Whether you know it or not, you are familiar with the Carter Family. Even as a Yankee not particularly schooled in Appalachian music, I recognized several of the tunes attributed to the First Family of Country Music during the show now touted as Barter’s most requested show.

“Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and “Wildwood Flower” are just a couple of the signature songs recorded by the Carter Family in the late 1920s and included in the Barter’s reprise production of Keep on the Sunny Side: The Songs and Story of the Original Carter Family.

First performed in 2002, Keep on the Sunny Side was the first play written by Dr. Douglas Pote, a family practitioner at Glade Spring Community Clinic. Pote has since penned works about the Stanley Brothers and Jimmie Rodgers, and hopes to create more historical productions in the future.

And there’s no doubt Pote selects golden material; the story of A.P. Carter courting Sara and recording songs together with her cousin Maybelle at the famous Bristol Sessions is legendary. Paid $50 for each track, the group managed to popularize mountain music and left an indelible impact on the country music industry.

They also instilled music in the blood of their children. Several of Maybelle’s descendents became well-known country music artists in their own right, such as June Carter Cash and Roseanne Cash. Meanwhile, A.P. and Sara’s daughter Janette started the Carter Family Fold in Hiltons, Va., which still hosts weekly folk and bluegrass concerts 40 years later (although the auditorium has been enclosed and the school bus seats have been replaced by folding theater seats). We caught the last of three productions of Sunny Side held at the Fold, and I have to say it added a palpable sense of authenticity to the story.

Country singer Joy Lynn White deftly plays Maybelle once again to Jill Anderson’s capable turn as Sara. Kimberly Mays plays the young Janette trying to grasp the complex history of it all along with the audience. And musicians Buddy Woodward of Dixie Bee-Liners fame and Peter Barent Lewis round out the cast. But perhaps most impressive is Barter staple Eugene Wolf in the role of A.P. Carter. He originated the role and continues giving it everything he’s got.

Keep on the Sunny Side runs on the Barter Theatre’s Main Stage through Saturday, May 24 so you’d best plan a trip soon.

Taryn Chase owns a fiddle that’s been gathering dust… Anyone giving lessons in the NRV?