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. 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 Maces Spring, Scott Co VA d 2 Jun 1998 Nashville, Davidson Co TN TN; buried Hendersonville Memory Gardens, Hendersonville, Sumner Co TN; Findagrave Memorial 6880; m. 1950 to Glenn Jackson Jones b 31 Mar 1928 Dickson, Dickson Co TN d 15 May 2016; age 88; Sumner Co TN; buried Hendersonville Memory Gardens, Hendersonville, Sumner Co TN; Findagrave memorial id 162750104.
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."
