitting in the hospital," "you know, as a nurse's aide." "And he just thought that was horrible that she should have to do that and work that hard, after she'd worked so hard all of her life." "JOHNNY CASH:" "From day one that the Carter Family came on the road with me," "Mother Maybelle Carter was like the patron saint for all of us." "Everybody respected her, loved her, adhered to her, tried to please her, tried to make her happy, because she was Maybelle Carter." "And she was the most V.I.P. V.I.P." "that we've ever had on the road with us." "And I have seen 'em all," "I've seen 'em all, every one of them." "But Maybelle Carter was the greatest star that I've ever known." "Without being a star." "Without trying to be a star." "Without even wanting to be a star." "[ applause ]" "She taught me so much about life, about living." "And she'd passed it all on to June." "And then June had taken her own thing, you know." "June became June and Maybelle, you know." "She picked up all those songs from her mother, and she continued to sing 'em until the day she died." "♪ I was standing by my window ♪" "♪ On one cold and cloudy day ♪" "♪ When I saw that hearse come rolling ♪" "June and I would turn on the radio, and there wouldn't be three songs pass until June would start singing a Carter Family song that was the same tune as a new song that just came out." "And it would blow me away every time she would do that." "It was a mean thing to do, but it was very revealing." "The old Clinch Mountain songs, the old valley songs, the old songs from the hills from Appalachia, down-and-out songs, lost love songs;" "every one of them she sang, she sang to me." "♪ By and by, Lord, by and by ♪" "I don't know, God richly blessed me for some reason." "You can't chalk it up to righteous living, because I was anything but righteous, you know?" "[ chuckles ]" "♪ -- in the sky ♪ [ cheers and applause ]" "ANNOUNCER:" "There's still a lot of show back there, and I know you're waiting to hear 'em." "You've heard their records." "Those of you who can remember cranking your phonographs to your old RCA Victor Victrolas will all remember the Original Carter Family." "Let's bring 'em out, the Original Carter Family." "[ cheers and applause ]" "A.P. CARTER:" "Now I guess you people have kindly forgotten the old Carter Family name." "Twenty-five years ago the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers was two of the old first acts that started in Bristol, Virginia." "So we've come down here to sing a number for you." "♪ I've found a sweet haven of sunshine at last ♪" "♪ And Jesus abiding above ♪" "FORRESTER:" "My grandmother never wanted a life on the road." "She did it, but it was never as important to her." "You know, she was quite content to go off and be on her own and not be on the road." "Now, Aunt Maybelle loved it." "And my granddad would have gladly done it all his life." "But when the original Carter Family broke up, it took part of my granddad's heart." "He had put so much into it that it was a very sad thing for him." "[ buzzes ]" "♪ I was born on the side of Clinch Mountain ♪" "♪ 'Neath the beauties and the musics of the woods ♪" "♪ The sweet song of the bright, bubblin' fountain ♪" "♪ And the warble of the birds I understood ♪" "CHARLES WOLFE:" "At the center of most great creative artists is essentially a mystery." "You hear today a lot about alternate universes that are parallel to our own, and I sometimes think that A.P. drifted in and out of one of those alternate universes." "♪ In the shadow of Clinch Mountain I will rest ♪" "A.P. couldn't quite get it out of his blood." "He kept trying to do things." "He wrote a book about the Bible, and he would go around to local radio stations and buy some time and get out and sing a few songs and try to sell copies of that book." "♪ Then I asked how this green, lofty mountain ♪" "♪ In the cauldron of the lonely desert stood ♪" "♪ Came these words from the bright, bubblin' fountain ♪" "♪ We were given by the waters of the flood ♪" "♪ When I've sung my last song in the evening ♪" "There was an attempt to recreate the Carter Family in 1950." "Sara and A.P. got together, and they got their kids to sing, and they recorded a very, very fine series of records, but nobody heard them." "They weren't distributed." "And it was, you know, really a last shot for them as a family." "[ whistling ]" "SALYER:" "But, you know, a long time ago, A.P. had a vision, and he had built a stage back in the mountain that he was gonna start making music." "JANETTE CARTER:" "Well, he put a stage up and tried to have some programs there, but he didn't have no fence." "And the people, they just walked in off the road, come out of the woods, or anywhere." "You know, he couldn't make no money like that." "That fell through." "SALYER:" "I remember taking A.P. to Kingsport when they had the old Gem Theatre over there, and Helen and Anita and June and all of them were playing." "He wasn't into music then, and it was really sad." "He was sad." "His life was sad at that time." "And they put him onstage and let him talk a little bit, and he got to emcee the program." "He was just thrilled to do that." "He was getting older then, and he wasn't very well." "And he slept down there in the store a lot, I think." "He just had a bed down there, and he just stayed down there at night, because I guess that's what he wanted to do." "JANETTE CARTER:" "And then Daddy moved in with me, where he was sick and in bad health." "And the last three years of his life was here, at this house." "FLO WOLFE:" "One day he was feeling really, really bad, and the record player was in the living room, and we'd set up a bed for him in the dining room, near the bathroom." "And he wanted to -- it was "Jealous Hearted Me."" "I don't know why that song." "He wanted that played all day long, just as loud as it could play." "♪ Takes a rocking chair to rock takes a rubber ball to roll ♪" "♪ Takes the man I love to satisfy my soul ♪" "♪ Because I'm jealous, jealous hearted me ♪" "♪ I said I'm jealous, jealous as I can be ♪" "I know Mother said, "Well, I don't know what the neighbors are thinking and people going up and down the road,"" "but we played that over and over that day." "That's just something he wanted to hear." "He was in love with Sara until the day he died." "He always hoped that Sara would come back." "It was a dream he had." "And he talked about it a lot." "Toward the end, his mind was not very good, and he thought he was back on border radio." "And he had my mom and " "(voice breaks) and Bill Clifton sing, and he would think he was doing shows, and they'd humor him and they sang." "JANETTE CARTER:" "Days before he died, I was in bed." "And he said, "You come in here, Janette." "I want to talk to you."" "So I went in there." "And he said, "I wanted to ask you something."" "He said, "I want you to promise me that my music will be carried on."" "And I said, "Daddy, how in the world I'm gonna do it," "I don't know."" "I've got little children I was trying to raise." "And I said, "But I will try."" "And I says, "I'll never do nothing that brings dishonor to my people or to you."" "So I made two vows." "And I've kept 'em both." "♪ Out that gate I have passed since my childhood ♪" "♪ Over the railway through the tunnel to the west ♪" "♪ Singing songs of the Clinch Mountain wild wood ♪" "♪ Songs that people, birds, and flowers love the best ♪ [ whistling ]" "FORRESTER:" "I worshipped my granddad." "Every step he took, I'd try to take one behind him." "And I " " Lord, I miss him." "I do feel like he probably never realized what he had done or his contributions to music." "He would have been bowled over by the fact that his face was on a postage stamp." "He would have got a kick out of that." "What's the name of the cemetery?" " Mount Vernon." " Mount Vernon Cemetery." "We drove up this winding gravel road, and the tall pines all the way around, and there was one little spot of sunlight way down at the end." "Well, we walked right straight to it, and I said, "That's it, June."" "She had never seen it either." "She'd heard about it, she knew about it." "I walked around, and right where the sun was streaming down on this rose marble, the words said, "A.P. Carter,"" "and a gold record under that, and under that," ""Keep on the Sunny Side."" "FORRESTER:" "He wanted a particular type of headstone, because he told his children, he said, "You know, people will come, and they'll be coming to see my grave."" "♪ When I've sung my last song in the evening ♪" "♪ And the sun sets in the golden west ♪" "♪ All the things of this world I'll be leaving ♪" "♪ In the shadow of Clinch Mountain, I will rest ♪" "[ ♪♪ ]" "JOHN CARTER CASH:" "My mother and her sisters moved on to different parts of their life." "And I think Maybelle, at that point, was a little bit lost about what she was gonna do." "I think Ezra would have been fine with her deciding, you know, that she was gonna retire and take it easy." "Bought a place down in Florida that sat right on the river." "And they both loved to fish and whatnot." "But Maybelle could not give up music." "[ ♪♪ ]" "SEEGER:" "The New Lost City Ramblers got together as just an informal meeting on a radio program, and we all shared a love for old-time music and singing." "♪ Black Jack Davey come a-ridi" through the woods ♪" "♪ Sang so loud and gaily ♪" "♪ Made the hills around him ring ♪" "♪ And he charmed the heart of a lady ♪" "♪ Charmed the heart of a lady ♪" "Out in the West Coast, there was a place called the Ash Grove in Hollywood, where we worked to bring traditional musicians to urban audiences." "And one of those was Maybelle Carter." "When I first contacted Maybelle, I had the feeling at the time that she was relatively inactive musically." "She was working as a kind of a nurse." "She was double-booked the first two or three days, so she sent a substitute in, and that was Johnny Cash." "And Johnny played as opening act for us." "But at the Ash Grove, of course they -- they loved her." "And people would bring in records for her to autograph." "We traveled with Maybelle, and she regaled us with stories of Nashville artists that were flipping out and that she helped make it through the night." "They'd call her up in the middle of the night and say, "Momma, I need to talk."" "I played a lot of colleges, you know, and, oh, just in a lot of different places," "Newport Folk Festival and a gang of them." "I would have never believed it till I done it, but sometimes I'd do three shows a night, an hour show each one." "♪ I went across the river and I laid down to sleep ♪" "And I had my banjo, and I had my guitar, and I had my autoharp." "I played everything I knew." "[ laughs ]" "But they enjoyed it, and they just a wonderful audience to work for." "Of course, that's aboutn the only people that I had was the college kids, you know." "♪ It takes a worried man to sing a worried song ♪" "♪ I'm worried now, but I won't be worried long ♪" "She was the experimenter." "She was the progressive." "She had a lovely laugh." "She had a good sense of humor." "She wanted to be one of the boys." "She seemed to take life as it came." "MAYBELLE CARTER:" "[ laughing ]" "Oh, me." "[ ♪♪ ]" "DAVIS:" "I was 13 when we started working the road with Grandma, and it was a totally different audience than she had played to the years before." "And they were mostly young, long-haired hippie people, you know." "♪ One toke over the line, sweet Jesus ♪" "♪ One toke over the line ♪" ""What were they smoking out there?" is what she'd say." "[ laughs ]" "And she wanted to record "One Toke Over the Line."" "She thought that that was a really good gospel song because that it said "one toke over the line, sweet Jesus."" "She wanted to put that in the Carter Family show." "And we had to explain to her, "No, you don't want to." "No, Grandma, that won't work." "That won't work."" "And I always knew my grandma had it going on, you know." "But to cause an audience of these pot-smoking college kids to suddenly stand up just when she walked on the stage, it didn't really dawn on me till then that it was such a big deal." "♪ One toke, one toke over the line ♪" "[ ♪♪ ]" "♪ Oh, tell me, sweet Fern, is he thinking of me ♪" "♪ And the promise he made long ago ♪" "♪ He said he'd return from over the sea ♪" "♪ Oh, why do the earth roll so slow ♪" "FORRESTER:" "I imagine the last part of her life was spent wishing that she was here with her kids, right where she started out, and not so far away from them." "You know, she made a visit back here at least once a year." "Mainly because we didn't see her that much, it was like royalty came to town." "And I know I went up to her and I just hung around her knees and looked at her." "And she let me look at her rings, and she had her nails polished, and I thought," ""Gosh, these nails are pretty."" "And I loved to hear her talk." "You know, when she started talking, you knew where that beautiful voice she had was coming from." "And she could almost walk in a room and say something, and everybody would just quiet down." "It was just like she put some kind of a spell over them with her voice." "♪ I know he's away in a far distant land ♪" "♪ A land that's over the sea ♪" "If I had to, like, title her, I'd have to call her Queen." "That's how she hit you, like a queen." "♪ Sweet Fern ♪ ♪ Sweet Fern ♪" "♪ Sweet Fern ♪ ♪ Sweet Fern ♪" "♪ Oh, tell me, is my darling still true ♪" "FORRESTER:" "For the most part, the end of her life was not about music." "She had pretty well left all that behind." "She did some concerts in the '60s, you know, but I don't think she ever really missed doing the music that much." "She would do it and she had fun when she did it, but I think she was happy to be private in the last part of her life." "And I think she was surprised, too, by some of the things that she and Aunt Maybelle got to see." "Certainly the induction into the Hall of Fame, they were very surprised by that." "And she always loved to be around Aunt Maybelle." "They were buddies to the very end." "♪ Sweet Fern ♪ ♪ Sweet Fern ♪" "Of course, she was living in California when she died, and she wanted to be back here, and, of course, they did bring her back here to bury her." "But I imagine her life was even lonelier than my grandad's." "Sadly, I imagine that's the case." "[ ♪♪ ]" "[ ♪♪ ]" "PETE SEEGER (on recording):" "To play an endless series of chords on the guitar can, in the end, be very, very boring." "You'll find it a lot more interesting to introduce melodies and countermelodies in the bass strings, like many of the songs recorded by the famous country music group the Carter Family." "HANNA:" "I remember having an LP that was a Pete Seeger instruction course." "And there was a Maybelle Carter thing on how to learn the Carter Scratch, which combines rhythm and melody, you know." "And this is my awkward version of it." "[ plays ]" "You know, which I'm still fumbling around, trying to learn it." "Sorry, Pete." "Sorry, Maybelle." "[ ♪♪ ]" "♪ Oh, I'll pawn you my gold watch and chain, love ♪" "♪ And I'll pawn you my gold diamond ring ♪" "♪ I will pawn you this heart in my bosom ♪" "♪ Only say that you'll love me again ♪" "I play guitar and sing for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band." "We were these hippies from the West Coast, and also little folk puppies." "And we wondered about places like West Virginia and Tennesse and Virginia." "And it was like, wow, we need to go there." "[ laughs ] And eventually, we did." "[ "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" plays ]" "One of the things that I loved about doing The Circle Project was we were making music with Doc Watson, Merle Travis, and Earl Scruggs, Jimmy Martin, and Maybelle Carter." "♪ I was standing by my window ♪" "♪ On one cold and cloudy day ♪" "You know, we were operating on a combination of fear and excitement and joy, all kind of bundled in together during these sessions, because we were thrilled that we were there, but we were also scared to death that we'd better play okay." "What Maybelle brought to the session, aside from her wealth of talent, was just this great sort of spiritual calming." "She was just so like, "Boys, it's no big deal," you know?" "I think what came out of those sessions was that there were these two gaps that were bridged:" "a generation gap and also the cultural gap." "You know, it was peace marches and Nixon, and, you know, the country was divided." "Imagine that." "A lot of people looked at it and thought," ""Well, this is really illogical that these guys are playing together."" "This was also around the time of the film Easy Rider." "So we're thinking, "Oh, man, the guys that shot Peter Fonda look just like those guys that we're going to Nashville to record with."" "Of course, the element that wiped out all of that misconception was the music." "It helped take away some of the prejudice on both sides." "MAYBELLE CARTER:" "Since I did this thing with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, you know, this "Will the Circle Be Unbroken,"" "that was the biggest surprise of my life of ever doing anything like that." "[ laughter ]" "But then when I got the nomination for the Grammy Award, I thought," ""Well, this is not happening to me here," you know?" "She used to call us "them dirty boys," by the way." "That's what June told us, which I loved." "She said, "You know, Momma always called you guys 'them dirty boys.'"" "And I thought that was the sweetest." "[ laughs ]" "One, two, three." "[ ♪♪ ]" "♪ Out here the hearts of men are failing ♪" "♪ For these are latter days I know ♪" "♪ The Great Depression now is spreading ♪" "♪ God's word declared it would be so ♪" "♪ I'm going where there's no depression ♪" "♪ To the lovely land that's free from care ♪" "♪ I'll leave this world of toil and trouble ♪" "♪ My home's in heaven, I'm going there ♪" "I remembered what my daddy told me." "He wished I'd try to carry on the music." "And the idea struck me." "I said, "You know what I'm gonna do?"" "I said, "I'm gonna quit my job as a cook at the school and I'm gonna start music gatherings."" "I said, "We're gonna start tearing that store up, putting in bleachers and getting it all set up."" "And my children thought I was losing my mind, I think." "Then I called the papers and I said what I was fixin' to do." "And I said, "I'd be glad for you to write an article."" "They said, "Well, Ms. Carter, we sure will."" "I remember that first Saturday night" "I was sitting down there on the porch by myself, looking for the cars to come up the road." "I thought, "Well, Lord, God, there may not be nobody come."" "I thought, "Well, I told Daddy what I'd do."" "And I said, "Now, God, I'll tell you, me and you'll have a talk." "I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do."" "And I says, "I'm gonna have a program every Saturday night." "I'm gonna try to carry on the music."" "And then I saw the cars a-comin' up the road." "[ ♪♪ ]" "♪ Down the road, down the road ♪" "♪ Got a pretty girl down the road ♪" "[ ♪♪ ]" "JOE CARTER:" "I give it the name the Carter Family Fold." "A lot of people has asked me what the "fold" signifies." "And I told them that just like in the Bible, the sheep's fold, it's a place of refuge." "[ ♪♪ ]" "JANETTE CARTER:" "From the start, I just had control." "And if any band ever comes under the influence of alcohol and get up on the stage and tell dirty jokes," "I stop it." "Or if they just start dancing that ain't very becoming," "I stop that." "I think everybody down here's kindly afraid of me." "[ laughs ]" "♪ Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side ♪" "MAN:" "My mother achieved her own bit of fame with the Fold and become somewhat of an icon." "Well, I grew up around it, and there was always a guitar leaning in the corner or an autoharp or there was music all around me, but I just took it for granted and never paid much attention to it" "until Mother started having the shows here." "And then I started really understanding how much I appreciated the music." "♪ Keep on the sunny side of life ♪ [ music playing and dancers tapping ]" "JANETTE CARTER:" "We've been having concerts at the Carter Fold building for 30 years." "My children say they'll keep the music a-goin'." "Like I tell them, they're young and I'm old, and music will change." "And I said, "You may wanna change."" "But I said, "You'd better do what I tell you,"" "just to keep them big doors open." "And I'm quite sure they will." "[ cheers and applause ]" "[ ♪♪ ] [ children playing ]" "[ ♪♪ ]" "JOHN CARTER CASH:" "Tonight, here at the American Roots Music Festival, is the first time that my cousin Dale and I and our wives, along with Larry Perkins, are getting to perform together." "And I guess we have the audacity to call ourselves the Carter Family." "[ laughs ]" "♪ While reading through the Bible ♪" "♪ Such wonderful sights I see ♪" "♪ I read of Peter, James, and John ♪" "♪ By the Sea of Galilee ♪" "JOHN CARTER CASH:" "My mother and I had worked together in making the Press On record." "When it came time to promote the record, she was gonna go on the road, and she was looking for a fiddle player and found Laura." "Of course, when she got Laura, she didn't only get a fiddle player;" "she got a great background vocalist, she got a mandolin player, and a guitar player." "I worked with Laura with my mother for quite a while, and we were just friends for quite a few months before we ever thought," ""Hey, wait a second, there's something might be going on here."" "LAURA CASH:" "We were breaking one day after about a week, and I just said, "I just love your grandma's music and your whole family's music."" "I couldn't have told you how many songs the Carter Family had recorded in the '20s, '30s, and early '40s, but she knew very well." "I said, "Do you have any of the recordings, you know, to learn from?" "You need to get practicing on this stuff."" "So he said no." "And I figured, "You've got access to this stuff, surely."" "And then when I found out that this girl that I really liked liked it, then I went," ""Huh, well, maybe I should learn more about it."" "[ audience laughs ]" "I brought them in a brown paper sack, all my CDs, and I said, "Here's everything I have on the Carter Family," and I wrote the number 13 on the bag, and I said, "I want them all back."" "My love for the Carter Family's music grew and flourished with my love for this lady standing here." "It seems like it's too fast, a little bit." "JUNE CARTER CASH:" "Yeah, just a little bit." "If I'm singing with Daddy, I thought it'd be good if I came in on the second line." "JOHNNY CASH:" "Let's do one more, a little slower, huh?" "Rosin on the bow, and here we go." "♪ Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side ♪" "♪ Keep on the sunny side of life ♪" "♪ It will help us every day ♪" "♪ It will brighten all the way ♪" "♪ If we'll keep on the sunny side of life ♪" "LAURA CASH:" "It's a strange reality for me." "As much as I've appreciated the music through the years of the Carter Family and Johnny Cash, to think, "Gosh, you know, we're doing it." "We're carrying on that -- that tradition, and I'm actually part of it."" "And I'm very honored and humbled to be a part of it." "♪ Keep on the sunny side, always on the sunny side ♪" "♪ Keep on the sunny side of life ♪" "♪ It will help us every day ♪" "♪ It will brighten all the way ♪" "♪ If we'll keep on the sunny side of life ♪" "I feel really blessed to have had two very strong women in my life, my biological mother and June." "And my mother gave me structure, and June gave me wings." "I could never have been a musician and performer without June and what she gave me." "You know, maybe we both knew that she wasn't gonna be around much longer." "My dad set it up that we all had to give June something for her birthday a couple years ago, but it couldn't be material." "We had to give her something of ourselves." "And so I played "The Winding Stream" for her, because that was her favorite." "[ playing "The Winding Stream" ]" "♪ Oh, give to me a winding stream ♪" "♪ It must not be too wide ♪" "♪ Where waving leaves from maple trees ♪" "♪ Meet from either side ♪" "♪ The water must be deep enough ♪" "♪ To float a small canoe ♪" "♪ With no one else but you ♪" "[ ♪♪ ]" "♪ The sparkling trout beneath the bank ♪" "♪ Does leave his hiding place ♪" "♪ Kingfisher on the bough above ♪" "♪ So eager to give chase ♪" "♪ The spreading branches overhead ♪" "♪ The sunlight shining through ♪" "♪ When looking, dear, at you ♪" "♪ And do not disturb my waking dream ♪" "♪ The splendor of that winding stream ♪" "♪ Flower in my canoe ♪" "♪ His eyes they look me through ♪" "♪ There's someone there with golden hair ♪" "♪ Is very much like you ♪" "WOMAN:" "Ready?" "[ indistinct conversations ]" "♪ I was standing by my window ♪" "♪ On a cold and cloudy day ♪" "♪ When I saw that hearse a-rollin' ♪" "♪ Come to take my mother away ♪" "♪ Will the circle be unbroken?" "♪" "♪ By and by, Lord, by and by ♪" "♪ There's a better home a-waitin' ♪" "♪ In the sky, Lord, in the sky ♪" "♪ Well, I told the undertaker ♪" "♪ Undertaker, please drive slow ♪" "♪ For that body that you're a-haulin' ♪" "♪ Lord, I hate to see her go ♪" "MAN:" "All right, sing it now." "♪ Will the circle be unbroken?" "♪" "♪ By and by, Lord, by and by ♪" "♪ There's a better home a-waitin' ♪" "♪ In the sky, Lord, in the sky ♪" "♪ Well, I followed close behind her ♪" "♪ Tried to hold up and be brave ♪" "♪ Yet I could not hide my sorrow ♪" "♪ When they laid her in the grave ♪" "♪ Will the circle be unbroken?" "♪" "♪ By and by, Lord, by and by ♪" "♪ There's a better home a-waitin' ♪" "♪ In the sky, Lord, in the sky ♪" "♪ I went back home, Lord ♪" "♪ My home was lonesome ♪" "♪ Missed my mother, she was gone ♪" "♪ All my brothers, sisters crying ♪" "♪ What a home so sad and lone ♪" "♪ Will the circle be unbroken?" "♪" "♪ By and by, Lord, by and by ♪" "♪ There's a better home a-waitin' ♪" "♪ In the sky, Lord, in the sky ♪" "♪ Will the circle be unbroken?" "♪" "♪ By and by, Lord, by and by ♪" "♪ There's a better home a-waitin' ♪" "♪ In the sky, Lord, in the sky ♪" "♪ Will the circle be unbroken?" "♪" "♪ By and by, Lord, by and by ♪" "♪ There's a better home a-waitin' ♪" "♪ In the sky, Lord, in the sky ♪" "♪ Will the circle be unbroken?" "♪" "♪ By and by, Lord, by and by ♪" "♪ There's a better home a-waitin' ♪" "♪ In the sky, Lord, in the sky ♪" "♪ In the sky, Lord, in the sky ♪ [ cheers and applause ]" "That's funny." "[ laughs ]"