Diamonds in the Rough: Sara and A.P. audition for Brunswick Records

Before the Carter Family had their breakthrough moment at the Bristol Sessions, they (or at least, Sara and A.P.) auditioned for another record label: Brunswick Records. Frank and I are excited to present a full chapter from our graphic novel which tells the story of this earlier and less successful attempt to become recording artists.

Because there is little to no documentation of the event (no one can even seem to agree what city it was in), this is our vision of what may have happened at the Brunswick Session.  All we really know is that A.P. was asked to play the fiddle on record and he refused.

The year is 1925, the place is Poor Valley, Virginia, on the modest farm of Alvin Pleasant and Sara Carter...

We hope you enjoyed this chapter. Learn what happens next in the graphic novel Carter Family: Don't Forget This Song, from Abrams Comicarts this fall...

The Sampler Booklet is Out...

David and I each got a bundle of 68-page, full color sampler editions of CARTER FAMILY COMICS: DON'T FORGET THIS SONG from our publisher, Abrams Comicarts this week.

If you're at a comics convention this spring or summer, or if you attend any events at The Museum of Cartoon Art in New York, you'll be able to lay hands on a complementary copy of this uncorrected proof edition!

This book presents the first third of the graphic novel in full color, including an introduction I wrote, our bibliography and thank-you acknowledgments from David and myself to all the wonderful people who have cheered us on during the sometimes-rocky road of this book's creation!

The preview is printed on newsprint, and the effect is different than that of the final hardcover book. It's a blast to see these pages printed on comic-book paper, nonetheless.

Trainspotters will want to hang onto this preview edition--it has little bits of art and dialogue you won't see in the final hardcover version. This is mostly due to some information we got, late in the game, mostly pertaining to recording technology of the late 1920s.

David has made several small but important changes to the artwork since this preview went to press. I've also fine tuned some of the dialogue and color. So this booklet may be a future collector's item!

Here's a quick scan of a page from the sampler:

This page, from Chapter 10 of the book, stands alone. It shows the moment when the idea of recording truly gets into A.P. Carter's head. He also meets a future ally, record retailer Cecil McLister. The top panel is one of the many labor-of-love moments throughout the book. It took David considerable time to render all those distinct figures in the panel--on top of the many other elements therein. Ditto, it was time-consuming (but fun) for me to color them, the buildings, A.P.'s horse cart, etc.

Kim Deitch kindly offered a rave reaction to our book, when it was still in the production stage. Abrams excerpted his enthusiastic words on the back cover of the sampler:

This sampler brings us--and the book--one significant step closer to publication! As said, keep your eyes out for this free proof. We'll keep you updated on the book's progress, as the street date of October, 2012 approaches...