What time's it start, Janette? Seven-thirty!
JANETTE 1984
“When I'm gone,” Daddy said, “I would love for one of my children to carry on my work.” And he said, “Janette, if there's anyone I've got would do it, you would do it.” And he said, “I wish you would.” And I said, “Daddy, I'll try.” And that phrase kept coming back to me after Daddy died. I'd remember what I told him, 'I will try'. And when I was setting out there that day, on that step, and looking down there, looking out over the valley, looking down at that little store, and I thought, why don't I do something with that building?
JANETTE 1980
It was just sitting there, a rottening down to the ground. And I wondered what I could do to make some extra income, or do something that I wouldn’t have to get completely out of the valley. And I thought to myself, why don’t I start having music on Saturday night?
JANETTE 1983
The idea came to me: music. Why not have music? In the store! I could keep my promise and add some income! I told my husband and my children, "In one month, there will be music in the store." They looked at me as though I were going insane!
JANETTE 1984
Well, why not have music? My daddy used to have music in little schools, and little stores and little places like that, and why not have music? And so, when my husband come in, my children, I said, “You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna clean that store building up, and I'm going to start putting on music programs.” And the children said, “Well mother, have you gone crazy?” And I said, “No, that's what I'm gonna do. In one month I'll have that clean, and I'm gonna start my programs.” And so, we started cleaning it up.
DALE JETT 1980
She just, out of the blue one day she said, “Dale, I’m gonna have music in the old store twice a month.” And it just kinda went in one ear and out the other to me. Well, nobody believed in her. I mean, her own mother, her brothers and sisters, even I didn’t believe in her really. I mean, I thought, sure mom, that’s fine, you know. That’ll be great. That’ll be something for you to do.
JANETTE 1983
I plunged into debt alone. I'd asked my mother to loan me money, but she refused. I realize now that she felt that I was making a grave mistake. I guess I've always been the rebellious one - I didn't listen!
TOM BLEDSOE
I was in the Navy and got out in 1972, and I came back home with the specific purpose of finding out more about the music I had grown up with that I knew very little about. I got involved in a thing called an Ethnic Heritage Project, and we got Janette Carter to be on our advisory board. There were sculptors, there were singers, there were dancers, and there was Janette. So, we would go to these advisory board meetings, and I would drive from my home on the north side of the Clinch Mountain over around to - (laughter) took me about 25 miles to go about 2 miles, or maybe a mile and a half, as the crow flies (laughter) - but I would pick Janette up and take her to the advisory board meeting. And I remember very clearly one time, we were going to one that was down in Lee County, and Janette said, “Tommy, I've been thinking about opening up Daddy's old store and having music.” She said, “I promised my daddy that I would do something to honor his music and his memory.” And you’ve got to understand that Scott County had not had - up until this time - did not have very much success with music venues. They would start. They would go for a little while. There'd be fights. There'd be shootings. And they'd shut 'em down. There'd be drinking. And they'd shut 'em down. And Janette said, “I will never do anything to bring dishonor to the memory of my father, my mother, and aunt Maybelle.” And she said, “I've been thinking about opening the store, and having musics on a Saturday night." Maybe a couple times a month or whenever. She said “What do you think about that?” And, of course, me, as a musician, I'm thinking, ‘Wow, another place to play?!’ (laughter) And she said, “The main thing, there'll be no drinking. And I won't do anything that dishonors my daddy and my mommy.' And so, I said, 'Yeah, I think it's a great idea.'
JANETTE 1983
Jack [Janette's husband at the time] and I threw out dirt, tobacco stalks, old furniture - that store was a storage room for junk! We built benches and bleachers.
BOBBY McMILLON
I was right there when they was, (laughter) she was getting it ready. But I can't remember the first time that I got up on the stage there. It might have been the second show. But yeah, the seats were built- She sort of built like, kind of like bleachers up on the right-hand wall that went down to the middle of the floor. And then on the other side, on the left-hand side, was a stage for the performers to get up on. And there was enough room up there for the band, and get some dancing going on up there, too. A little bit of room - not a great big space, but some.
TOM BLEDSOE
And then, like, you know, not too long after that, I think, they got some old seats from an old school auditorium over there in- they had pulled the seats out of the auditorium, and she bought seventy-five seats or so, and put 'em in that little store building. And started, and, you know, invited people, and it started from there.
JANETTE 1978
I started in 1974, honey, in the little store which was just an old vacant building, and we had benches and things like that put in. It would seat about 200. It was just FULL of seats. That's all it was, just seats! And then we extended this out here at the back and put a few more benches. But now, that's used for my concession. And the old part is for my museum.
BOBBY McMILLON
Then when she got that building ready- I never really thought they could (laughter) use that store building for a music place. I didn't think it was big enough. But she made it work! (laughter)
JANETTE 1983
I worked endlessly, it seemed. I made my first posters myself and used plain rough paper. I took them and posted them near homes, in stores, in filling stations - my music had very little advertising but its reputation has grown mostly through word of mouth. I called the three newspapers in the area and said, "I want a story done on this." They thought I was a little crazy, but they sent reporters.
JANETTE 1984
So I called the papers, all three newspapers. And I said, "You send a reporter down here from each one of your papers. I want them to do an article on me." I told 'em, I said, "There's going to be music here in the valley, at the store." Well, they sent the reporters, and they put out the pages and put it out.
Watch Janette performing 'Little Moses' at the National Folk Festival in 1973.
RICHARD BOYD (Bristol Herald Courier)
"About a month or so ago I got the idea that Jack and I could clean out the inside of the old store, build us a small bandstand and some seats, and start having monthly country music shows," Jeanette said. They did and the first show will be Saturday beginning at 7:30pm featuring Jeanette, perhaps her brother, Joe, maybe her mother, Sara [neither Joe nor Sara appeared that night] and some other talented folk music friends she has met along the way during her many annual concert tours. The admission for the shows will be $1.25 for adults and 50 cents for children. "We don't expect to make any money but we had to spend a good bit to renovate this old building and we hope to make enough to keep it going each month," Jeanette said. Three of her friends are coming to Hiltons for the first show. They are Sylvia Sammons, a young blind woman from Greenville, SC, who specializes in Appalachian music, and Jean and Lee Schilling, a husband-wife team from Cosby, TN, who are not only accomplished musicians but skilled makers of original mountain music string instruments.
Uncredited Reporter (Kingsport Times)
"It came to me that if I did just a little bit of work on the inside of the building, I could get about 200 people in there. We could make a small stage, and make these hills ring with music again," Jeanette said. "I'll pay everyone I ask to play something, but it will be based on what is taken in rather than the big salaries they might get other places. I'm going to try to treat everyone equally fair." Her first guest singers will include Jean and Lee Schilling, Cosby, TN, who founded and produce the Smoky Mountain Festival. The couple is expert in dulcimers, recorders, and French harps, she pointed out. Sylvia Sammons of Greenville, SC, the blind folk-singer who plays guitar and autoharp, will also make an appearance Saturday night. Jeanette is determined to preserve the store, and as something fans can remember.
JANETTE 1984
And so that night I really didn't know what to expect. But I had it all cleaned and ready. And I remember sitting out there on the front step- and I tell it, I've got it in my book, so it's the truth - and I was sitting out there, on the front step, and looking to see if there was a car coming up the road, up the valley road, you know? I was sitting there looking down the road and I just said, "Well," I just said, "God, if it's your will for me to succeed, I promise you I'll always keep it right, and I'll keep it clean, and I'll run it in a way that would please my mother and daddy." And I said, "I promise you that." I made him a vow. And I said, "If it's your will for me to succeed, I'll do what I said." And directly the cars started coming. And they was coming up the valley. And them that didn't stop, the others was a-stopping to see why these WAS a-stopping! It finally clean just, the little store just filled up, you know? And it got so full we just had to move out in the yard - the store wouldn't hold ‘em! So, we all just got out in the front and sit and used the little step, the front porch, for the stage. I had Jean and Lee Schilling and a girl called Sylvia Sammons from over in South Carolina that was a blind girl.
LEE SCHILLING
As I recall, my wife and myself were the first performers for the first performance at that show. We shared the program with Sylvia Sammons. I think she lived around Greenville. I remember that Janette called us saying that she wanted to start doing something there, and that first show was in the old grocery store that A.P. Carter had, down below the house where Janette lived.
SYLVIA SAMMONS
I met Janette at the Gatlinburg Folk Festival, and she invited me up. Janette said, <talks like Janette> “Honey. Would you consider coming all the way over to Virginia? We’re trying to get together something to remember Daddy. And, uh, it's not doing yet! But we’re gonna have something. Can I have your address and write you, if you would be willing to come up?” Yeah, yeah write me!
LEE SCHILLING
I think that Jean had met Janette before Jean and I met. We met in 1969. I know that Jean had her down to either the first, maybe not the first, but the second festival she had in Gatlinburg. She called that the Smoky Mountain Folk Festival. And then every year after that for several years, when we would have our annual festival, Janette would be invited. We started out calling it Folk Festival of the Smokies.
SYLVIA SAMMONS
I have absolutely been in love with the Carter Family forever. And I think, now that I do think back, at that Gatlinburg festival, when Janette heard me, and asked if I would come over to their do, I think at that particular festival I sang two or three, or maybe even four Carter tunes. And that's probably why she had an affinity for me anyway.
LEE SCHILLING
We were, kind of, feeling privileged to be invited to do that first show. There might have been thirty people there.
Hear Jean and Lee Schilling performing at the A.P. Carter Festival in 1976.
SYLVIA SAMMONS
A friend and I went over to Hiltons in Virginia and went up to her house and picked her up. And she didn't have a ride to get down to the store. So my friend and I - and it was a very steep driveway, I remember - my friend and I hauled Janette and her autoharp down to the store. And that was, I think it was supposed to begin at 7:30, so this must have been 6 or 6:30. We got there, people were setting up chairs - It was a wonderful experience. I really enjoyed it.
TOM BLEDSOE
Sylvia Sammons was there. And that was, as far as I know, the only time she ever performed in the little store. Janette had met her at a festival somewhere down there in Tennessee, and she invited her up there to play.
SYLVIA SAMMONS
I probably did 'Gold Watch and Chain'. That was a Carter song that I did. In any of those pictures was my dog with me? 'Cause I do know that I had my dog that night.
Hear Sylvia Sammons performing at Folk Festival of the Smokies ca.1970.
TOM BLEDSOE
I remember she had her seeing eye dog there, it was- and that first concert was there on the porch of the old store. We didn't even go inside. It was just real down home, and not a big crowd or anything. And I think Doc & Carl also performed that night.
SYLVIA SAMMONS
Joe<sic> Addington played on that same program, and that was Maybelle's - it might have been a brother. He was an Addington, which is her maiden name. I think they called him Little Doc. Yeah, that's right, Little Doc!
JANETTE 1984
Well, there was a guest band, Doc and Carl come. They was there.
CARL McCONNELL 1976
We brushed up on a lot of our old instrumental numbers, a lot of our old favorite country songs, hymns and gospel songs that we sang together so often years before. After a few short months, we started making a few personal appearances with Janette Carter, A. P. and Sara Carter’s youngest daughter. Janette is an old pro at this country music show business and is a good singer as well as a good autoharp and guitar picker. We played quite a lot of school houses and folk festivals with her, such as: “The Smokey Mountain Folk Festival”, Cosby, Tennessee in July 1972; “The National Folk Festival”, Wolf Trap Farm, Vienna, Virginia in July 1973; “The Cumberland Gap Jubilee”, Lincoln Memorial University, Harrogate, Tennessee in September 1974, and also an appearance at Clinch Valley College. Doc and I also made three appearances at the A. P. Carter Store Building during the past year. Janette has been holding country music shows on Saturday nights for the past year and a half.
Watch Doc & Carl performing at the National Folk Festival in 1973.
JANETTE 1984
And another guest band come in.
TOM BLEDSOE
I think <pause> ahh, man. I don't know if Beachard and I and Paul Davis, I thought we were there, but (laughter) I'm not sure. But I seem to recall that Janette asked us to play a couple of tunes. And I don't, but I can't- my memory's kinda fuzzy, of that night. I remember Sylvia very well. I remember Lee and Jean, that you mention it, now. For some reason, Sylvia sticks out in my mind as being the primary memory from that night. As I recall, she sang, she sat in a chair on that little concrete stoop outside. And played the guitar, and her dog was beside her. Yeah.
Hear Beachard, Paul & Tommy playing 'Clinch Mountain Backstep' in 1973.
BOBBY McMILLON
There was a little old woman named Nannie Smallwood that - she would come to every event Janette had, just about. One time I was over there - and I was having some nerve problems or something - and she had me to go down to her house and spend the night. (laughter) Nannie Smallwood. I loved that little old woman!
JANETTE 1983
So, August 24, 1974 rolled around, and the store was cleaned and shining. The papers had printed stories about my show coming up. I sat on the front step of the old store and prayed, "If it be thy will, God, let me succeed. I promise you I'll keep rules to keep the shows orderly - no drinking or profanity. They will be a memorial to my family, the Carters, and to their kind of music." The cars started coming up the valley to the 'little store'. Soon the crowd in the store spilled out the door, and we moved out into the front yard. Admission was one dollar; children were admitted free. The first night, one hundred ninety-six dollars were taken in to pay the booked artists, my friends Jean and Lee Schilling, and Sylvia Sammons. I have kept my promise to God and to my daddy. I have tried and succeeded.
--from a work in progress about Janette Carter & the birth of the Carter Fold--
Sources
Janette Carter
Talking with Atlanta high school students, Carter Fold, Hiltons, VA, (prob March or April) 1978, (Digital Library of Appalachia, Warren Wilson College).
Interview for 'Sunny Side of Life' film, Hiltons, VA, 7 May 1980, (Appalshop Archives).
'Living With Memories' autobiography (Carter Family Memorial Music Center) 1983.
Interview with Mike Seeger, Hiltons, VA, 19 January 1984, (Mike Seeger Collection, Southern Folklife Collection at University of North Carolina).
Dale Jett
Interview (prob) 1980, Hiltons, VA, 'Sunny Side of Life' film (Appalshop) 1985.
Richard Boyd
"They're Re-opening A.P. Carter's Store", Bristol Herald Courier, Sunday 18 August 1974.
Uncredited Reporter
"There'll Be No Rock At Carter's Store", Kingsport Time-News, Thursday 22 August 1974
Carl McConnell
"A Brief History of My Family and An Autobiographical Sketch of My Musical Life", Carl P. McConnell, 24 January 1976 (Ronald McConnell).
Tom Bledsoe, Sylvia Sammons, Lee Schilling, and Bobby McMillon quotes come from interviews, conversations and correspondence with the author, 2021-2023.