Reviewed by Kristin
Living with Memories
came to my attention just a few days ago as someone returned it to the library. Janette Carter, daughter of A.P. and Sara
Carter of Carter Family music fame, writes of growing up in southwestern
Virginia. Although a slim volume, this
book contains an authentic voice of a woman who felt blessed to grow up in this
area within her loving family.
Growing up in Scott
County, Virginia, Janette lived her life surrounded by music. Her parents sang together, and later were
joined by Maybelle Carter (Sara’s first cousin and sister-in-law). Their first public appearance was during a trip
to visit family in Charlottesville, Virginia.
When their car broke down and they had no money for repairs, they
organized a quick musical show, enlisted a storekeeper to advertise, and earned
enough money to fix the car and continue home.
With the thought that their music might bring in some outside money,
A.P. talked Sara and Maybelle into taking a trip to Bristol in August 1927 to audition
for Ralph Peer.
The rest, as they
say, is history.
Sprinkled with poems
and song lyrics, Janette’s account of her life in a musical family feels
intimate and personal. She acknowledges
that she is not a writer, just a country girl who has a story to tell, and
thanks her daughter Rita Janette for assistance in spelling and grammar. Reading her stories of working a hardscrabble
farm makes me remember my own Kentucky grandmother and her stories of all they
did to make ends meet during the Great Depression in the coal camps.
The Carter family
came from Poor Valley, which struck another chord with me as another branch of
my family owned land in Poor Valley in Washington County, although many
generations ago. I probably still have
long lost cousins living there today, tying our family to the land in the way
that these low and flowing mountains tend to do.
in these hills, or anyone seeking to understand the roots of rural Appalachia today.
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