"Now Sarah Could Just Flat Out Sing"

That was how one historian of American mountain music explained the enduring power of original Carter Family performances and recordings. Everyone is familiar with Maybelle Carter's guitar innovations and A.P. Carter's powerful arrangements of both the original songs that he composed and the ancient songs that he collected and preserved. Sarah Carter never got the credit that she deserved. It was true, Sarah could flat out sing.

When I was a teenager I worked horses and taught my little siblings to sing meaningful,ancient songs that we performed all over the area. I taught my daughters and my wife some of the same songs and we also performed until my daughters grew up and moved away.

Now a group of my riders and one of their sisters have come together for two performances at small get togethers. The first performance was not bad. The last one was just about everything that I could want out of the kids. They were like professionals.

The darker haired young lady (actually it is sort of red) is Sarah. Her sisters and Emily are really talented, but my God, Sarah can flat out sing!

This is a shot of last Wednesday night's performance at Ruritan family night. There are a lot of similarities between the drive that makes one want to preserve ancient folk songs and the drive that makes one want to preserve the horses of ancient folk.