The leader of a band I used to play and sing in has a ministry of singing in convolescent homes. After one of his sessions a resident approached him and said that he, the resident, had played guitar for the original Carter family, still had his songbook and would Brad like to see it? Brad said yes (his mother didn't raise dummies) and, when he had it firmly in hand, photocopied every page.

He told me about the experience after he had taken the time to examine the songs. At the end of his relating of the experience he said, "A.P. claimed a bunch of songs he didn't write."

This is not to take away from A.P. Carter, nor his daughters, sons-in-law, or grand-daughters (just to mention those with whom I am familiar) or their spiritual descendants (Word Publishing, Michael W. Smith and John Tesh come to mind). I would prefer that all songwriters had Woody Guthrie's attitude. Alas, that is not to be.