Carter Family Fold

The Carter Center isn't in Tennessee, but it's significant enough and close enough to be mentioned on this website. The Carter family came from southwest Virginia; A. P. and Sara lived in Maces Spring and raised their family here between road trips and broadcasts on far-flung radio stations. After the couple retired from show business, A. P. operated a grocery store here until his death in 1960.

In 1974, their youngest daughter, Janette, who had appeared on stage with her parents as a buck dancer at age 6 and an autoharp player at age 12, began performing again at the Carter Family Store. The acoustic music she brought forth, true to the Carter tradition, drew such crowds that two years later she, her sister Gladys, and her brother Joe built the Carter Family "Fold," a shed seating 800-1,000 people. The name comes from the biblical parable of sheep returning to the fold.

Janette and Joe labored for years to establish the Fold as one of the main stops for any lover of roots music. Both, alas, have joined the family circle in the sky, but the third and fourth generation Carters are keeping the Fold going strong.

Music lovers from all over the world and just down the road gather here, some to listen and some to raise the dust with traditional dances on the floor right in front of the stage. Bluegrass and folk music, with the occasional country performer, is all one will hear at the Fold. No electrical instruments are permitted. Shows are presented every Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Admission is a wonderfully low $5 per adult, $1 for children 6-12, with impressionable children under 6 getting in for free. This is possibly the biggest entertainment bargain in the entire state. No advance tickets are sold, but the huge Fold rarely sells out.

The adjacent store now makes up the Carter Family Museum, where one can view the family's 78 rpm records, fancy "show clothes" worn in performances, photos, books, and other memorabilia. The museum is open every Saturday 5-7 p.m. Admission is $0.50. Children accompanied by parents get in free. The log cabin in which A. P. Carter was born has been moved to the Fold and is being restored.

On the first weekend in August, a festival commemorates the historic Carter Family 1927 recording session. Continuous live music plays daily with a headliner such as Robin and Linda Williams. A nearby meadow becomes a small village of tents in which local artists sell crafts and local cooks sell food. For information on weekly shows or the festival, call 540/386-6054. For more details about the Fold, call 276/386-6054. or visit www.carterfamilyfold.org.

Cautionary note: Unlike some bluegrass festivals, Mama don't'low no drinking round here. Anyone tippling or who has toppled will find that the Carter Family circle will be broken--quickly.

To get to the Carter Center from I-81 going north, take the Kingsport exit onto I-181, then follow I-181 until it ends. Take U.S. 23 north toward Gate City. By now you will begin to see green highway road markers pointing in the direction of the Fold. Turn right at the second traffic light onto U.S. 58 west toward Bristol. Follow U.S. 58 to Hwy. 709 and turn left in Hiltons. Follow Hwy. 709 over the railroad tracks and bear right on Hwy. 614 for about three miles till you see the Fold on your left.