Mother Maybelle's Carter Scratch Documentary (1990)

[Music] there we are singing again the young man with the guitar is mr. Chester Adkins or Chet Atkins as he's known to the world one of the greatest guitar players of all time he just happened to play guitar for us for about eight years in lucky ruler penny that's me with the accordion my name's Helen right behind me there you see my youngest sister Anita Carter miss goose bump voice of 1950 that's what a lot of the disc jockeys called her back then you know what I mean when you hear her son and the other one there that's our sister June the only one you could say that and the lady with the guitar that's our mother Maybelle Carter this show is about her music her family her friend her father's and most of all about the way she played that guitar that is sometimes called the Carter's frame Scott County the rural South West Virginia sure is beautiful country and looking at it like this you might think it never changes but the way of life here has changed considerably since the turn of the century in those days you could see log cabins scattered throughout the mountains people traveled by horse and wagon along these country roads are they walk the valley are poor Valley as it was called it lay between the knobs and Clinch Mountain the people who lived here were a proud and independent breed they worked on the land they were self-sufficient and they made their own way about that time about the 1920s you could have seen a strikingly beautiful young girl walking these very same country roads hello I'm Johnny Cash she was a prodigy even before she was in her teens she mastered the guitar the autoharp the banjo and several other instruments in her own unique style a style that has been copied and imitated by countless thousands of musicians the whole world over all these years and she was to become my mother-in-law and my favorite fishing buddy Maybelle Carter are we on here and here we go a party [Music] Rambow [Music] she said don't move my darling it almost breaks my heart to think of you [Music] hi I'm Jimmy Evanson of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in Clinch Mountain Home Maybelle played the melody on the bass strings fingering partial chords like she did on keeping the Sunnyside later on she developed some intricate and complicated melody runs on the bass strings too she emphasized the bottom notes in the guitar by using a thumb pick and two steel finger picks in the 60s it seemed like most of the folk singers used her method to play their guitars a lot of Country and Western players do that now but Mother Maybelle was the first and that's why music scholars have called it the Carter scratch Mother Maybelle influenced me along the way and she did a lot of other country musicians country music was originally called hillbilly music because the folks who sang it were from the hills and in those days a lot of people look down on those they called hillbillies let's just say you probably wouldn't find anyone singing their music in Carnegie Hall even though it is original American music as we all know country music has come a long way and one of the reasons it's been so well accepted is because of one woman and her music Mother Maybelle Carter [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] but [Music] I the 30s are pretty much thought to be the Golden Age of country music that's when Mother Maybelle her cousin Sarah and Sarah's husband AP Carter started singing Maybelle's husband Ezra and AP Carter were brothers they sing at ice cream suppers schools courthouses anywhere people gathered little did they know then the impact that their music would have on future generations of singers and I was one of those singers and I just like to say personally that no one in this business has ever inspired me more or influenced me more than Mother Maybelle Carter but back to the beginnings one day aap Carter heard that victor Talking Machine Company was holding auditions over in Bristol Tennessee so ap Sara and Maybelle went over and recorded some songs for talent scout RAF Pier the very first song they recorded was pure country bury me under the weeping willow all about a poor young girl who got left at the altar on the wedding day a five-year contract with Victor record company followed and the Carter family was well on its legendary way [Music] close it right now neighbours do we have some wonderful folks back here we want you to meet some people I know you're going to enjoy just a whole lot let's give them a great big welcome the one and only is a Carter Family [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] sorrel or do you one better when shareholder never tell on me I mean ever Oh bleep and Willow yes weep in the willow tree so here I'm sleeping in your head he will weep over [Music] that was the old song bury me under the weepin willow that was the one the very first session that the Carter Family recorded in Bristol Tennessee in August of 1927 hi there I'm Helen Carter mother Maybelle's oldest daughter and today I'm here to give you a little history and demonstration of her music I'm really privileged today to have one of Mama's grandsons here who just happens to be my son David Carter Jones and he's going to help me and I'm awful glad to have him and hopefully he'll be carrying on this family tradition long after I'm gone it's a real pleasure to be here in Green Hall here in Green Texas too you know this hull reminds me of some of the places we used to play when we were children when we were working with especially with the old Carter family but right now I'd like to take Mama's old guitar by the way this is the old guitar that mama used on so many of the old heard of em the songs daddy bought her this guitar in 1929 I think it's a 28 model l5 Gibson and right now I'm going to show you the three basic styles that mother played the most famous of these is undoubtedly the oh the part they call a Carter scratch you know speaking of Carter scratch one time mama went to LA and played a coffee house back in the 60s and a bunch of the college students kept coming in to mother and won't hurt her played carter's fresh well she had no idea what they were talking about but evidently she finally figured out the way she picked the melody on the base and then stirred with her fingers that's for thick father called it the carter's fresh so I'd like to demonstrate that style to you right now and one of their old songs let's try foggy mountain talk David what do you say [Music] see I'm playing with the bow and stern with me there that's my version of the Carter scratch you know mama didn't only play the Carter scratch she also played some blues back in probably the late 20s and early 30s she went over to Kingsport which just happened to be about 16 miles from where we were raised in southwestern Virginia and she met an old black man his name was their sleeve rattle and she loved the way he picked the guitar he played the blues so if she tried to learn to play the guitar kind of like he didn't here's one the original Carter family used to do called the Cannonball blues but in the 1950s mother Jun Anita and I recorded this on Columbia Records and we arranged didn't change the title because it had a line in there we like real well called he solid dome so and I'd like to say to that mother used to still finger picks and the thumb pick when she played this but now I prefer the plastic finger picks because and I use three cuz I lose alone pigs in case I lose one I got another finger to go let's try a little bit of he solid gum [Music] so you play the melody with your fingers [Music] got your rhythm with you done [Music] my baby here even took my shoes enough to keep up early in dog dumb word blue he's gone he's solid gone hey one more [Music] there that was my version of that I don't play it fart like my mother I'm sorry to say but hopefully you get the idea of how she played she also played with an old flat piece just took an old flat pick she played songs like the Dixie darling and the Red Wing I'd like to try to play you all a little bit of red green now if I can get my fingers going [Music] see how I picked the melody with the flat pick and she also used a flat pick home you know song called coal miners blues I like this car too feminine both this song about the coal miners back in Kentucky West Virginia in Tennessee [Music] you say they are he's all cold you got : my hair got cold night [Music] out of all the three styles that mama played and all the songs she played probably the most well remembered and the best is the old song she played to put the Carter scratch child called the Wildwood flower and here's her mother playing it for you now on a video with my bangles and we'd be right with the roll [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] when I bring me my display [Music] love [Music] cherish me over [Music] damn [Applause] [Music] blooming cherry loves [Music] joining me right now is my younger sister hi there Nita hi Helen and thank you very much you know some of my first memories are of Del Rio Texas when I was about four years old and my mama would wake me up about 4 o'clock in the morning and we'd drive across the border to Mexico to sing on the XE ra now this radio station had to 500,000 watt transmitters and we could be heard almost anywhere in the world the Carter family had a live early morning show 5 days a week I'd go over and go to sleep in Mama's guitar case and sleep until she'd wake me to sing some harmony with her or sometimes I'd sing a song by myself but when I finished I'd go right back to that guitar case and go back to sleep I remember mama taking me down to Mexico a lot of times to hear the music she'd love to hear those guitars and I believe the way that she played the music for you are my flower came from her love of his style of music so Helen why don't you show him how she played it and David you pick along with us and sing whenever you want to let's try ok [Music] the grass is green disguise yes is blue [Music] you are [Music] with me [Music] you're happy smiling life [Music] or get your tears but don't forget to smile [Music] Carter family songs have influenced a lot of singers and writers through the years one song little darlin pal of mine made such an impression on a man named Woody Guthrie that he used the melody for his classic this land is your land and another was thinking tonight of my blue eyes this tune was used for other songs like the great speckle bird and the wild side of life I'll be all smiles tonight was in the first album that mom Helen and Jun and I ever recorded and a young man by the name of Waylon Jennings was a DJ at the time and he loved this song so well that when he started recording and moved to Nashville he asked me to record a duet with him and this is when we did our recording of I got you which was the first top five record that way they never had and all of this happened because of the Carter family song I'll be all smiles tonight Oh [Music] my loved one me [Music] this gave me will shine with [Music] we'll go my heart may break tomorrow I'll be [Music] I ah ah [Music] with a bride [Music] Meister and again [Music] [Applause] heeey [Music] he's smiled as once he smiled on me they knew not I suffer for [Music] ah my [Music] tomorrow now it's time to get some mighty pretty ladies real Southern Belles out on our stage now and I thank all you folks know who I'm talking about this make them welcome Mother Maybelle in the Carter sisters [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] this show certainly wouldn't be complete without our other sister so here she is June Carter Cash hun you talked awhile right that's part of what I do it's good to be sitting here in these chairs with Helen and Anita and there's no way you can do cardi scratch music without this little autoharp it's first thing Mother Maybelle Carter ever taught me to play and sometimes when I'm playing it it takes me back to some of the songs that are my favorites of the things they did they had unusual ways of talking and singing about things and this particular song is how to get through the pearly gates not just walk through easy or fly through like an angel but they have 50 miles of elbow room on either side to get through and here is the song elbow room well [Music] not they [Music] the gates are wide all the others just beyond [Music] [Applause] we're the flower [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] well I'm sometimes craft and I'm proud of you and I love well I want to reach for [Music] flowers [Music] under gate [Music] Oh it's our only other side just beyond [Music] [Music] where the flowers Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] all right that's a lot of fun it's a lot of fun to be sitting in these old chairs because that's the way we started so many years ago sitting in the chairs it's the way the Carter family started and we got up and danced around the stage and did a lot since then played with a lot of music but there's no sound like this gentle little Carter family sound no song like a great old Carter family song that makes you remember where your roots are and where your family is and maybe this has touched you because this song has sure been good to us and it's for Mother Maybelle because it was kind of like Mama's song in a way [Music] I was spinning Oh [Music] when I saw [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Undertaker Undertaker [Music] or that lady here [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] with us [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] in the sky [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let's meet and greet miss June Carter [Applause] settle down so Hollywood and you and you've been in your pictures thanks oh I made a movie for Ganaway production yeah I sure there's a good story I got a real important liver you know is that right yeah I just I don't want to go into my liver I tell you about much my my what I was doing out there in Hollywood well why is he doing nothing well I had lots of Maidan duty contacts out there I know one I went to is just full of making fat women and little skinned women that was one big old fat lady out there she was the saddest thing you ever saw we was the fact that cheeks that well with it and made her hurt for her I was trying to find your face that'll see nothing but mouth I hold the dish where I'm talking no just big fat woman car she's in the beauty contest think that one yeah she was and that they didn't major her for her bathing suit they had to surveyors a little bathing suit while there was nothing hard let's how long I've never gotten burst in my life piece of the bathing suit in the mouth the body is there yeah I'm up it's probably a good thing I think it fit him better than it did her skinny gal out there dude she handle figure Dolph it hadn't been for example she wouldn't have to figure self backless strapless bottomless topless bathing suit yeah I didn't get to work told the judge you said it was a belt I think I had better thing because you're giving me a inferiority complex the dolphin at me done well that's okay I'm saying one for you okay Oh No bless your heart I wonder when you're go baby I tried money meters bone cracks ooh so we're in [Applause] baby I knew the odds were against me home baby at respectable man fetch you an asset from the day that I first met you better have a chance in the world again baby [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] welcome back folks October 23rd 1978 we lost our little blue-eyed Mother Maybelle my sons David and Danny wrote this song is a special tribute to her on the day she died today I'd like to have David along with June's daughter Rosie lead his daughter Laurie to sing this song for our Mother Maybelle [Music] lady that would love so [Music] still sometimes when I'm feeling [Music] no she's gone [Music] choose from [Music] lady with a son the same the last girl if she fell down she said [Music] it's gonna be cold without answers [Music] son we get our say [Music] so the gentlelady also stopped see [Music] you smile [Music] lady that love song [Music] neither I'm feeling [Music] she'll be staying [Music] he's [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] then [Music] hello that song makes you feel real good when your own kids sing it - really does but you know what I think the line that I like the best and it is the line about she made a place for me all Mama's do that you know they make a place for all of us and somewhere in your life a Mama's made a place for you and we'd like to sing about that and I didn't tell it so well but Helen didn't need a dude and they wrote this song about mama sang so it's for all Mama's who've ever sung a song [Music] Lovejoy times were bad mama sanguine songs where are we Mama's sing a heart filled with pain they learn to smile and Mama's and Mama say [Music] she could sing so let's make the hills our singsong we'd love like [Music] [Applause] and mama mama said [Music] so let's make around the string singing songs [Music] [Applause] [Music] I'm mama [Music] mama [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] around three singing songs [Music] so let's make the pills all around us ring singing songs this is for you mama goodnight well right now I think it's about time that we called on Miss June Carter and all the Carter sisters once again how about it neighbors huh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you lot there June Carter to all the Carter sisters and mommy Maybelle [Music] strange Oh [Music] [Applause]

Channel: The Carter Family Channel

Views: 3,672

Rating: 4.9175258 out of 5

Keywords: Mother Maybelle's Carter Scratch (Documentary), maybelle, helen, june, ainita, anita, family, the, sara, live, interview

Id: kM2BcRoHnRU

Length: 59min 9sec (3549 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 02 2020