**This stamp is a part of the Legends of American Music series. Make sure to check out my hub page dedicated to this long-running and important project of the United States Postal Service.
*** This article was originally published on November 30, 2021.
The Carter Family was one of the most important groups ever in the history of American music. Their songs, harmonies, and instrumentation would lay the foundation for country music and other related genres. In addition, they were among the earliest successful recording artists. In 1993, they were among four country music acts featured on a set of United States postage stamps.
The set of country music stamps was a part of the Legends of American Music series. Regular readers of this blog will know that I have mixed feelings about this series. On the one hand, there are not many music stamps from the United States and this series was a celebration of American music in all its forms. On the other hand, the selection of artists and genres is uneven and their design is rather unappealing.
The country music set is a good example of this dichotomy. It is actually one of the strongest groups of artists, including Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and Bob Wills alongside The Carter Family. Yet, the artwork is flat. Cartoon-like, but not in a fun cartoony way. The stamp is important for its topic, but lackluster in design.
The Carter Family
The Carter’s were from rural southwest Virginia, where they learned Appalachian musical styles including gospel music and shape note singing. The group included Sara Carter, her husband A. P. Carter, and their sister-in-law (married to A.P’s brother), Maybelle Carter. Sara sang lead and played autoharp and rhythm guitar, Maybelle sang harmony and played lead guitar, and A. P. sang harmony with an occasional lead vocal.
On August 1st, 1927, A. P. convinced his wife and sister-in-law to join him at an audition for music producer Ralph Peer in Bristol Tennessee. Peer was looking for new artists and songs for his recording company. For every song he chose, he would pay the performers fifty dollars. The Carter Family recorded four songs that day and another two songs on August 2nd that Peer would later release. The Carter family songs were enormously successful, selling more than 300,000 records by the end of 1930. Peer’s Bristol Sessions recordings mark a pivotal moment in the early history of country music, launching the career of the Carter Family as well as another superstar, Jimmie Rodgers. The success of the Carter Family led them to tour with their music, collecting new songs throughout the southeast, and performing and recording throughout the region.
They recorded many songs that were hits themselves and would become bedrock songs in country music, often recorded over and over by subsequent musicians. Some of their many records include the songs “Wabash Cannonball,” “Can the Circle Be Unbroken,” “Wildwood Flower, and “Keep on the Sunny Side.”
Radio Career
In 1938, the moved to Texas, where they began a twice-daily radio program on the immensely powerful radio station XERA, located across the border in Villa Acuña, Mexico. This powerful station evaded American radio broadcasting laws, and sent a signal that could be heard across much of the southwestern United States. After a year on the border, the show moved to San Antonio, and the children of A. P. and Sara (Janette and Joe Carter) and of Maybelle (Helen, June, and Anita Carter) sang with their parents.
The Carter’s were able to move closer to their home in 1942, when they took their show to WBT radio in Charlotte, North Carolina. There, they would perform everyday between 5:15 and 6:15 am during the so-called “sunrise” time slot.
A. P. and Sara Carter divorced in 1936, and while they continued to perform for eight additional years, the original Carter family dissolved in 1944. However, Maybelle and her daughters continued to perform using variations of the name including the “Carter Sisters,” or “Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters.”
The Stamp
Scott Number 2773
The postage stamp features the original trio of A. P., Sara, and Maybelle Carter. The trio stands close together facing forward with dour expressions. Maybelle holds her guitar on the left, wearing a matching dress with Sara on the right. A. P. stands just behind and in-between the women.
Their positions, dress, and stern expressions are very similar to publicity photos from their career. However, the three stand against a strangely pink background. The stamp has an oddly flat, almost caricature-like quality. The design for this stamp, and the entire country music set, was by the prolific stamp designer Richard Waldrep.
A Collins Cachet
In my collection is also a beautiful cachet with a first day cancellation in the lower right corner. On the left, are the three members of the Carter family. Mother Maybelle sits, playing her famous Gibson archtop guitar. Behind her stand Sarah, holding an autoharp, and A.P. looking forward. This pose is similar to a photograph of the group from 1927. Except, in the cachet, is a beautiful country scene.
Public Domain,
The cachet is is by Fred Collins. Collins began making hand decorated cachets in 1978 and is well known throughout the philatelic community for his specialized pieces. He make a new design for each U.S. stamp issue and limits the run of his designs to a few hundred. You can see more of his work on his website.
I am a great admirer of the music of the Carter Family and their influence on American music. I hope you take the time to listen to one of the greatest songs, the now classic, “Can the Circle be Unbroken.”
