Obit: Death of Helen Carter (4-Jun-1998)

Subject: RE: Death of Helen Carter
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 12:40 AM

I guess six years late is better than not ever getting back!

:-)

Subject: RE: Death of Helen Carter
From: GUEST,Ron Penix
Date: 18 Apr 04 - 12:24 AM

Hello Bill D.
   I won't ever forget that night at Red Fox. I'm older than Moses,
but I'm still playing that well worn gift from Maybelle--the 15 chord
New Golden Autoharp. It is the best sounding harp I've ever heard.
Since that night I've played it on at least 4 recordings.
    Our web site is being updated and will show data on the recordings very soon.
Sorry I didn't know you were in the crowd that night.
Thanks,
Ron Penix
[e-mail]
http://www.thelefthandedcapricorns.com

Subject: RE: Death of Helen Carter
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 06:53 PM

*smile*..of course it was the Red Fox, Art...everyone just knew that was where to be that night...we sang a lot of wonderful Carter family songs there that sad/happy evening...

Subject: RE: Death of Helen Carter
From: Art Thieme
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 05:39 PM

Bill D,

Thanks so much for the sad news! And thanks for the muical insights on the family. Sometimes it amazes me that we must be so explicit in our rehashing the history we all have known for years, but HOW ELSE will the young know about the wonders of the tradition and the amazing expertise of those informants that sang for those collecting our music in the earlier part of this century? I can feel your heartfelt emotions in your tribute here to Helen Carter! MANY may listen to the Carter Family just on the strength of your words. Again, thanks!

Art Thieme (P.S.----Was the place in Bethesda the Red Fox?)

Subject: RE: Death of Helen Carter
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 11:31 AM

the way that posted, it might not be clear that the obituary ended and my personal observations began as noted below..

Carter Family standards include country music classics such as "The Wabash Cannonball" and "Wildwood Flower." The three sisters continued the family act in the 1940s with their mother, who died in 1978. ---------------------------------------------------------- It is always sad to see another piece of history pass on.The Carter Family played such a large part in the development of 'country' music and have become synonymous with certain songs and styles.

Subject: Death of Helen Carter
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Jun 98 - 11:28 AM

just happened to see this obit. in todays Washington Post

Helen Carter

Country Singer

Helen Carter, 70, who played Autoharp, guitar, accordion, piano and mandolin and who sang with the seminal country music group the Carter Family, died June 2 at a hospital in Nashville. She had been hospitalized for most of the past year with stomach ailments.

Miss Carter, with sisters June and Anita, had performed for years in the show of country star Johnny Cash, June Carter's husband. They were the daughters of Mother Maybelle Carter, who with her cousin Sara Carter and Sara's husband, A.P. Carter, helped launch the country music industry in the 1920s.

Carter Family standards include country music classics such as "The Wabash Cannonball" and "Wildwood Flower." The three sisters continued the family act in the 1940s with their mother, who died in 1978.

It is always sad to see another piece of history pass on.The Carter Family played such a large part in the development of 'country' music and have become synonymous with certain songs and styles.

....in 1978, when Mother Maybelle died, I was at an open stage in Bethesda, MD, the night the news came out, and a fellow from Baltimore, Ron Penix, came over and got onstage and played "Will the Circle Be Unbroken"....on one of Maybelle's autoharps which he had acquired from her a few years previously!! There was not a dry eye in the place...I have an old autoharp of that style, and I shall be tuning it up and playing the song later today...perhaps others will join me in their own way....