Sara Carter
Sara Carter (
July 21,
1898 –
January 8,
1979) was an
American Country music musician. Known for her deep and distinctive singing voice, she was the lead singer on most of the recordings of the historic
Carter Family act in the 1920's and 1930's.
She was born
Sara Dougherty in
Copper Creek, Virginia, (Rich Valley), the daughter of William Sevier Dougherty and Nancy Elizabeth Kilgore.
Sara married
A. P. Carter on
June 18,
1915, but they were later divorced in 1939. They had three children: Gladys (Millard), Janette (Jett), and Joe.
In
1927, she and A.P. began performing as the
Carter Family, perhaps the first commercial rural Country music group. They were joined by her cousin,
Maybelle, who was married to A.P.'s brother, Ezra Carter.
Sara later remarried to Coy Bayes and moved to
California in 1943, and the group disbanded. In the 1960s, Sara reunited with Maybelle and briefly toured during the folk music craze of the time.
In
1993, Sara's image appeared on a
U.S. postage stamp honoring the Carter Family. In
2001 she was inducted into the
International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor.
Will you miss me when I'm gone? : the Carter Family and their legacy in American music, Mark Zwonitzer with Charles Hirshberg, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2002
*
Carter Family
