The Carter Family

The Carter Family was an American country and folk group active from 1927 to 1943, centered on A.P. Carter, his wife Sara, and sister-in-law Maybelle. They performed traditional Appalachian ballads, gospel material, and simple original songs in a plain, rural style noted for close harmony vocals and Maybelle's influential guitar technique often called the Carter scratch, which emphasized melody on the lower strings with thumb rhythm. Their early commercial recordings are widely regarded as foundational to the development of country music and later folk revivals.