Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone - Mark Zwonitzer and Charles Hirshberg

 Of course, I've known the music that the Carter Family popularized essentially my entire life between singing these songs in school or hearing them covered by more modern musicians or experiencing them on TV and radio. But, I've never known anything about them other than what CD liner notes would reveal. I'm not sure how I happened upon this biography, but I found it at a good price and figured I'd learn a bit more about country music's first family.

I often tend to get lost in the family histories, especially in old-time families with innumerable children, cousins, aunts, uncles, husbands, wives and every permutation in between. But once the characters all meet, marry, and/or start making music together, the story does move fairly quickly. AP Carter was never one for "regular" work, so making a living with music was certainly enticing and once he married the talented vocalist and autoharpist Sara, who then began harmonizing with her sister-in-law Maybelle, who filled out the sound with her distinctive guitar playing, everything jelled and they began to make a name for themselves. Once they heard about a recording opportunity they hit the road, made a record and success struck quickly.

Of course, life happens (as it does) and their fortunes ebbed and flowed (especially during the Great Depression), their recording contracts varied, and even AP and Sara's marriage failed, but through it all, they continued, as it was their best source of income. Eventually, Sara left the fold to re-marry and AP quit, as well, but Maybelle continued on with her girls and, at one point, adding a young Chet Atkins to the act! Different gatherings of the family continue to perform to this day and many have made a name for themselves, but this tale mainly follows the original members progressions.

Informative and fun and lots to learn about this  batch of talented Southerners. Enjoyable!