L-R: Maybelle (Addington), June Carter Cash, Anita Carter and Helen Carter
L-R: Anita Carter, June
Carter Cash, Helen Carter Jones and Maybelle Addington Carter
Ezra J Carter b 21 Oct 1888 Scott Co VA d 22 Jan 1975 Davidson
Co TN occupation, minister, s/o Robert C Carter and Mary Arvilla Bays. Ezra J
Carter m. 13 Mar 1926 to Maybelle "Mother Maybelle" Addington b 10 May 1909
Nickelsville, VA d 23 Oct 1978 buried Hendersonville Memorial Gardens,
Hendersonville, Sumner Co TN; d/o
Hugh Jackson Addington and Margaret Elizabeth Kilgore.
See Photo Gallery. Mother Maybelle Carter also played music with her
brother, Hugh Jack
Addington Jr and her cousin, Carl Patton McConnell who were also noted
musicians in their own right. (More
Carter Family Videos). Mother Maybelle was managed for a time by Colonel Tom
Parker, Elvis Presley's manager. Children of Ezra Carter and Maybelle
Addington;
1. Helen Myrl Carter
b 19 Sept 1927 Bristol, TN, d 2 Jun 1998 Nashville, TN; buried Hendersonville
Memory Gardens, Hendersonville, Sumner Co TN; m. 1950 to Glenn Jackson Jones.
2.
Valerie June Carter b 23 Jun 1929
Maces Springs, Scott Co VA
d 15 May 2003 Nashville, TN of complications following heart valve replacement
surgery, age 73; buried
Hendersonville Memory Gardens, Hendersonville, Sumner Co TN; occupation, musician, songwriter, comedian
actress; m. 1 Mar 1968 to
Johnny Cash b 26 Feb 1932 Cleveland Arkansas d 12 Sept 2003;
buried Hendersonville Memory Gardens, Hendersonville, Sumner Co TN; s/o
Ray Cash and
Carrie Cloveree Rivers. Johnny Cash m. 7 Aug 1954 (divorced 1968) to
(1) Vivian Dorraine Liberto b 23 Apr 1934 d 24 May 2005;
buried
Ivy
Lawn Memorial Park, Ventura, Ventura Co CA; d/o
Thomas Peter Liberto
and Irene Robinson. (More about
Vivian Liberto Cash Distin) Vivian Dorraine Liberto m. 1968 to
Dick Distin.
Johnny Cash m. 1 Mar 1968 Franklin KY (2) to
Valerie June Carter. Valerie June
Carter m. 9 Jul 1952 (divorced 1956) to (1)
Carl Smith. Valerie June Carter m. 1957
(divorced 1966) to (2) Edwin Rip Nix a police officer and race car driver.
3. Ina Anita Carter
b 31 Mar 1933 Maces Springs, Scott Co VA d 29 Jul 1999 Goodlettsville, TN;
buried Hendersonville Memory Gardens, Hendersonville, Sumner Co TN; m.
1950 (divorced 1953) to (1) Allen Dale Potter b 28 Apr 1929 Puxico, Stoddard Co
MO d 14 Mar 1996 Puxico, Stoddard Co MO. Allen Dale Potter was a great fiddle
player who Chet Adkins praised as having the ability to sound like 3 or 4
fiddlers playing at once. Ina Anita Carter m. 1974 (divorced) to (3) Bob
Wooten (lead guitarist for Johnny Cash's band, "The Tennessee Three". Ina m.
31 Mar 1953 to (2) Don Davis b 22 Dec 1928. Don Davis plays the steel guitar.
They had two children.
Wildwood Flower -
Sung by L-R: June Carter, Maybelle Addington Carter, Anita Carter and Helen
Carter, then known as Mother Maybelle Carter and the Carter Sisters
Btitannica Encyclopedia, Women in History:
Carter, Maybelle
(1909-1978), guitarist
"Maybelle Addington was born on May 10, 1909, in rural southwestern Virginia,
near Nickelsville. By the time Maybelle was 12, she was well versed in the
traditional hill-country songs of the region and had become a skilled and
original guitarist and autoharpist. When she was 17, she married E.J. Carter,
and they moved to Poor Valley, Virginia. To great local acclaim, Maybelle Carter
began performing with E.J.'s brother and sister-in-law at community gatherings
and church events. To showcase her unique guitar-playing style--she picked out
the melody on the bass strings while strumming the rhythm on the treble
strings--the Carters accommodated their vocals to her bass lead. Carter's
innovative playing style would eventually be imitated by countless country and
folk guitarists.
In 1927 the group won a contract with RCA Victor Records. Recordings and radio
broadcasts brought the Original Carter Family (as they are now known) fame
throughout the country. The group stopped performing in 1943, but Maybelle
Carter formed a new group with her daughters. From 1943 to 1948, Mother Maybelle
and the Carter Sisters were featured performers on the Richmond, Virginia, radio
program "Old Dominion Barn Dance." In 1950 they began performing on WSM's "Grand
Ole Opry" in Nashville and soon became stars. Many of their recordings from the
time, such as "Wabash Cannonball" and "Wildwood Flower," are considered classics
of country music. In the late 1950s the daughters stopped performing, but Carter
remained with the Opry until 1967.
The folk revival of the late 1960s revitalized interest in the Original Carter
Family, and Carter performed at the Newport Folk Festivals of 1963 and 1967. In
1970 in no small part owing to Carter's innovations, the group was inducted into
the Country Music Hall of Fame. During the 1970s, Carter continued to appear
regularly on television on the Johnny Cash Show and to perform to appreciative
audiences across the country and in Europe. She died in Nashville, Tennessee, on
October 23, 1978."