--- title: Country Music Awards: The Legacy of A.P. Carter and the Carter Family description: With the 50th Country Music Awards taking place on Sunday, a look back at the influence of the Carter Family. canonical: https://time.com/3770715/carter-family/ author: Eliza Berman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-17T12:00:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:43.230Z og:title: Behind the Music of Country's Founding Family og:description: With the 50th Country Music Awards taking place on Sunday, a look back at the influence of the Carter Family. og:url: https://time.com/3770715/carter-family/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0dbfd4075f898cd9/6987869c35ba6ffea2c07e2e/150403-carter-family-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1927 og:image:height: 1084 og:image:alt: Carter Family, 1941 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Behind the Music of Country's Founding Family twitter:description: With the 50th Country Music Awards taking place on Sunday, a look back at the influence of the Carter Family. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0dbfd4075f898cd9/6987869c35ba6ffea2c07e2e/150403-carter-family-02.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Behind the Music of Country's Founding Family > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Apr 17, 2015 12:00 PM UTC  The Carter sisters, (L-R) Anita, June and Helen. The Carter sisters, (L-R) Anita, June and Helen. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Eliza Berman](https://time.com/author/eliza-berman/)  ## Eliza Berman Berman is a senior editor at TIME. Apr 17, 2015 12:00 PM UTC When Garth Brooks, Miranda Lambert and Blake Shelton take the stage at Sunday’s 50th Academy of Country Music Awards, they will be continuing a music tradition that began a century ago in the mountains of Virginia. If there can be only one father of country music, it would be A.P. Carter. And if there’s only one founding family of the genre, it’s the Carter family. Alvin Pleasant Carter was marked by a ring of fire—though not the one his niece June would later write a song about. His mother Mollie, eight months pregnant with him, stood next to a tree that got struck by lightning and touched her belly as electricity coursed through the ground. A.P. was born with a tremor that would later touch his singing voice with an unmistakably special quality. The Carter family became a family when A.P. married Sara Dougherty, whom he fell in love with after hearing the sound of her voice as she played the autoharp. Sara’s cousin Maybelle later married A.P.’s brother Ezra, or “Eck,” and among them they had a brood of six, three children per couple. A.P. was a masterful songwriter, carrying a yellow pad of paper wherever he went in case inspiration struck, which it often did. But his songs were a blend of original tunes and the melodies and lyrics he picked up in the Virginia mountains as he traveled from house to house selling fruit trees. Much of the country music canon originated from the Carters’ transformation of traditional folk songs into popular recorded music, replete with simple yet poignant harmonies. Sara was known for her deep lead voice, and Maybelle for the original style of guitar picking so influential it now bears the family’s name. When Maybelle’s young daughter Anita sang a song before producers one day—about a “purdy liddle kitty cat”—they were so impressed that they asked if there were more like her at home. And there were: her sisters Helen and June, the latter of whom would later marry Johnny Cash. The photos Eric Schaal took of the family in 1941 were bumped by bigger news the week they were meant to run in LIFE: the bombing of Pearl Harbor. But the family’s legacy has endured, with generations of musicians citing them as a major influence. And not just country musicians, either. Jerry Garcia perhaps captured it best when he said, “Whenever I write a song, there’s a little piece of the Carter Family in there.” _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter at_ [_@LizabethRonk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Considered the father of country music, A. P. Carter, singing and playing guitar as he sits at home. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  The Carter sisters, (L-R) Anita, June and Helen. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  June Carter performing a handstand in the living room of her family's home. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  June Carter performing a cartwheel in the living room of her family's home. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  June Carter performing a backbend in the living room of her family's home. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Portrait of the legendary Carter family: (R-L) A. P. Carter, his sister-in-law Maybelle (playing guitar), her sister Sara (A.P.'s wife) playing autoharp and Maybelle's young daughters Helen, June and Anita, singing together at home. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Country music staple, the banjo. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A. P. Carter singing with wife Sara while she plays autoharp and sings with her sister Maybelle. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Country music staple, spoons. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Hands of Sara Carter, playing the autoharp. Eric Schaal—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Carter family: (L-R) A.P., Ezra, Maybelle, Anita, June, Helen, Sara, Flo Millard (A.P. and Sara's granddaughter), Gladys Carter Millard, Margaret Addington (Maybelle's mother), and Joe. 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