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Cannonball Blues

Oh listen to the train coming down the line Wild Side of Life” and Kitty Wells’ “It Wasn’t God Who
Trying to make up all of her lost time Made Honky Tonk Angels”, making the song a hit all
From Buffalo to Washington over again in other incarnations.
You can wash my jumper
Starch my overalls The original group consisted of A. P. Carter, his wife
Catch the train they call the Cannonball Sara Carter, and his sister-in-law Maybelle Carter.
From Buffalo to Washington Maybelle was married to A.P.’s brother Ezra Carter
(Eck), and was also Sara’s first cousin. All three were
Yonder comes the train born and raised in Southwest Virginia, where they were
Coming down the track immersed in the tight harmonies of mountain gospel
Carry me away music and shape note singing.
But it ain’t gonna carry me back
My honey babe my blue eyed babe Throughout the group’s career, Sara Carter sang lead
vocals and played rhythm guitar or autoharp, and
Maybelle sang harmony and played lead guitar. On
My baby’s left me she even took my shoes some songs A.P. did not perform at all; on some songs
Enough to give a man he sang harmony and background vocals and
These doggoned worried blues occasionally he sang lead. Maybelle’s distinctive
She’s gone she’s solid gone guitar playing style became a hallmark of the group
and her Carter Scratch (a method for playing both lead
I’m going up north and rhythm on the guitar) has become one of the most
I’m going up north this fall copied styles of guitar playing. The group recorded for
If luck don’t change I won’t be back at all a number of companies including Victor, RCA, ARC
My honey babe I’m leaving you group, Columbia, Okeh and various imprint labels.

Source: Musixmatch By the end of 1930, they had sold 300,000 records in
Songwriters: A.p. Carter the United States. Realizing that he would benefit
The Cannonball lyrics © Peer International financially with each new song he collected and
Corporation copyrighted, A. P. traveled around the southwestern
Virginia area in search of new songs; he also
To listen follow this link.... composed new songs. In the early 1930s, he
befriended Lesley “Esley” Riddle, a black guitar
he Carter Family is a traditional American folk player from Kingsport, Tennessee. Lesley accompanied
Tmusic group that recorded between 1927 and A. P. on his song-collecting trips. In June 1931, the
1956. Their music had a profound impact on Bluegrass, Carters did a recording session in Benton, Kentucky,
Country, Southern Gospel, Pop and Rock musicians as along with Jimmie Rodgers. In 1933, Maybelle met the
well as on the U.S. Folk revival of the 1960s. They were Speer Family at a fair in Ceredo, West Virginia, fell in
the first vocal group to become Country music stars, love with their signature sound, and asked them to tour
and were among the first groups to record commer- with the Carter Family.
cially produced Country music. Their first recordings
were made in Bristol, Tennessee under producer Ralph The Carter Family name has been revived for a third
Peer on August 1, 1927, the day before country singer time, under the name Carter Family III. A project of
Jimmie Rodgers also made his initial recordings under descendants of the original Carter Family, John
Peer. Their recordings of songs such as “Wabash Carter Cash, grandson of Maybelle Carter, and Dale
Cannonball”, “Can the Circle Be Unbroken”, “Wildwood Jett, grandson of A. P. and Sara Carter, along with John’s
Flower”, “Keep On the Sunny Side” and “I’m Thinking then-wife Laura (Weber) Cash. They released their
Tonight of My Blue Eyes” made these songs Country first album, Past & Present, in 2010.
standards. The tune of the last was used for Roy Acuff’s (Source Wikipedia)
“The Great Speckled Bird”, Hank Thompson’s “The

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