The Very Best Of

It has been argued that one day in history marks the real beginning of country music. On 31 July 1927 talent scout Ralph Peer arrived in Bristol, Tennessee offering anyone and everyone who came along $50 for new songs. Among those who arrived and auditioned that historic day was A.P. Carter, who arrived with his wife Sara and sister in law Maybelline. Ralph Peer later said that his talent lay in 'being where the lightning is going to strike'. Peer recognised that the songs which poured out of the Carter Family were historic, but also extremely marketable. For the next 15 years, the Carter Family dominated the airwaves of American radio. But such was their legacy that nearly a century on, the music that the Carters injected into the mainstream lives on. The material heard on this comprehensive 3CD collection formed the foundation of not one, but three important strands in the development of popular music.