When a circle broke...

(Sara Carter, about 12 years old.)

Here's the story about Sara Carter's divorce from A.P., according to the PBS Documentary:

Narrator: By 1933, Sara Carter (July 21, 1898 - Jan. 8, 1979) reached a breaking point in her marriage [They got married on Friday, June 18, 1915 -- you can find a wedding picture in my earlier posting, below]. A.P.'s overwhelming ambitions left her own in shambles.

Carter Family Singing, Archival Film:Are you lonesome tonight? Do you miss me I say? Are you sorry we drifted apart?

Mark Zwonitzer, author of "Will You Miss Me When I'm Gone? The Carter Family and Their Legacy in American Music": She basically fell for a fellow in the Valley named Coy Bays, who was a cousin of A.P.'s and they started what became, you know, a quiet but relatively public love affair and it was you know you can imagine it tore the family up. Coy's parents hatched a plan with A.P.'s parents that they would get Coy out of the valley and so as a family, Coy and his parents and his siblings picked up and headed west to California to make a new life.

Narrator:When Coy left, so did Sara.

Carter Family Singing, Archival Film: Sad was the day when you went away.
You broke my heart in the month of May. That little ring I gave to you was to show you dear, my love was true.

Joe Carter: My mother left, went back to her people. We knew it was bad, but there wasn't nothing we could do about it to make it any better.

Janette Carter: she would come back to the valley. Why she would usually go up at Maybelle's, but if one of us was sick, she'd come to the house and stay until we got better.

Narrator: Sara never discussed her reasons for leaving, even with her own children. But she later testified that A.P.'s temper left her little choice.

Joe Carter: I reckon it just got to where they couldn't bear it the way it was, and they had to have relief somewhere, and it hurt my dad, I know it did bad, but he done what he thought he was supposed to, and we had to suffer along with him.

Mark Zwonitzer: It was an awful decision that Sara had to make to leave and to leave behind her children and she did not do it lightly, but it was really an untenable situation in the house and she understood that, um, the entire support system for those kids was in Maces Springs and in Poor Valley.

Carter Family Singing, Archival Film:You denied your love but you proved it so. You came to see me when the sun was low. You broke my heart but you were kind. When you said oh dear you'll never be mine.

Bill Clifton: A.P. was a very lonely man. He became very lonely. I would even say lovesick.

Narrator: Soon after Sara left, Peer summoned The Carter Family to record again. From the other side of Clinch Mountain, Sara said she'd pass.

Carter Family Singing, Archival Film: Oh let me tell you what love will do. If you love a boy that don't love you. They'll break your heart, they'll leave you alone, they'll roam the west so far from home...

Narrator: For the first time, A.P.'s will and drive was not enough to keep the Carter Family together. The fate of the trio now lay in Sara's hands.

Mark Zwonitzer: I think the argument that really got traction with Sara was that there was still money to be made. If Sara could do nothing else for the kids she could still make sure they had money in the bank.

Narrator: Sara eventually agreed to the awkward proposition of making music with her estranged husband. Through weeks of rehearsal and days of recording, the couple rarely talked of their divided relationship.

Sara Carter singing, Archival Film: Now I know what it means to be lonesome and I know what it means to be blue.

Rita Forrester: And the things that maybe they couldn't say, that they couldn't express, they could do that in music, and it was ok. And maybe it didn't hurt quite so much if they did it in music.

A.P. Carter Singing, Archival Film: Caused I've sighed and I've cried since we parted. There is no one knows what I've gone through, I'd give all that I own, just to have you back home, cause I'm lonesome, lonesome for you...

Narrator: Sara's absence forced A.P. to remain home and rely on his own songwriting skills, his broken heart provided ample inspiration.

Sara Carter singing, Archival Film: My darling...Did you mean those words you said. That has made me your forever, since the way we were wed.

Narrator: Approaching forty, Sara Carter was more alone than ever. She lived a day's journey from her children and after three years of trying to reconcile with her husband, she finally gave up.

Mark Zwonitzer: A.P. was not very forgiving and a stubborn man and hurt, and so he was not anxious to remake the marriage. But, he was shocked at the same time when they served the divorce papers he never thought that this was really the end.

Narrator: Sara divorced A.P. in the fall of 1936, but the trio continued to record.

[In an other interview, Zwonitzer states: "And in some ways... those difficulties really added something to the music... ." Pain and sorrow, indispensible ingredients for good music...?!]

(Sara Carter around age 40, on the porch of her childhood home)