June 8, 1998
 

          By BEN RATLIFF

          Helen Carter, a singer and musician who was part of the Carter family dynasty of country-music
          entertainers, died on Tuesday at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. She
          was 70 and lived in Dickson, Tenn.

          She had been hospitalized for gastrointestinal problems that began over a year ago, said Kelly
          Hancock of House of Cash, the business office of Johnny Cash, Carter's brother-in-law, and of her
          sister June Carter Cash.

          The original Carter Family band, which helped kick-start the country-music record industry in 1927,
          was begun by A.P. Carter, a railroad worker and farmer from Maces Springs, Va.; his wife, Sara,
          and Sara's cousin, Maybelle.

          The band grew with the occasional addition of Maybelle's children, including Helen.

          The family band lasted from 1927 to 1943, and it was of inestimable importance to American music.

          It disseminated traditional songs, established a widely imitated small-group sound and built a set of
          templates that country, bluegrass and folk musicians would draw upon -- the mountain hymn, the love
          ballad, the cowboy tune and so on.

          In 1943 Sara quit singing for good, and Maybelle started a new band, Mother Maybelle and the
          Carter Sisters, with her daughters as permanent members.

          Helen was 12 when she was introduced to the world over the airwaves of XET in Monterrey,
          Mexico, and in her teen-age years became the most dependable musician of her mother's band,
          playing accordion, guitar and autoharp.

          It was a successful band, featured on "The Old Dominion Barn Dance," a radio show based in
          Richmond, Va., in 1946; later it moved to the "Tennessee Barn Dance," on Knoxville's WNOX.

          In 1950 the band joined the Grand Ole Opry on WSM in Nashville, and did some recording as a trio
          for Columbia records.

          Helen Carter was a songwriter as well, writing "Poor Old Heartsick Me," a hit for the singer Margie
          Bowes in 1959.

          In the 1960's and 70's, she often appeared on radio and television not as a member of a working
          group but simply as a member of the famous clan. For example, she appeared on television with her
          sister June and Cash.

          In addition to her sister June, of Hendersonville, Va., she is survived by her husband, Glenn Jones of
          Dickson, Tenn.; another sister, Anita Carter of Goodlettsville, Tenn.; three sons, Glenn Daniel, David
          Lawrence, and Kevin Carter Jones, all of Dickson, and six grandchildren.
 
 

                     Copyright 1998 The New York Times Company