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(Music: 1930's
- Present)
Janette Carter, the middle
child of A.P. and Sara Carter, learned to play autoharp from
her Aunt Sylvia and her mother. As a child, she and her cousin
Helen would play and sing with the Carter Family. She performed
on the Mexican border station XERA for $20 a week. She was a
good singer and kept a notebook of collected songs, poems, and
lyrics she had written herself. However, Janette missed her home
in Scott County, Virginia, and returned in 1940. She married
and raised three children, putting her music career on hold.
When her father died in 1960, he asked Janette to keep the Carter
music alive. She began performing more, and in 1974, she began
holding concerts at the family store in Maces Springs. The crowds
quickly outgrew the space and she built The Carter Fold. Fans
travel to The Fold from all over the world to hear old-time music.
The Fold is truly a legacy to the Carter Family and traditional
mountain music. In 2002, Janette was awarded the International
Bluegrass Music Association's (IBMA) Distinguished Achievement
Award. |