Sara Elizabeth Carter (née Dougherty, later Bayes; July 21, 1898 – January 8, 1979) was an American country music musician, singer, and songwriter.

[1] Born in Copper Creek, Virginia, the daughter of William Sevier Dougherty and Nancy Elizabeth Kilgore, at age 16 she married A. P. Carter on June 18, 1915; they divorced in 1936.

Sara wrote or co-wrote several other songs, including "My Foothills Home", "The Dying Soldier", "Lonesome Pine Special", "Farther On", and "Railroading on the Great Divide".

[1] The duo were featured as guests in a late 1960s episode of the Wilburn Brothers television show, singing "Little Moses" and "As the Band Played Dixie".

[6] On her 2008 album All I Intended to Be, Emmylou Harris includes the song "How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower", co-written with Kate and Anna McGarrigle about the relationship between Sara and A.P., inspired by a documentary that the three of them saw on television.