Sara Carter, born on 21 July 1898 in Copper Creek, Virginia, was the lead vocalist of the Carter Family, widely regarded as the founding group of country music. Alongside her husband A.P. Carter and his cousin Maybelle, she helped bring traditional Appalachian folk songs into the mainstream, shaping the template that country music would follow for decades. Her powerful, resonant voice was reportedly what first drew A.P. to her, and it was also what convinced talent scout Ralph Peer of the group's potential during their pivotal 1927 audition.

The trio's breakthrough came on 1 August 1927, when they recorded six songs for Victor Records in Bristol, Tennessee, including "Single Girl, Married Girl" and "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow". Over the following eight years the Carter Family recorded more than 300 songs, with Sara writing or co-writing several, including "My Foothills Home" and "Farther On". Sara and A.P. divorced in 1939 but kept performing together until the group disbanded in 1943; she later reunited professionally with Maybelle for a 1966 album before her death in California in 1979, aged 80.