I found this article in "The Reporter" out of Vacaville, California and include it here in the hope that it is of interest to Carter/Cash fans and friends.


'Bristol Sessions': Country music's big bang
BY RICHARD BAMMER
Posted: 11/04/2009 07:42:42 AM PST

'Someone recently asked me what was in my CD player these days and I am happy to say it is country music. No, not Craig Morgan, Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Hank Williams Sr., George Strait or even Alison Krauss (though I am fond of her sound). My tastes in country lately veer backward, to its roots, to the Carter Family and Ralph Stanley. The latter, with his brother, Carter (and Bill Monroe), essentially invented what became known as bluegrass but which Ralph, who has relatives in Vacaville, simply calls "mountain music."
When I'm in the mood for country these days, I invariably gravitate to the early sound, especially that made 82 years ago at the so-called "Bristol Sessions," when Ralph Peer, a record producer from the Victor Talking Machine Company, traveled to Bristol, a town straddling the Tennessee-Virginia border. He arrived with a novel idea: to record traditional mountain, or "hillbilly," music for commercial sale.

'During his 12 days there, he recorded 76 performances by 19 different groups, sounds ranging from vaudeville and traditional mountain ballads to banjo tunes and gospel. While many of the musicians returned to their daily lives after being recorded, some went on to become the first country music stars of their day. They include Ernest "Pop" Stoneman and his family, whose "Sinking of the Titanic" became the first million-selling country record. The Carter Family (A.P., Sara and Maybelle) launched their career after the sessions, eventually recording more than 300 sides, many of which have become standards, including "Wildwood Flower," "Keep on the Sunny Side" and "My Clinch Mountain Home."

'The same day the Carters recorded for Peer, another musician, Jimmie Rodgers, a former railroad worker, also recorded. He established the blues and vaudeville elements of country. "The Singing Brakeman," as he was known, eventually became country music's first superstar and has been called "The Father of Country Music."

'I do not always have a best of the Carter Family or Ralph Stanley CD in my dashboard player during my commute drive. Sometimes, as a substitute, I will insert a disc from the "Anthology of American Folk Music," compiled by Harry Smith, a sort of Rosetta Stone of American music from the late 1920s and early 1930s. Some Carter Family tunes are on Smith's compilation.

'The success of the Carters and Rodgers marked the beginnings of commercial country music. Thus, the Bristol Sessions have been rightly called "the big bang" of country music. Musicians in a wide variety of genres, from blues and bluegrass to rock 'n' roll and folk, have been influenced by the Carters and Rodgers. They paved the way for the artists I mentioned in the first paragraph and countless others. (It is noteworthy that Maybelle Carter, aka Mother Maybelle, helped to nurse Johnny Cash back to health when Cash was, at one time early in his career, drowning in drink and drugs. Maybelle sensed he was a still a gifted musician.)

'It is for those reasons that Congress declared Bristol as the "birthplace of country music" in 1998.

'Now where's my copy of the Carters' "Wabash Cannon Ball"?'

GREAT article, Grahame... Thanks for finding that jewel!!!

Thanks, Grahame ...so very true...and I often have my Best Of The Carter Family cd's in my dashboard cd player too. Somehow it makes that morning commute better!

Thank you Grahame, well done.
This pic I made in Bristol in 2004.
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G'day Birgit!

That's a wonderful photo! I'm glad to see the Carter Family being appropriately honored in that way. I reckon there should be murals and statues all over Tennessee for John and June.

quote:

Originally posted by NewBeetle:
Thank you Grahame, well done.
This pic I made in Bristol in 2004.
..

This is awesome...for an awesome family!

Thanks Birgit & Grahame!

Bristol sessions

A recommended cd.I do not know if there ever will be a Vol 2 of this one.But this one is great,it got good sound.

Carter family 1927

Interesting reading and sound.

Thanks for those interesting links....one of my favorite eras in music.