Where there’s no depression: Carter Fold treasures the tradition of country music’s First Family
Later that night, after checking into a motel in Kingsport, I returned to the Fold. Rather unprepossessing from the outside, the Fold is something else entirely once you go through the door. Inside, two big woodstoves on either end of the structure are kept stoked and hot. Tall locust-tree beams hold up the tin roof, and the supporting beam is a huge hewn poplar. The front rows are made up of old bus seats; farther back, it’s carpet-padded crossties. The walls are also padded with old carpet for insulation and to improve the acoustics. Several large doors along the side roll up for summer shows. A concession stand sells soda, hot dogs, popcorn and ice cream. No alcohol is allowed.
A sizable crowd was there, some 300 strong, the numbers swelled by a big tour bus parked outside. According to Janette’s son, Dale, who helps out and sometimes performs, the crowd is usually about half local and half from farther away. An informal poll at the beginning of the show produced a couple of people from Oregon and Washington state.
The show itself begins promptly at 7:30 p.m. and is run like clockwork by the mistress of ceremonies, Janette Carter, who sits onstage with her brother Joe. The format is run variety-style: Janette, on the autoharp, kicks off the evening with a Carter family song; she’s followed by Joe (a musician and storyteller in his own right) or Dale; then the headliner performs a 45-minute set. After a half-hour break, local musicians from the crowd are invited onstage to play a song or two, and the format is repeated again. The whole thing is over by 10 p.m.
On that particular evening, I was treated to two sets of mostly dance tunes such as “Sally Goodin”, “Clinch Mountain Backstep” and “Soldier’s Joy” performed with gusto by The Larkin Family out of Church Hill, Tenn. Dancing is encouraged at the Fold, except during gospel numbers, and I witnessed a lot of enthusiastic clogging, including one 90-year old woman and a couple of baggy-pantsed teenagers. Dale did a few songs, including a powerful a cappella rendition of “Shiloh’s Hill”. Joe did a comedy routine where he imitated a bawling calf and a grumpy old brood sow. Janette asked the crowd to pray for Johnny Cash’s recovery.
As I drove back to the motel, I came to the conclusion that, while going to bars and honky-tonks for music has its place, it does one’s soul good to go to a place like the Carter Fold. Through hard work and sacrifice, Janette and her family have managed to create and maintain the perfect memorial to their famous forebears.
Yet the outlook is not entirely sunny. Janette and Joe are both in their 70s, and their children lead busy lives and hold down full-time jobs. I spoke briefly with Janette’s middle daughter, Rita, who takes the tickets and helps out with the books and grant applications. The Carter Fold, she said, is fortunate to have a good relationship with and receive partial funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Virginia Commission for the Arts. But, like every other small arts organization around the country, the specter of drastic cuts in state and federal support is a very real threat to the Carter Fold; it could mean the difference between the Fold staying open or shutting its doors forever.
I wondered then what a certain Senator from the state of North Carolina and sworn foe of the NEA would say if he’d just spent an evening at the Carter Fold. Would a place like this, the sight of these people (tobacco farmers, no less!) enjoying themselves, the sound of this music, cause the scales to fall from his eyes? Would it make any difference at all? Gloomily, I thought not.
Then I put in a Carter Family tape, and as the opening chords of “Keep on the Sunny Side” filled the car, I had hope again.
Directions: Maces Springs is on Route 614 (A.P. Carter Highway), in Scott County, Virginia. Take Exit 1 off of I-81 just north of Bristol. Follow US 58/421 west to Hiltons (about 17 miles) and follow the signs. From Kingsport, Tenn., take US 23 north to Weber City, then US 58/421 east to Hiltons (about five miles). From Hiltons, take Route 709 to Route 614.
Lodging: Kingsport is your best bet. It’s only 17 miles away, the road is better, and the motels tend to be grouped on the west side of town. I stayed at a perfectly acceptable Days Inn.
Show information and museum times: Saturday shows are at 7:30 year round. Admission is $4 for adults, $1 children 6-11, and free for children under 6. The museum is open at 6 p.m. prior to showtime; museum admission is 50 cents, and free for children with parents. (A concession stand features many hard-to-find LPs, CDs and tapes, as well as stamps, t-shirts, books, caps, and more.) For a recorded message on upcoming shows, call 540-386-6054; for additional information, call 540-386-9480. For a printed schedule, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: Carter Family Memorial Music Center, Inc., P.O. Box 111, Hiltons, VA 24258.
Carter Family Memorial Festival: Each year since 1974, the Carter Fold has been the site of a two-day music festival on the first weekend in August to commemorate the anniversary of the Bristol recordings. This year the 24th annual festival will take place July 13-Aug. 1. Local and regional bluegrass and old-time bands provide the entertainment for the thousands of people who attend this, the biggest event at the Carter Fold.