Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Carter Family Live in Concert!

When Frank and I planned our graphic novel, we knew we definitely wanted to attempt to recreate the experience of seeing the original Carter Family play live.  Though there are some great live recordings (made on border radio), there is no film footage of Sara, Maybelle, and A.P. playing music together.  There is not even a photograph of one of their concerts!  So we devoted a whole chapter to showing one of their live gigs, from A.P. hanging promotional posters to Maybelle chatting with the local pickers afterwards.

Here we see some local men helping the group set up in a town's schoolhouse.  The stage is wood placed over barrel drums. The lighting will be provided by coal mining lamps!

On this page, the audience has arrived, the lamps are lit, and the concert begins. You can see the full chapter, of course, when the book comes out in early October...

The background art and hatching for this chapter was inked by Sean Michael Robinson. His background inking assistance was invaluable in helping Frank and I complete the book on time.  Thank you, SMR!

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