by Shirley Love

Created on: September 22, 2010

Just as this nation’s heritage evolved from a mixture of immigrants and their customs, our nation’s music is the result of diverse cultures from all across the globe.  When the newcomer arrived in our colonies he brought with him certain ballads and folk songs from his native country.  Here, in a new land those songs thrived and soon melded with blues, gospel, country, hillbilly, western swing, and bluegrass.  These provide the backbone of today’s country music, and the groups that perform them are as diverse as the songs themselves.

1. The Carter Family

One of the earliest groups was the Carter family.  They made their first recordings in 1927 using the old ballads of the early settlers and the folk songs of the heroes who forged through the wilderness to settle this land.  They added a sprinkling of traditional  and country tunes and a generous dash of Gospel to make some of the most impressive recordings of that era.  

Maybelle Addington Carter played the guitar and sang along with her sister-in-law Sara Carter whose husband, Alvin Carter played the fiddle and sang bass for the group.

Maybell’s rendition of the “Wildwood Flower” is still as hauntingly beautiful as ever, and although many have recorded it, none have ever been able to capture the soul of the song as well as Mother Maybell.

By the time they began playing for the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, the family had grown to include Mother Maybelle’s daughters, Helen, Anita, and June who married Johnny Cash.  They were a regular on the Opry and on Saturday nights millions of people turned on their radios to listen to that ’hillbilly’ phenomenon that had swept the nation with music that grabbed their hearts and touched their souls.  The Carters were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970 and were dubbed “The First Family of Country Music.”

2. The Sons of the Pioneers

Another group from that depression era were “The Sons of the Pioneers.” The secret of their success was the unique blending of their voices that captured the very spirit of the American cowboy and the loneliness and hardships he faced.  Their songs painted a scene in  our minds, and we could imagine ourselves along with those who searched the desert for “Cool Water” and fought the “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” in the wind of the plains.

The man who was instrumental in forming this group

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