Music is nothing new to the Carawan Brothers as it has been a time-honored tradition in their family for at least three generations. In their recent album, "Reminiscing with the Carawan Brothers: Three Generations of Music," Earl, Max and Lee Carawan have produced a collection of songs that reflect family favorites—favorite songs not only chosen from their own generation but from the generations of their father and grandfather. This collection of songs, some possessing late nineteenth century and early twentieth century origins, contains one of their grandfather's favorite songs, My Old Cottage Home (1889), as well as a few of their father's favorites, Bury Me Beneath The Willow Tree, Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue (1925), and It's My Lazy Day. This array of songs, with which the Carawan Brothers grew up and matured, not only speaks to the emotions of love and heartbreak but gently whispers to the innermost depths of the soul stirring it to ponder its destiny. Thus, this album not only emphasizes the importance of the musical tradition in the Carawan family, but also allows for the reminiscence of cherished songs from yesteryear. Advancing a generation, Rufus Carawan has been credited by his family as the patriarch responsible for establishing the tradition of music in the Carawan family. With a secured interest in music, Rufus, a young man at the turn of the twentieth century, introduced "old-time music" to a new band of Carawan brothers—five of his eighteen children. Well before the advent of radio, Rufus, who "knocked" the banjo and played the fiddle, created an atmosphere that fostered the musical development of his children. Like his father, he invited members of his community to join him in his home for square dances for which he and his fiddle-playing brother Timmie performed. Again, according to the Goose Creek Islander, "Bill Swindell, John Styron, and Ruff, Seth, and Timothy Carawan played music with banjos, fiddles, and guitars all over Goose Creek Island." Rufus, however, never pushing, allowed his children to decide for themselves whether or not they wanted to play an instrument. While Percy (1910) and Poe (1923) both chose to play the mouthharp, their other brothers chose to play stringed instruments. As a result, the next band of Carawan brothers that evolved during the early decades of the twentieth century consisted of Emmett Carawan (1903-1990), Seth Carawan (1908-1940), Mack Carawan (1911-1979), Willie Carawan (1926-1999), and Guyon Carawan (1933). Mack, the father of Max, Lee, and Earl, first learned to play the mandolin which his oldest brother Still, another source of music that Max, Lee, and Earl encountered was the resonant and melodious sounds transmitted through the airwaves of distant radio stations such as Nashville's WSM and Wheeling's WWVA. With those wonderful, rich sounds produced by so many talented musicians gradually came the transformation of the late nineteenth century/early twentieth century old-time music. As the Carawan Brothers matured through the years, they witnessed first-hand how the old-time music expanded into many sub-genres such as the music of the singing cowboys, Western Swing, Honky-tonk, Rockabilly, West Coast County, and the Nashville Sound. Thus, the Carawan Brothers have stockpiled a vast range of musical influences over the last several years. While Earl, Lee, and Max each undeniably admit that their father Mack greatly inspired them, Max adds that early twentieth century guitar picker Maybelle Carter and vocalists Hank Williams, Elton Britt, and his former father-in-law, cowboy screen actor and singer Jimmy Wakely, significantly influenced him. Yet, according to Lee, he honestly affirms that his brothers John, Max, and Earl not only influenced him, but also vocalists Jim Reeves, Marty Robbins, and Mac Wiseman as well as pickers Chet Atkins, Hank Snow, Merle Travis and Bill Monroe. Earl, the youngest member of this musical trio, maintains that the musicians who greatly influenced him were vocalists Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams, Hank Thompson, and Jim Reeves and pickers Hank Snow and Merle Travis. In fact, while picking guitar, Earl adeptly imitates Travis's style of picking by using his thumb to keep time and his forefingers to walk the strings. Unsuspectingly, such early musical experiences and influences as these laid the groundwork which motivated the Carawan Brothers to pursue future musical opportunities. In 1949, Wesley Parker, the owner of a large-sized tent show in Harbinger, North Carolina, heard John and Max playing and singing with Ray Brickhouse on a radio station broadcasting out of Washington, North Carolina. Recognizing talent when he heard it, Parker contacted the boys and invited them to join his traveling tent show. They consented and as a result they worked for the "Wesley Parker Tent Show" for the next year traveling all over eastern North Carolina—to rural towns as far north as the Virginia border and as far south near Wilmington frequently performing in towns such as Lowland, Vandemere, Sladesville, Swan Quarter, Last Chance, Mackeys Ferry, Fort Barnville, Sandy Cross, and at the Grandy Labor Camp. But, in 1950, Parker closed the outfit leaving the brothers to find other work. During the 1960s, while living in California, Lee and Max played and sang together for various social events. They also entered talent contests such as one in Long Beach where they competed against many talented amateur entertainers. Lee recalls at the time Buck Owens and his 1965 hit song "I've Got A Tiger By The Tail" were popular, so many performers were imitating him. After Max and Lee finished their performance and walked off stage, Rose Maddox, the sole female member of the famous 1930s and 1940s hillbilly band "The Maddox Brothers and Rose," called them over to the table where she was sitting. She introduced herself, told Lee and Max that she really enjoyed them, but then remarked that they sounded like the "Kingston Trio." They didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or a criticism, but later laughed about how the two of them could sound like three people. Throughout the past years the Carawan Brothers have played for many events. However, within the last decade, they have frequently performed at various events such as historical society meetings, senior citizen functions, family and class reunions, school programs, and fund-raising benefits. Lately, other opportunities have allowed the Carawan Brothers to share the stage with many talented performers at local events. Since 2000, they have been featured entertainers for Ocracoke Island's annual "OcraFolk Festival," performing with groups of the Outer Banks music scene like Molasses Creek, Martin Garrish, and Bill and Libby Hicks. In 2002, Lee, who lives in Missouri, joined Earl and Max for his first OcraFolk Festival. These past few years, they have performed for the Pocosin Arts Folkways Jamboree "Molasses Creek & New Friends in Columbia, NC, the Ocracoke Opry Benefit for Victims in Washington, NC, and the Hometown Bluegrass Festival in Belhaven, NC. Also, Earl and Max were recorded on the CD titled Homemade Pocosin Jam: Finger Pickin' Good in 2000 and on the CD titled Coastalfolk: Music of Coastal Carolina in 2002. Because of their early influences and encounters with music, mostly due to the radiation of their family's influence, some fifty years later Max, Lee and Earl continue to play and sing songs from the various sub-genres of country music that are lumped together and labeled today as "classic country" music—vintage songs that they remember from years gone by. Though their overall style may seem somewhat nostalgic, it truly celebrates a host of talented musicians who helped broaden country music and make it what it is today. More important, by doing what they love best—singing and playing music—Lee, Earl and Max have helped preserve the musical tradition of the Carawan family, a tradition that is three generations old. The Carawan Brothers's CD, REMINISCING WITH THE CARAWAN BROTHERS: THREE GENERATIONS OF MUSIC contains 22 songs: MY OLD COTTAGE HOME (W. O. Sills), HOW MANY ARMS HAVE HELD YOU (H. Barnes/D. Robertson), THIS TRAIN IS BOUND FOR GLORY (B. Broonzy), YOU BELONG TO MY HEART (A. Lara/R. Gilbert), THE PADRE OF OLD SAN ANTONE (T. Spencer), EVERYBODY'S HAD THE BLUES (M. Haggard), I'M A NATURAL BORN GAMBLIN' MAN (M. Travis), SPANISH EYES (E. Snyder/C. Singleton/B. Kaempfert), I ONLY WANT A BUDDY, NOT A SWEETHEART (E. Jones), HARBOR LIGHTS (J. Kennedy/H. Williams), MY LITTLE LADY (SADIE BROWN) (J. Rodgers/E. McWilliams), PARTNERS (D. Dill), WHISPERING (Schonberger/Coburn/Rose), IF I HAD MY WAY (L. Klein/J. Kendis), IT'S MY LAZY DAY (G. Autry), WALKIN' DOWN THE LINE (B. Dylan), BURY ME BENEATH THE WILLOW TREE (Traditional), I LIKE MY CHICKEN FRYIN' SIZE
While relatively little information is known about Alpheus Carawan's (1837-1913) background in music, the Carawan Brothers' great-grandfather, family lore and history books hold him responsible for at least establishing the presence of music in this Carawan family. Living in rural, coastal communities of eastern North Carolina's Hyde and Pamlico Counties and thus hampered by isolation due to numerous water boundaries, marshy land masses, few reliable roads and limited transportation, Alpheus learned to create his own entertainment with music and did so not only in his family's home but in his community as well. According to the Goose Creek Islander, Alpheus "lived up the prong, and . . . held regular square dances in [his] home." Whatever his interest in music or level of musical ability, it is obvious that two of his sons, Timmie Carawan (1865-1954) and Rufus Carawan (1877-1968), absorbed, in part, their interest in music and perhaps some of their musical skills from him.
Emmett brought home but later dropped when Emmett brought home a guitar. In the ensuing years, Mack not only played guitar finger-pick style and called square dances, but frequently sang alone or with his friends, children, and his brothers Emmett (mandolin), Seth (fiddle), Willie (banjo), and Guyon (fiddle) for family gatherings and other public venues. In the early 1940s, Mack performed music once a week on a radio station broadcasting out of Washington, North Carolina for more than a year. Occasionally, his two oldest sons, John and Max, just teenagers, joined him for the weekly performance. Upon such occasions, after their broadcast, the three of them would exit the studio into the hall where bystanders surrounded John and Max to either drop change or stuff dollar bills into their front shirt pockets. Then, one afternoon in the late 1950s, Mack and his brothers performed a few songs on Washington, North Carolina's television station, WITN, surely a big thrill for a man who didn't own a television at the time. He also performed for local dances, school programs and tent shows with and without his sons.
In his later years, Mack frequently performed at music festivals throughout North Carolina. He regularly performed with his son Earl at Mars Hill College in Mars Hill and by himself at the North Carolina Folklife Festival in Durham. Like his father and his father before him, Mack continued the enduring musical tradition of the Carawan family by setting an example of a man who loved to perform music.
Today's band of Carawan Brothers—Lee, Max and Earl—started playing music more than fifty years ago. Though their background in music is simple, they, like their father Mack and grandfather Rufus, genuinely possess a natural gift for music. They all recall that their father showed them very little if anything at all—maybe a few chords or part of a song. Nevertheless, they learned music by ear and retained songs by memory, essentially teaching themselves how to play.
Having grown up in rural and relatively isolated communities of Hyde and Beaufort Counties during the 1930s and 1940s, Max, Lee and Earl encountered music from different sources. Because isolation was still a key factor in this area, the Carawan Brothers grew up around family entertainment—the music performed by their grandfather, father, and uncles. During these malleable times in their young lives, the brothers learned and imitated the old-time music of their father's and grandfather's generations. Secondly, Mack also encouraged the musical development of his children by providing them the accessibility to different instruments. He bought a banjo for his oldest son John (1932-1997). Then, in 1943, he bought an upright piano for his second oldest son Max. A few years later, however, Max's Aunt Beatrice frequently cracked his knuckles for not paying attention during his piano lessons because his two younger brothers, Lee and Earl, happily playing outside, diverted his attention. So, he forsook his piano lessons and shortly after that took up the mandolin, a Sears & Roebuck "Silvertone." About a year later, when Max's mandolin playing went by the wayside, he took up the guitar and then Lee, next in line, picked up his mandolin. Finally, with no more hand-me-down instruments left to inherit, Earl, the youngest of this musical troop, jokingly recalls that the first instrument he learned to play was a pair of spoons—or, "when they weren't being used by the family." But, in early 1951, Earl's mother bought him his first guitar.
Then, about 1952, John, Max and Lee formed the "Carawan Brothers Tent Show." For nearly a year, they maintained a rigorous schedule performing six nights a week in small towns throughout eastern North Carolina such as Harbinger, Mackeys Ferry, Douglas Crossroads, Sladesville, Swan Quarter, and Last Chance. For the price of a quarter, black and white audiences came to see a variety of entertainment. First on the bill, the boys performed a variety of hillbilly music and sometimes were joined by their father Mack or brother Earl who made guest appearances. In fact, Earl, just a teenager, regularly sang Hank Snow's big hit from 1950 I'm Movin' On. Also, they performed different skits such as black-face comedy and showed cartoons like "Little Lulu" followed by an hour-long western movie. Their entire show lasted between 2 ½ to 3 hours. Yet, in early 1953, John left his brothers tent show to go to Knoxville, Tennessee to work with radio personality Bob Drake. For two years John traveled extensively with Drake performing music at schools and carnivals throughout the United States, even as far away as Alaska. He also played with many notable performers, even honky-tonker Carl Smith. Unfortunately, in 1954, Hurricanes Hazel and Irene destroyed Max and Lee's tent forcing them to abandon their show. Shortly, however, they found work with Bob and Mae Noell's traveling animal show, "Noell's Ark Gorilla Show." They not only performed music but wrestled the gorilla and boxed the chimp, two popular attractions. Also, Lee assisted as a magician's assistant. But, by November 1954, with the rumor of being drafted, the brothers joined the Air Force.
Today, the Carawan Brothers continue to actively play music. Earl, Max, and Lee, never bashful, keep in shape musically by learning new songs or playing new instruments. Each brother not only can skillfully play the guitar and harmonica, but can pick out tunes on other instruments they don't regularly play. In fact, in the last few years, Lee has taught himself how to play the fiddle. Earl, having progressed from the days of his spoon-playing, also plays a set of ivory bones.
- Sandy Carawan
