Dave Carter
From Free net encyclopedia
Dave Carter (August 13, 1952-July 19, 2002) was an American folk singer and songwriter who self-described his style as "post-modern mythic American folk music." He was one half of the duo Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer, along with Tracy Grammer.
Born in Oxnard, California, the son of a mathematician father and an evangelical mother, Carter was raised in Oklahoma and Texas and would draw on his rural upbringing in many of his songs. He studied classical piano from age 4 to about age 12, when he took up guitar. At 17, he left home to hitchhike around the country, especially the Midwestern United States (Great Plains area). After graduating with degrees in music (cello) and fine arts from the University of Oklahoma, he moved to Portland, Oregon, where he continued his education at Portland State University, earning a degree in mathematics. He began an advanced degree in mathematics, spent time at the Berkeley Institute of Transpersonal Psychology and the California Institute of Integral Studies, and worked as an embedded systems programmer for several years before taking up music full-time in the mid-1990s.
Carter was greatly influenced by mythologist Joseph Campbell, who visited his college, and American mystic Carlos Castaneda. He was also influenced by the American landscape, Arthurian mythology, the environment, and transcendental psychology. In 1995, before his association with Grammer began, Carter released a solo album, "Snake Handlin' Man". He made three albums with Grammer: When I Go (1998); Tanglewood Tree (2000); and Drum Hat Buddha (2001).
Carter died in his hotel room of a massive heart attack in Hadley, Massachusetts, while on tour. He was 49.
Dave Carter's songs have been covered by many others, perhaps most notably by Joan Baez ("The Mountain") and by Lucy Kaplansky ("Cowboy Singer"). Tributes to him following his death were written by Tracy Grammer and Richard Shindell, among others.
One song, "Gentle Arms of Eden", was added to the hymnal in at least one Unitarian Universalist congregation, and also serves as the theme to a documentary on the rebuilding of New York City after 9/11. Several of his songs were recorded by Tracy Grammer on her 2005 album Flower of Avalon.
Similar artists include Darryl Purpose and Richard Shindell. He has also been compared with Townes Van Zandt.