Hidden Gem: Feel The Presence

It’s been more than two years since Janette Carter left the building.
But bluegrass musicians like Tim White continue to feel the late Carter’s presence within the walls of the Carter Fold, a rustic music barn in the Maces Spring section of Hiltons, Va.
Standing since 1976, the Carter Fold is known for its Saturday night music shows that feature all-acoustic performances.
Janette Carter founded the Carter Fold when she began hosting a string of regular Saturday night hoedowns in the mid-1970s.
With help from her brother, Joe, and sister, Gladys, Janette Carter built the Carter Fold – her music hall – next door to the old general store operated by her father in the 1940s.
“And,” White said, “it’s amazing to think that a simple country lady built this place that has survived her and will survive for many years.”

‘IT IS DIFFERENT’
Known to many as the artist who painted Bristol’s famous “Birthplace of Country Music” mural, White regularly plays shows at the Carter Fold with his group, The VW Boys.
Along the way, he’s had an association with the Carter Family stretching back decades, especially with Janette’s daughter, Rita Forrester, and Janette’s youngest son, Dale Jett.
“Rita Forrester is an angel, and she has worked tirelessly,” White said. “And Dale Jett is such a talent with that Carter Family sound, and he can be such a star and a contributor to the legacy of the Carter Family.”
But life has grown different at the Carter Fold since Janette Carter died in 2006 at age 82.
For 30 years, she hosted shows for hundreds who turned out each Saturday night.
“And they were so accustomed to her being here,” said Forrester, now director of the Carter Fold.
Losing Janette Carter “was like losing a member of the family to many of us in Southwest Virginia,” said H.W. “Bill” Smith, executive director of The Crooked Road: Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail.
A state-supported tourism initiative, The Crooked Road helps promote old-time and bluegrass music venues like the Carter Fold in Southwest Virginia.
The greatest loss with Carter’s death, Smith said, “is that strong guiding force that she was.”
Fans and musicians often say they miss seeing Janette Carter on her onstage couch, as she keenly observed all the action at the microphone.
“It is different,” White said, “because she’s not sitting behind you and watching. But, her spirit is still there, even though she’s gone. You still feel her spirit everywhere.”

SERIES OF LOSSES
Over the past few years, the Carter Fold family has survived more than simply the loss of Janette Carter.
June Carter, Janette’s cousin, died in 2003; a few months later, June’s famous husband, Johnny Cash, also passed.
Carter and Cash, known as musical partners since the 1960s, often would play benefit shows at the Carter Fold, helping to raise money to keep the place afloat.
These musicians’ almost-simultaneous deaths foreshadowed more losses – with the deaths of Janette’s brother Joe Carter in 2005; Janette Carter’s oldest son, Donald Jett, a few months later; and then Janette Carter’s own passing in 2006.
And it did not end there.
Janette’s ex-husband, James Jett – the father of her three children – died in 2007, almost exactly a year after Janette did.
“In many ways,” White said, “Rita and Dale are still grieving.”
Still, these siblings, Rita Forrester and Dale Jett – even after the loss of their brother, father, mother, uncle and cousin – continued to welcome folks to the Carter Fold, every Saturday night.

‘DEEPLY PERSONAL’
Then came a change.
Last December, the nonprofit Carter Fold’s board of directors voted to remove Dale Jett from its board.
The decision was not unanimous. Forrester, for one, abstained from voting.
The action had stemmed from a disagreement over whether Jett had authority to release a series of Carter Fold recordings to the University of North Carolina for preservation purposes.
Jett, at least initially, has not commented on this agreement nor his subsequent decision to stop performing at the Carter Fold.
The board of directors, however, hopes that Jett will resume his on-stage musical role, said Raymond McLain, a board member and the Carter Fold’s senior artistic director.
On Dec. 15, however, Jett simply left the crowd wondering where he might be. Any other week, he would have been on stage, getting ready to perform another show.
But, that night, show time was delayed for about five minutes – until McLain, the director of the bluegrass, old-time and country music program at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tenn., came to the stage leading the East Tennessee State University Bluegrass Band through a couple of sets of fast-paced tunes.
The crowd clogged.
And clapped.
“I’ve been there before when Dale’s not been there,” White said. “You would like to see him there, but the show goes on.”

‘KEEP ON THE SUNNY SIDE’
But Forrester will talk about her continued mission to guide the Carter Fold, just like her lookalike mother did.
She looks forward, this spring, to again hosting a Barter Theatre production called “Keep On the Sunny Side,” which depicts the story of the original Carter Family – in words and music.
The play, like all the shows at the Carter Fold, strives to capture the magic of the Carter Family.
Plain and simple, McLain said, magic survives within the walls of the Carter Fold.
“Those connections are always there,” he added. “I think that I feel all that history. And I think that a lot of people go there to experience a bit of that Carter Family magic.”
Magic is a word you’ll hear many people use to describe the Carter Family.
“I think that every one of them has that,” McLain said. “I think that every one of them – Janette, Joe, Gladys, Rita, Dale – I just leave it at magic. I wouldn’t try to explain it.”
And the Carter Fold, McLain predicted, will survive as long as that magic remains.
“Everybody has really stretched to try to do all they can to remember Janette and make the Fold the best it can be without Janette and to carry it forward,” McLain said. “And I have ever confidence that the Fold will be a great legacy for Janette Carter and The Carter Family.”

YOU SHOULD KNOW
Info: (276) 386-6054 or visit www.carterfamilyfold.org.