The Carter Sisters, (also known as the second version of

The Carter Family Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. ...

) were an American singing quartet consisting of

Maybelle Carter "Mother" Maybelle Carter (born Maybelle Addington; May 10, 1909 – October 23, 1978) was an American country musician and "among the first" to use the Carter scratch, with which she "helped to turn the guitar into a lead instrument". It ...

and her daughters

June Carter Cash June Carter Cash (born Valerie June Carter; June 23, 1929 – May 15, 2003) was an American singer, songwriter and dancer. A five-time Grammy award-winner, she was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. Prio ...

Helen Carter Helen Myrl Carter Jones (September 12, 1927 – June 2, 1998) was an American country music singer. The eldest daughter of Maybelle Carter, she performed with her mother and her younger sisters, June Carter and Anita Carter, as a member of ' ...

, and

Anita Carter Ina Anita Carter (March 31, 1933 – July 29, 1999) was an American singer who played upright bass, guitar, and autoharp. She performed with her sisters, Helen and June, and her mother, Maybelle, initially under the name The Carter Sisters an ...

. Formed during World War II, the group recorded and performed into the 1990s.

History

In the 1920s through the early 1940s, Maybelle Carter was part of the historic country music trio The Carter Family with her cousin

Sara Carter Sara Elizabeth Carter (née Dougherty, later Bayes; July 21, 1898 – January 8, 1979) was an American country music musician, singer, and songwriter. Remembered mostly for her deep, distinctive, mature singing voice, she was the lead singer on ...

and Sara's husband A. P. Carter. Maybelle's contribution to the group was singing harmony to Sara's lead vocal as well as playing guitar. Maybelle was married to A.P.'s brother Ezra Carter and had three daughters: June, Helen, and Anita. In March 1943, when the original

Carter Family Carter Family was a traditional American folk music group that recorded between 1927 and 1956. Their music had a profound impact on bluegrass, country, Southern Gospel, pop and rock musicians as well as on the U.S. folk revival of the 1960s. ...

trio stopped recording together after their WBT-AM contract ended, Maybelle Carter formed "Mother Maybelle and The Carter Sisters" with her three daughters, who had frequently appeared with The Carter Family on their radio broadcasts of the late 1930s. When this new act began, June was 14, Helen was 16, and Anita was 10. The group was said to have been a mix of traditional songs of the original Carter Family with pop, gospel, and vaudeville comedy. Each daughter made her own contribution to the band. * Helen: vocals, guitar, and accordion * Anita: vocals, guitar, and bass fiddle * June: vocals, autoharp, guitar, banjo, dance, and comedy (she could carry a tune but struggled with pitch problems and soon began to focus more on her comedic addition to the group.) The group (originally from Poor Valley, Virginia) made their first move to Richmond, Virginia in 1943. (They were reported as having kept their travel low key, with their father Ezra driving the group in a van to and from their destinations.) The new group first aired on radio station

WRNL WRNL (910 AM "910 AM The Fan") is a commercial radio station licensed to Richmond, Virginia. WRNL features a sports radio format and is owned and operated by Audacy, Inc. The studios, offices and transmitter are all co-located just north of t ...

in Richmond on June 1, 1943. This broadcast would serve as their first commercially sponsored program and their first radio debut as "The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle." The girls' next big break was offered to them by "

Sunshine Sue Mary Workman (born Mary Arlene Higdon, November 12, 1912 – June 13, 1979), better known by the stage name Sunshine Sue, was an American country music singer best known for her work on the ''Old Dominion Barn Dance'' radio program. Her obituary, d ...

" of WRVA-AM. In September 1946 the group was asked to be a part of ''The Old Dominion Barn Dance'' on WRVA. The show had just begun and started small; however, by the end of its first year, it was selling out its 1,400-seat theater twice a night, every Saturday. The group soon became a headliner for the show. Having spent five years in Richmond, the girls were yet again offered a job opportunity, this time in

Knoxville, Tennessee Knoxville is a city in and the county seat of Knox County in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 United States census, Knoxville's population was 190,740, making it the largest city in the East Tennessee Grand Division and the state' ...

. In 1948, towards the end of their time in Richmond, the girls were offered the chance to work for WNOX-AM in Knoxville. They accepted and were then played on both the evening show, Tennessee Barn Dance; and the daily show, ''Mid-Day Merry-Go-Round''. In Knoxville, they met and began working with guitarist,

Chet Atkins Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), known as "Mr. Guitar" and "The Country Gentleman", was an American musician who, along with Owen Bradley and Bob Ferguson, helped create the Nashville sound, the country music ...

. Now known as The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle with Chet Atkins, the group released its first record on February 2, 1949, produced in Atlanta, Georgia through RCA Victor records. The group recorded many singles in the 1950s. The sisters also individually released occasional single records but none of their recordings in this era were particularly successful, despite their fame and popularity as a concert act. Offered a radio show at Springfield, Missouri's KWTO, the group, along with Atkins left Knoxville. They worked as a popular addition at KWTO in 1949 and 1950. In June 1950 the group was offered a job at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee. They accepted and their performances became some of their most famous and valued work. They performed with famous names such as

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, Carl Smith (June's husband at the time),

Ernest Tubb Ernest Dale Tubb (February 9, 1914 – September 6, 1984), nicknamed the Texas Troubadour, was an American singer and songwriter and one of the pioneers of country music. His biggest career hit song, " Walking the Floor Over You" (1941), ...

, and Johnny Cash and spent roughly ten years working the Grand Ole Opry as well as on various other radio broadcasts. They became members of the Opry in the early 1950s. June also began making frequent solo performances in concert and on television during this era. After A.P. Carter's death in 1960, Maybelle officially renamed the girls' group "The Carter Family" after the original act. In 1963 The Carter Family began working as part of the Johnny Cash road show. During this period, all four members of the group occasionally recorded as solo artists. June and Helen released a number of singles; Anita had several chart records and hit duets with both Hank Snow on "Bluebird Island" and with

Waylon Jennings Waylon Jennings (June 15, 1937 – February 13, 2002) was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and actor. He pioneered the Outlaw Movement in country music. Jennings started playing guitar at the age of eight and performed at age f ...

on "I Got You". She and Snow released an album of duets on RCA Records. June would later have a solo hit in 1971 with "A Good Man." She and Cash eventually began a relationship (initially extramarital); both divorced their spouses in 1966 and married in 1968) and went on to record several hits with him. Maybelle Carter recorded a number of solo albums, mostly instrumental performances, and in 1967 reunited with

for an album of old-timey music titled "Historic Reunion." The act continued and actually enjoyed its greatest success in the early 1970s. June's marriage to Cash brought the Carter Sisters regular appearances on television's ''

The Johnny Cash Show ''The Johnny Cash Show'' is an American television music variety show hosted by Johnny Cash. The Screen Gems 58-episode series ran from June 7, 1969, to March 31, 1971, on ABC; it was taped at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. ...

'' and the first major chart hit records of their career. In 1973, the act won "Favorite Country Vocal Group" on the

American Music Awards The American Music Awards (AMAs) is an annual American music awards show, generally held in the fall, created by Dick Clark in 1973 for ABC when the network's contract to air the Grammy Awards expired, and currently produced by Dick Clark Pro ...

, a surprise victory over the more commercially successful

The Statler Brothers The Statler Brothers (sometimes simply referred to as The Statlers) were an American country music, gospel, and vocal group. The quartet was formed in 1955 performing locally, and from 1964 to 1972, they sang as opening act and backup singers fo ...

(another group closely associated with Cash) and

The Osborne Brothers The Osborne Brothers, Sonny (October 29, 1937 – October 24, 2021) and Bobby (born December 7, 1931), were an influential and popular bluegrass act during the 1960s and 1970s and until Sonny retired in 2005. They are probably best known for ...

. Each of the sisters released LPs on various record labels as well as recording several albums of music as a group. The second edition of The Carter Family released their last record, the 1977 single "Papa's Sugar" a year before Mother Maybelle's death. Helen and Anita continued to appear as part of The Johnny Cash show. In the mid and late 1980s, Anita, Helen, and their children briefly recorded as The Carter Family for Audiograph Records and later

Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it i ...

. June did not participate in these recordings although she remained close to her sisters. In the 1990s Anita's health issues limited her appearances with her sisters and she occasionally was replaced on some concert appearances by June's daughter Rosey. In 1989 The Carter Sisters joined

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band is an American country rock band formed in 1966. The group has existed in various forms since its founding in Long Beach, California. Between 1976 and 1981, the band performed and recorded as the Dirt Band. Constant ...

for the recording of their Country Music Association's Album of the Year, the followup '' Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. 2''. In 1990, the album was celebrated on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

music television program ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show to ...

'', which featured a performance by The Carter Sisters of "Keep on the Sunny Side" and with the full ensemble on the Carter Family song, "

Will The Circle Be Unbroken "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" is a popular Christian hymn written in 1907 by Ada R. Habershon with music by Charles H. Gabriel. The song is often recorded unattributed and, because of its age, has lapsed into the public domain. Most of the ch ...

", from the original 1972 album. "Will The Circle Be Unbroken" with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, John Denver and Friends
Austin City Limits, 1990

Discography

Albums

The Carter Family receives special billing on the cover for their background vocals on

Merle Haggard Merle Ronald Haggard (April 6, 1937 – April 6, 2016) was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler. Haggard was born in Oildale, California, toward the end of the Great Depression. His childhood was troubled a ...

's 1971 album The Land of Many Churches.

Selected Singles

Guest singles

Johnny Cash With Carter Family, The - The Three Bells (7", Promo) Columbia 38-04740 1984

References