Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? THE CARTER FAMILY

Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? THE CARTER FAMILY & Their Legacy in American Music by Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg

After reading CASH, The Autobiography(See December 2003 Journal Entry)and learning about the Carters through him, I had to have more.  Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone is the first major biography of the Carter Family and their legacy as musical pioneers.  Their musical style became the basis for what is country, folk, and bluegrass music today.  A.P. Carter was a poor, eccentric mountain farmer from Poor Valley, Maces Springs, Virginia in the foothills of Clinch Mountain.  He married Sara Dougherty, who was the cousin to the late famous Mother Maybelle Carter.  Maybelle was the wife of A.P.'s cousin Eck Carter.  A.P., Sara, and Maybelle started out playing for friends and neighbors in the early 1920's.  Soon A.P. would travel about the mountain area collecting songs and writing songs of his own.  In 1927, the three went to Tennessee to audition for a New York recording executive who was paying fifty dollars for any song recorded.  Two of country music's first stars were produced from those sessions:  Jimmie Rodgers and The Carter Family.

By the 30s, the Carter Family was selling more than a million records and was appearing regularly on XERA, a high-powered radio station broadcasting from coast to coast.  People all over the country would gather around their radios listening to this music that told their life stories. 

Here is the story of the Carter family as they were.  Their trials and tribulations.  Their down home lives, their sadnesses, the great scandal and divorce of Sara and A.P.  The story of how A.P. died a lonely man on a mountain with a lot of land but very little recognition of what he had accomplished.  The story of Sara's true love Coy Bays and how she ran off to live with him in California and left her children behind with A.P. in Virginia.  The story of Maybelle, the sweet, talented, mother who eventually made her daughters, June, Helen, and Anita famous and traveled with the Johnny Cash show.  Maybelle was idolized by many, many musicians and her guitar picking style is still copied today. 

Now, I have been listening to the old Carter Music.  My husband can't stand it, he comes in a asks if we can listen to something else.  I, on the other hand, get the chills from listening to Maybelle on guitar or autoharp, Sara's country voice, the songs from our past, or A.P.'s deep bass voice chiming in from time to time.  Even if you don't like country music, you should read this book.  It has a lot of history, American history and I learned a lot.  Thanks Mark and Charles.  You have researched, recorded and written an awesome story of a family that will live on in America's heart forever. 

To hear samples of the music please visit:  http://www.un-broken.net/music/