Janette Carter

Janette Carter (82), one of three children of Sara and A. P. Carter, and niece of Maybelle Carter, of the original Carter Family, passed away at 6 a.m. (EST) on Sunday 22 January at Holston Valley Medical Center, Kingsport, TN, after several years of chronic illnesses, surgery, and Parkinson's disease. She had been undergoing physical therapy in a rehabilitation facility after a fall in her home on Christmas day 2005, and was taken into intensive care in hospital on Tuesday 17 January. Despite signs of improvement, further surgery was necessary on Saturday, and after the second of two Code Blue events she could not be revived.

Funeral arrangements will be announced. Her daughter, Rita Forrester, says that Janette Carter's objectives, policies, goals, and ambitions will continue as before. These centred on A. P. Carter's last wishes: that the old-time folk and country music of the Appalachians be preserved through live performance. Janette developed her father's general store as a musical venue over several decades into the Carter Family Fold, centerpiece of the non-profit Carter Family Memorial Music Center, Inc. The Saturday night performances are a leading regional visitor attraction.

Janette's lifelong efforts in the preservation and performance of Appalachian music received national and international recognition. Her many awards included an IBMA Distinguished Achievement Award in October 2002 and the Bess Lomax Hawes award from the National Endowment for the Arts in September 2005. An obituary by Brance Gillihan appears on the Bluegrass Blog.

In October 2005 a party of fifty-three people from Ireland visited the Carter Family Fold and other locations on the Crooked Road Heritage Trail. A news report can be seen at this link. For more details, see the Carter Family Fold website.