Carter Fold Seeks Brighter Future, Not Family Feud

More than two years after the death of its founder, officials at the Carter Family Memorial Music Center are still trying to chart a clear path for future success.

The Carter Fold, a Scott County, Va., entertainment venue, was established by the late Janette Carter in 1976.

Her goal was to preserve and promote the legacy of the Carter Family – her parents, A.P. and Sara Carter, and cousin Maybelle Carter. The trio lived in Poor Valley in Scott County, but their 1927 Bristol Sessions recordings launched a highly influential recording and performing career that eventually earned them induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

Struggling to lead 

Despite the presence of a board of directors since the 1970s, Janette Carter made many of the important decisions about the center’s operation until her death in January 2006.

As the board took on more of those responsibilities, it nearly imploded last year over disagreements with Janette Carter’s son, former board Vice President Dale Jett, according to current board President Howard Klein.

"Dale would never admit that he represented a faction -- that he was doing his best to destroy his sister," Klein said of Rita Forrester, who serves as director of the Carter Fold and is a member of its board. "It was the inevitable train wreck, and it happened."

Since the dispute came to light last year, Jett has declined to comment publicly or answer questions.

"I don’t want to get in an argument with them, and I don’t want to do anything to harm the Carter Fold. I would never do anything to harm the Carter Fold," Jett said Friday morning.

Board members voted to remove Jett from the board in December based largely on his unwillingness to work with them, Klein said.

"They [board members] treated him like a hand grenade that was about to go off at the meetings. He exerted a tremendous negative power by not doing anything," Klein said. "Without Dale on the board, everything is possible. With him on the board, nothing was possible."

Ironically, Jett’s departure closely mirrors history. Decades before, Janette Carter had her brother Joe – who helped to establish the Carter Fold – removed from the board of directors.

Forrester continues to decline requests to comment on her brother’s departure from the board and his decision to stop performing at the Carter Fold.

She said, however, she looks forward to the future.

"I feel really good about it [future]. I love all of these board members, and I love working with them. So it’s really encouraging to me to know that we’re moving forward, and that I have all this wonderful support from this board. It’s a wonderful thing," Forrester said.

"I’m very comfortable with the board and the directions we are taking. If I wasn’t, I would sure say so, and I would say so loudly. I’d let it be known," she said.

Board member James Bryant said his desire is to assist Forrester, just as he did her mother.

"She’s so much like Janette, all she [Forrester] would have to say is tell us to disappear and we would," Bryant said.

Other board members expressed similar loyalty.

"I think it’s important that there are several members of the board who are second generation," said board Treasurer Vickie Virts, a childhood friend of Rita and Dale.

Those include second-generation musicians Dr. Joe Smiddy and Raymond McLain, director of the bluegrass and country music program at East Tennessee State University.

"I think a lot of us feel like we’re just placeholders for the board members before us and those who will serve after us. It’s just a continuum," Virts said.

Klein, who served as a consultant to Janette Carter in the 1970s and helped her establish the original board, was added to the board last May. His wife, Janette Windrow, is an original board member who continues to serve.

"Howard persuaded my mom to go nonprofit originally. She gave him a lot of credit and she trusted him explicitly," Forrester said. "At the time we created the board, he [Klein] was the director of the arts for the Rockefeller Foundation, so he could not have served on our board. He’s retired now and was working as a consultant, so we decided he needed to be on our board. That had everyone’s approval."

Dixie Hall – wife of country singer Tom T. Hall and a longtime friend of Janette Carter – is also a longtime board member. While the Halls live near Nashville, they also own a home in Scott County.

The board’s newest member is Faye Collins, who was chosen to coordinate volunteers working at the Fold. 

What next? 

Looking forward, Carter Fold officials need to create additional space, better display archives and hire more full-time employees, board members said.

With that in mind, the board last month approved the concept of a new office building. Plans also include finding new ways to promote the facility, which attracts hundreds to live acoustical performances each week and thousands to an August music festival.

In addition to the Fold, the complex includes A.P. Carter’s former country store – which serves as a museum – and the log cabin where he was born. Both, however, are historic landmarks that can’t be changed in any way, Forrester said.

"We’re faced with, where do we put the people we’re going to hire? We need space for the people who work and space to put our artifacts," Forrester said.

Plans call for a two-story, 2,000-square-foot office building adjacent to existing structures. The project is expected to cost about $75,000, with much of the labor donated, Bryant said.

"We’re looking at at least three or four offices, a conference room and just space for the people we hope to employ," Forrester said. "Hopefully, next year we’ll at least start to tackle it. If we can get some help, it will probably be a year or year and a half to finish."

The board has also established an endowment to help sustain operations.

"Joseph Waldo, our attorney, challenged us to raise $5,000 to match a $5,000 gift he gave. But he stipulated it would create a fixed endowment where only the interest could be used," Klein said. "He gave us a year to get that, and we raised it at one meeting."

The board is also considering a campaign to increase that total. 

The Crooked Road 

Full-time staffing at the popular attraction would be welcome news to officials of The Crooked Road – Virginia’s Heritage Music Trail.
The program is designed to increase tourism in Southwest Virginia, and the Fold remains one of its most popular attractions, said Todd Christensen, Virginia’s deputy director of community development and an architect of The Crooked Road.

"We want the Fold to be open during the week. The Crooked Road is trying to get tourists to visit here. And every time I’ve been there, someone would show up from California or somewhere. I know if somebody drove from California, they would pay $20 to walk in there and see that stage and never think twice about it."

Christensen predicted Fold operations would make money if the facility were accessible during the week.

"We would like to see all the music centers do more," said Joe Wilson, chairman of the National Council for Traditional Arts and founder of the Blue Ridge Music Center in Galax, Va.

"I wish we could get all the attractions to do that," Wilson said. "At the Carter Fold, if they would keep someone there all week long, I believe they would see more visitors. It might not be a lot of traffic in the beginning, but it would build."

Christensen said the artisan center planned for the Virginia Highlands Community College campus in Abingdon also will serve as a welcome center for tourists and tie together all of the region’s cultural heritage attractions.

"There’s a lot of synergy here. Critical to us is having the museum to tell the story of the Carter Family and having it open and available to the public," Christensen said. "It’s a very high priority for us."

Wilson, who wrote a book about The Crooked Road, said everyone is closely watching the Carter Fold situation.

"Joe and Janette are gone. So looking to the future, you have to be concerned about how you keep the ties to tradition and keep the ties to this family," Wilson said. 

Minor changes

Visitors to the popular Saturday night music shows may see some minor changes, but the biggest differences won’t be too obvious, Forrester said.

Fold officials are working to improve the quality of the show with better lighting, a better sound system and tightening up the program.

"It’s what we felt we needed to do to present a more professional show and giving the audience what they want," she said.

The Fold underwent a substantial reconstruction project earlier this decade. The old bus seats were replaced with new seating, a concrete floor was poured and the rear of the building was fully enclosed.

"We’re always concerned about losing the flavor, but I haven’t had anybody say they were uncomfortable in the new seats," Forrester said. "What you sit on, or the concrete that you walk on, isn’t as important as the show you see and the whole experience of the Fold – the good music, the people who are so warm and friendly. That’s what’s important." 

The promise 

"When I was a little girl, I never envisioned doing any of this," Forrester said. "I’m not comfortable standing at that microphone. I never expected to be running a nonprofit arts organization and cooking for hundreds of people each week. That wasn’t a goal of mine. But I loved my mom and grandfather so much, I would work 24 hours a day to do this."

Just as Janette Carter pledged to her dying father that she would work to keep the music alive, Forrester said she swore a similar vow.

"Mom was so clear about what she wanted, and I really want to do just what I promised her I would do – what we all promised we would do," Forrester said. "That is to see that the music and what she created lives on. We’re going to do that to the best of our abilities, and we’re not going to let anything stand in our way."

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