14 The Carter Family “Keep On the Sunny Side” and “Wildwood Flower” 1928

A.P. (1893-1960), Sara (1899-1979), and cousin Maybelle (1909-1978) formed the cornerstone of country music. They introduced the pathos of Appalachia in this old Pentecostal hymn. Maybelle’s guitar style has been widely imitated by Nashville elite. “‘Wildwood Flower,’ named by National Public Radio as one of the one hundred most important songs of the century, is the closest thing country music has to a true anthem. Those first Camden recordings proved for good that a lone mountain woman’s voice could speak to a vast audience (men and women, rural and not)…The tracks they set down that May have been retraced and remade for nearly three-quarters of a century” (Mark Zwonitzer, Will You Miss Me When I’m Gone, 2002). Their 1928 recording of  “Wildwood Flower” is listed on the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress. 

Carter Family "Keep On the Sunny Side"

Carter Family "Wildwood Flower"