Dorothy Carter
Dorothy Carter (born New York City, 1935, died June 7, 2003, in New Orleans) was an American musician. Carter performed contemporary, folk, traditional, medieval, and experimental music with a large collection of stringed instruments such as the hammered dulcimer, zither, psaltery, and hurdy-gurdy. She is regarded as an important figure in the genres of psychedelic folk music and medieval music revival.
Dorothy Carter
- Born
- 1935
- Died
- 2003
- Nationality
- United States
- Occupation
- musician
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identity unresolved · checked 25 September 2026
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wikidata · Q5298350 · wikipedia · Dorothy Carter
In this article
Biography
Carter studied classical piano at age six. She later attended Bard College in New York, the London Royal Academy, and Guildhall School of Music in London. In the early 1970s, Carter was a member of the Central Maine Power Music Company with Robert Rutman and Constance Demby. She moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she continued to collaborate with Rutman, who played his sound sculptures on her second album. She regularly played concerts with Rutman's Steel Cello Ensemble, a collaboration that persisted for decades. In the 1990s Carter returned to London and founded the all-female revival group Mediæval Bæbes with Katherine Blake of Miranda Sex Garden. The group's 1997 debut album, Salva Nos reached #2 on the classical music charts. Carter later settled in New Orleans, residing in a live-in studio on the third floor of a warehouse building where she hosted salons. She died in 2003 of an aneurysm. She is survived by a son and daughter, Justin Carter of Los Angeles, California and Celeste Carter of Picayune, Mississippi and a grandson, Damien Helgason.
Appearances
• 2000, Vancouver, BC. Dorothy Carter played hurdy-gurdy at the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. A recording can be heard on the Soundscapes 2000 album.
As Dorothy Carter
• Troubadour (1976) • Waillee Waillee (1978) • Lonesome Dove (2000) • Dorothy Carter (2003)
With Mediæval Bæbes
• Salva Nos (1997) • Worldes Blysse (1998) • The Best of the Mediæval Bæbes (1999, a compilation of tracks from the first two albums) • Undrentide (2000) • The Rose (2002)
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Billboard - 1998 8 8 " ... in Berlin in 1996. While there, she hooked up with MEDIAEVAL BAEBES Dorothy Carter, an older woman ..."
- 2.Willin, Melvyn J. Music, witchcraft and the paranormal. 252. 2005.
- 3.Van Der Heide, Anna. Central Maine musians play 'not music' music. Central Maine Morning Sentinel. 1974.
- 4.Rutman and U.S. Steel Band to perform at Lakewood. Sun Journal. July 17, 1989.
- 5.Angeliska. R.I.P. Dorothy Carter, 1935-2003. Angeliska Gazette.
- 6.Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Soundscapes. 28 February 2013.
Citations
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 29 August 2026.
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