Product Code Database
" Mother" Maybelle Carter (born Maybelle Addington; May 10, 1909 – October 23, 1978) was an American Country music musician and "among the first" to use the Carter scratch,Susan Ware, Stacy Braukman (2005). Notable American Women: A Biographical Dictionary, 5, Completing the Twentieth Century, p.105. . with which she "helped to turn the guitar into a lead instrument."Holly George-Warren, Laura Levine (2006). Honky-Tonk Heroes and Hillbilly Angels: The Pioneers of Country and Western Music, p.4. It was named after her. She was a member of the original Carter Family act from the late 1920s until the early 1940s and a member of the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle group.
On March 13, 1926, Maybelle married Ezra Carter. They had three daughters, Helen Carter, June, and Anita Carter.
She was a member of the Carter Family, formed in 1927 by her brother-in-law, A. P. Carter, who was married to her cousin Sara Carter, also a part of the trio. The Carter Family was one of the first commercial rural country music groups. Maybelle helped create the group's unique sound with her innovative style of guitar playing, using her thumb to play the melody on the bass strings and her index finger to fill out the rhythm. Her technique, sometimes known as the Carter Scratch, influenced the guitar's shift from rhythm to lead instrument.George-Warren, Holly (1997). "Hillbilly Fillies: The Trailblazers of C&W" quoted in Reddington, Helen (2007). The Lost Women of Rock Music, p.179. .
The Grand Ole Opry community of the early 1950s widely respected her, a matriarchal figure in country music circles who was popularly known as "Mother Maybelle." However, she was only in her forties. Maybelle and her daughters toured from the 1940s through the 1960s as "The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle," but after the death of A. P. Carter in 1960, the group revived the name "The Carter Family." They frequently toured with Johnny Cash, her son-in-law, from 1968 on. The group performed regularly on Cash's weekly network variety show from 1969 to 1971. She briefly reunited with former Carter Family member Sara Carter during the 1960s folk music craze, with Sara singing lead and Maybelle providing harmony as before in their 1966 reunion album.
Carter made occasional solo recordings during the 1960s and 1970s, usually full-length albums. Her final such work, a two-record set released on Columbia Records, placed on Billboard's best-selling country albums chart in 1973 when she was 64. Maybelle was also featured on The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1972 recording Will the Circle Be Unbroken.
Carter died on October 23, 1978, after several years of poor health. She was interred next to her husband, Ezra, in Hendersonville Memory Gardens in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Two of their daughters – Helen Carter and Anita Carter – are buried nearby.
Writers have identified at least three or four styles played by Maybelle Carter. She often tuned her guitar down, sometimes as many as five frets, but sometimes used a capo to increase the instrument's range.Sokolow, F. (nd). The Carter Family Collection: 32 Songs from the Royal Family of Country Music. Hal-Leonard Corporation Her most famous and widely recorded style is sometimes called "the Carter Scratch," or "thumb-lead style." This technique involved playing a melody on the instrument's three bass strings while strumming the three treble strings for rhythm. She used thumb and finger picks while playing. (2025). 9780879308704, Backbeat Books. ISBN 9780879308704
Another style, later popularized by other musicians, was essentially the reverse of the thumb-lead style. In this style, Carter fingerpicked a melody on the three treble strings while brushing a rhythm on the bass strings with her thumb. It is often said that she first saw this style played by African American musician Lesley Riddle. A third style of Carter's guitar playing involved rapid flatpicking in a country blues rhythm. Her most obscure style was utilized on a few recordings by the Original Carter Family in the 1920s and early 1930s. It may be described as a Hawaiian-influenced slide technique that sometimes sounded like a modern dobro. Finally, if other musicians were playing a lead instrument, Maybelle would often strum chords on the guitar to accompany them.Seeger, M. & Carter, J. (2000). Guitary Styles of the Carter Family. (printed insert booklet) Homespunvideo2 Maybelle once filled in for Jimmie Rodgers during a recording session, perfectly mimicking his guitar playing style, in 1932. Rodgers was ill with tuberculosis at that time and had waning stamina during the session.Wheeler, B. E. (1976). Mother Maybelle Carter: Her Career Spans Half a Century.
Carter recorded her signature guitar piece, "Wildwood Flower," on numerous occasions, beginning with the original 1928 version. "The Cannon Ball," recorded with the Original Carter Family in 1930, illustrates Carter's fingerpicking style with thumb/bass fill. Her final recording in the slide guitar style was "My Old Cottage Home" in 1931. "Coal Miner's Blues," recorded for Decca, is an excellent flatpicking illustration.Wolfe, C. (2000). The Carter Family: In the Shadow of Clinch Mountain. Bear Family Records, Germany.
Guitar recordings she made with the Carter Sisters: "Fourteen Karat Nothing," "I'm Working on a Building," "Take Good Care of Him" — a rapid-tempo re-recording of "Waves on the Sea" — as well as a contemporary-sounding revision of "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight."Sunny Side Sentinel: Official Publication for the Carter Family, discography Issue (1980).
Solo guitar recordings: "Cumberland Gap," "Victory Rag," "Red Wing," and "Sweet Allie Lee."Various CD, album and single liner notes, labels and credits.
Traditionally the autoharp was strummed as a rhythm instrument.Hickey, N. (1971). His Mother-in-Law is a Legend. TV Guide Maybelle developed (alone or perhaps independently of other musicians who did the same) a "pinch and pluck" technique that forms the basis of most modern autoharp playing styles.Carter Family Fan Club Journal.(1994) This technique allows for playing melodic lead notes on the instrument. Carter's style later evolved to add a fill-in rhythm, similar to her guitar technique. While playing the autoharp, Maybelle would often press cord bars between notes. The effect was a note slurring, a sound similar to a guitar hammer-on. It has been said that pianist Floyd Cramer was especially interested in these embellishments to Maybelle's playing and that they helped to shape his piano technique.Carter, M., et al. (1973). Mother Maybelle Carter Interview. Columbia Records
As she began to feature the autoharp more and more in concerts and radio work, Carter became frustrated with trying to steady the instrument close enough to a microphone often shared by others. She utilized tables and music stands at first but later got the idea of holding the instrument upside down, across her chest, and playing along what was essentially the head of the harp (nearest the tuning pegs). Before then, musicians played below the cord bars at the opposite end. She discovered this technique allowed more space for her complicated playing style and produced a sweeter tone. During at least one public performance, Maybelle stated that autoharps were manufactured differently to accommodate the playing style she popularized.Carter Family Fan Club Journal. (1994)
Maybelle Carter taught at least one workshop on autoharp playing in conjunction with her various appearances at Newport Folk Festivals.Carter Family Fan Club News. (2011) A moderator at the workshop noted that Maybelle should be credited with the first fingerpicked autoharp solo to be captured on commercial recording, referencing "Fair and Tender Ladies" recorded by the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle on Columbia Records about 1950.Autoharp Workshop with Mike Seeger in Carter, M. (1997). Wildwood Pickin'. Vanguard. sound She often played the autoharp in that group. Other examples include a simplistic but moving solo she added to "Mountain Lady" on the family's final album before her death. In addition to recordings with the Carter Sisters, which featured her autoharp playing, Maybelle Carter often featured the instrument in her solo work. On her earliest solo album, she offered an old fiddle tune, "Liberty," for the session.Sunny Side Sentinel: Official Publication for the Carter Family, discography Issue Later, Smash Records issued an album of autoharp solos by Maybelle Carter, which included a few backing musicians and subtle background vocals by the Stephen Scott Singers. "Green Valley Waltz" and "Barbara Allen" were included along with ten other titles. The bulk of her final solo album (from 1973) was composed of autoharp solos in which a whole band of studio musicians accompanied her.
Mother Maybelle frequently found studio work with other artists to capture the fresh sound she had created. She recorded at least two songs with Johnnie & Jack and at least two with the Wilburn Brothers. The latter collaboration registered a top-ten hit (to which Maybelle Carter was not credited), "Go Away with Me." She also played autoharp on Carl Smith's Sunday Down South gospel album. A similar pairing with Flatt & Scruggs led to the Songs of the Famous Carter Family album, on which Maybelle contributed mostly through her autoharp playing. In the 1960s, Maybelle helped record an instructional record sold with an autoharp through a mail-order chain store. She contributed a demonstration of the instrument and a small amount of dialogue.
In 1937, the two recorded a duet on "Hello Stranger," which featured both voices equally in an unusual call-and-response vocal arrangement. Maybelle sang opening phrases for all verses on the group's 1940 recording of "I'll Never Forsake You." During their final commercial session, Maybelle's voice was slightly dominant to Sara's on selections such as "Why Do You Cry Little Darling," "You Tied a Love Knot in My Heart," and "You're Gonna Be Sorry You Let Me Down." She rarely sing lead for the group on radio shows but sometimes played and sang solos. In the mid-1960s through the early 1970s, Maybelle and Sara would periodically reunite for personal appearances and television work, recording an album for Columbia during this time as well.
Maybelle sang lead on a number of the RCA recordings, including "My Darling's Home at Last," "Why Do You Weep Dear Willow," "Walk a Little Closer," "Don't Wait," and "I've Got a Home Up in Glory." One of the more popular recordings of that era to feature Maybelle was "Someone's Last Day;" on a radio transcription, the emcee notes that "she gets more requests for it than any of them." By the early 1950s, the group changed labels to Columbia. In that era, Maybelle frequently sang a verse on a song with her daughters singing others. Likely the most popular recording from that era was a single featuring "Fair and Tender Ladies" on one side and "Foggy Mountain Top" on the other.Interview with Anita Carter (date?) from Campbell, A. Yesteryear in Nashville
In the early 1960s, the group featuring Maybelle and her daughters (now called simply the "Carter Family") moved to the Liberty label, where they had an album and at least one single released. Shortly after, they returned to Columbia, where the group remained under contract throughout Maybelle's life. It was on Columbia that almost all the group's significantly successful discs were released. Maybelle's role as a vocal soloist was diminished during this time, but she did a lot of harmony singing on those recordings. She would periodically sing whole songs or verses within songs. Examples include "Homestead on the Farm," on the group's The Country Album, "Picture on the Wall," from the Three Generations collection, and an enduring rendition of "Will the Circle be Unbroken" on their Keep on the Sunny Side album.
In the early to mid-1960s, Maybelle Carter's solo work was recorded by Mercury Records and released on its subsidiary labels Smash and Cumberland. There were three albums and at least one non-album single. Representative solo vocals from those recordings include "Faded Coat of Blue," "Flowers Blooming in the Wildwood," and "Nobody's Darling on Earth." A single "Strumming My Guitaro" also featured Maybelle's work on a new autoharp-like instrument of the same name. Finally, "Foggy Mountain Top," an album cut, stands out as being the only commercial recording Maybelle sang with her banjo accompaniment.
By the late 1960s, Maybelle Carter and the entire family had re-signed with Columbia records. Shortly after, the label released another solo album on Maybelle, Living Legend. Vocal examples from that album include "Give Me Your Love and I'll Give You Mine," "We All Miss You Joe," and "A Letter from Home," One single from the album I Told them What You Were Fighting For was a small chart hit. A double album of instrumentals, discussed above, was also released.
Maybelle Carter was elected with the Original Carter Family to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970. She and Sara Carter became the first female performers to be inducted (simultaneously) into the institution.Anonymous. (1993). Historic Dates in the Career of the Carter Family. Published by Carter Family Fan Club
Maybelle Carter was nominated at the 15th Annual Grammy Awards (1972) in the category of Best Country Vocal Performance by a Duo or Group for her collaboration on the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band album "Will the Circle Be Unbroken."
The Carter Family (Maybelle, Helen, June, and Anita) received the "Favorite Country Group" trophy from the American Music Awards in 1973. The following year Maybelle was individually honored with the first Tex Ritter Award by the International Fan Club Organization at Fan Fair in Nashville, TN.Cash, J. C. (1979). Among My Klediments. Zondervan Publishing House
Following Maybelle Carter's death, the CBS network aired a television special called "The Unbroken Circle: A Tribute to Maybelle Carter" in 1979. The following year she and her daughters were given the "Gospel Act of the Year" by the Music City News Cover Awards Show. Maybelle received the "Acoustic Pioneer Award" from Frets Magazine in 1986.
By 1992, Carter was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame.
In 1993, her image appeared on a U.S. postage stamp honoring the Carter Family. She would rank No. 8 in CMT's 40 Greatest Women of Country Music in 2002. In 2005, she was portrayed by Sandra Ellis Lafferty in the Johnny Cash biographical film Walk the Line. Actress Frances Conroy portrayed her in the 2013 TV Movie "Ring of Fire."Ring of Fire. (2013). IMDb.com Carter has also been depicted in musicals such as "Keep on the Sunny Side" and "Wildwood Flowers: The June Carter Story" by actresses and singers such as Joy Lynn White, Gina Stewart, and Teresa Williams.Carter Family Fan Club News. (2002; 2005; 2007)
She was the subject of her granddaughter Carlene Carter's 1990 song "Me and the Wildwood Rose." Her death was the subject of Johnny Cash's song "Tears in the Holston River." Numerous other tribute songs have been written and recorded about Maybelle Carter.
The Original Carter Family (with Maybelle) were inducted into the International Bluegrass Association's Hall of Honor in 2001Carter Family Fan Club News. (2001) and were -given a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award in 2005.Carter Family Fan Club. (2006)
In 2007, Carter was honored as one of the Library of Virginia's "Virginia Women in History" for her musical career.
In 2010, Lipscomb University in Nashville named the stage in Collins Alumni Auditorium after her.
The A. P. and Sara Carter House, A. P. Carter Homeplace, A. P. Carter Store, Maybelle and Ezra Carter House, and Mt. Vernon Methodist Church are listed on the National Register of Historic Places as components of the Carter Family Thematic Resource.
Carter was named the 17th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone in 2023.
| Top Rank (Mother Maybelle Carter: Briar 101) |
| Briar (Mother Maybelle Carter: Briar 101) |
| Briar (Mother Maybelle Carter: Briar 101) |
| Smash; non-album single |
| Columbia (A Living Legend) |
| Columbia (The Carter Family: Three Generations) |
| Edited and issued by Kapp (1962) as Queen of the Autoharp |
| with Stephen Scott Singers |
| subsidiary label of Mercury Records |
| with Sara Carter |
| double record album (a third album of interviews was simultaneously issued to radio stations) |
| These two albums, varying only slightly in song selections, are both reissues of Mercury material previously released on Smash & Cumberland labels |
| Reissue of Mercury/Smash/Cumberland material from previous albums |
| Contains material from live concert appearances and workshops at Newport Folk Festivals |
| plays guitar; uncredited |
| plays guitar; uncredited |
| plays autoharp; uncredited |
| plays autoharp; uncredited; later issued on compilation album |
| plays autoharp; vocalist; with Helen Carter guitar & vocals; uncredited |
| plays guitar with dialogue on A side; plays guitar & vocal duet on B side |
| Credited as session musician; plays autoharp |
| Credited as "Featuring Mother Maybelle Carter"; plays autoharp on all songs; guitar on one song |
| Musician (autoharp) on one song |
| Musician (autoharp); Carter Family vocals; Gold certification |
| Musician (autoharp) |
| Musician (autoharp); Carter Family vocals |
| Musician (autoharp); Helen Carter guitar & vocals by both |
| Sings & Plays "Storms are on the Ocean" |
| Carter Family vocals; Gold certification |
| Carter Family vocals |
| Musician (autoharp); Carter Family vocals |
| Carter Family vocals |
| Musician (autoharp); Carter Family vocals |
| Carter Family vocals; Gold certification |
| Carter Family added vocals on some tracks |
| Carter Family vocals |
| Credited as "Featuring Mother Maybelle Carter...." (other artists listed); Sings & Plays on four titles; Gold & Platinum certifications |
| Carter Family vocals |
| Carter Family vocals |
| Carter Family vocals |
| Musician (autoharp); Helen Carter guitar & vocals by both (with Anita Carter) on two songs |
| Carter Family vocals |
|
|
