Wilf Carter
singer, yodeller, songwriter, guitarist | 1904 - 1996
BornWilfred Arthur Charles Carter on December 18, 1904 in Port Hilford, Nova Scotia, Canada
DiedDecember 5, 1996 in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA
Biographyby Kevin Chong
Some call him the father of Canadian country, but most know Wilf Carter for his signature yodelling style—a studio-enhanced echo yodel or, as he called it, a three-in-one. That distinctive vocal approach made him a star on both sides of the U.S.–Canada border in the 1930s and ’40s. Carter’s prolific career spanned seven decades and influenced the work of performers from Johnny Cash to Merle Haggard, Ian Tyson to Corb Lund. After a brief hiatus in the mid-20th century, he made a comeback with repeat performances on The Tommy Hunter Show on CBC in the 1960s. Carter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971, the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1985.
IN DEPTH
In the early 1930s Wilf Carter led an itinerant existence as a working cowboy who’d more or less sing for his supper. The Nova Scotia–born son of a Baptist minister, he had ventured west to Alberta where he’d broken horses and competed in rodeo competitions. In the meantime, Carter developed his yodelling brand of country on Calgary radio stations, performing on CFCN’s Friday night hoedowns for five dollars a night.
Carter’s vocal abilities earned him a place as an “official songster” of the Canadian Pacific Trail Riders, an adventure travel offshoot of Canadian Pacific Railway, which led tourists on mounted expeditions across the Rockies. Carter not only set up teepees and chopped wood for his groups, he also entertained them at night with songs around the campfire. At the end of his second season as an entertainer with CPR in 1933, Carter’s original tunes were such a hit that he was invited to audition for RCA Victor in Montreal. He declined. “[My] funds as usual were low,” he recalled in his 1961 autobiography, The Yodelling Cowboy, “and so I went back to the ranches to help with the branding of cattle.”
Carter’s big break finally came that year when he was offered a spot performing on the S.S. Empress of Britain, a cruise ship travelling from New York to the West Indies. On the way to New York, Carter stopped in Montreal to record two songs: “My Swiss Moonlight Lullaby” and “The Capture of Albert Johnson.” When he returned from the cruise, he learned that RCA Victor wanted to release the tunes on what would be his first recorded 78. While the record was a hit, Carter continued to lead a wandering life in search of farm work, and his experience “riding the rods” informed songs like “The Hobo’s Yodel” and “Why Did I Ever Start Roamin’ My Whole Life Away?”
Success caught up with him in 1935 when, after being introduced to New York radio executives by a “very fine gentleman” he’d met while singing on the trail, he was offered his own radio program, The Wilf Carter Show. There, he soon became known as “Montana Slim” (a nickname given to him by a CBS typist transcribing his lyrics). At the acme of his stardom in the late 1930s, Carter received 10,000 pieces of fan mail a week and appeared on 250 radio stations across North America. And though his career waned in the 1940s after a car accident sidelined him from touring for nearly nine years, he quickly regained momentum with frequent appearances on singer Tommy Hunter’s CBC television show in the 1960s.
Some call him the father of Canadian country, but most know Wilf Carter for his signature yodelling style—a studio-enhanced echo yodel or, as he called it, a three-in-one. That distinctive vocal approach made him a star on both sides of the U.S.–Canada border in the 1930s and ’40s. Carter’s prolific career spanned seven decades and influenced the work of performers from Johnny Cash to Merle Haggard, Ian Tyson to Corb Lund. After a brief hiatus in the mid-20th century, he made a comeback with repeat performances on The Tommy Hunter Show on CBC in the 1960s. Carter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1971, the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame in 1984 and the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1985.
IN DEPTH
In the early 1930s Wilf Carter led an itinerant existence as a working cowboy who’d more or less sing for his supper. The Nova Scotia–born son of a Baptist minister, he had ventured west to Alberta where he’d broken horses and competed in rodeo competitions. In the meantime, Carter developed his yodelling brand of country on Calgary radio stations, performing on CFCN’s Friday night hoedowns for five dollars a night.
Carter’s vocal abilities earned him a place as an “official songster” of the Canadian Pacific Trail Riders, an adventure travel offshoot of Canadian Pacific Railway, which led tourists on mounted expeditions across the Rockies. Carter not only set up teepees and chopped wood for his groups, he also entertained them at night with songs around the campfire. At the end of his second season as an entertainer with CPR in 1933, Carter’s original tunes were such a hit that he was invited to audition for RCA Victor in Montreal. He declined. “[My] funds as usual were low,” he recalled in his 1961 autobiography, The Yodelling Cowboy, “and so I went back to the ranches to help with the branding of cattle.”
Carter’s big break finally came that year when he was offered a spot performing on the S.S. Empress of Britain, a cruise ship travelling from New York to the West Indies. On the way to New York, Carter stopped in Montreal to record two songs: “My Swiss Moonlight Lullaby” and “The Capture of Albert Johnson.” When he returned from the cruise, he learned that RCA Victor wanted to release the tunes on what would be his first recorded 78. While the record was a hit, Carter continued to lead a wandering life in search of farm work, and his experience “riding the rods” informed songs like “The Hobo’s Yodel” and “Why Did I Ever Start Roamin’ My Whole Life Away?”
Success caught up with him in 1935 when, after being introduced to New York radio executives by a “very fine gentleman” he’d met while singing on the trail, he was offered his own radio program, The Wilf Carter Show. There, he soon became known as “Montana Slim” (a nickname given to him by a CBS typist transcribing his lyrics). At the acme of his stardom in the late 1930s, Carter received 10,000 pieces of fan mail a week and appeared on 250 radio stations across North America. And though his career waned in the 1940s after a car accident sidelined him from touring for nearly nine years, he quickly regained momentum with frequent appearances on singer Tommy Hunter’s CBC television show in the 1960s.
inventor, radio pioneer | 1900 - 1939
