Today is Mother’s Day. Happy Mother’s Day to all you mothers out there! Today also happens to be the birthday of Maybelle Carter. “Mother Maybelle”, as she was called even in her forties, was born on May 10, 1909 in Nickelsville, Virginia. She was certainly a mother to much of the music that the readers of this web site gravitate towards. Carter Family music set the ground work for commercial country music and for bluegrass music as well.
Many things have been said, I’ve heard and I’ve read
About Maybelle, Mother Maybelle
A sweet Virginia kind of girl, who’s known all around this world
They all know Maybelle, Mother Maybelle
She took pride as a mother and a wife
And she lives on the sunny side of life
Maybelle Carter was a mother to three mothers herself. Born Maybelle Addington, she married Ezra Carter in 1926. Ezra’s brother A.P was married to Maybelle’s cousin Sara Dougherty. Together with A.P. and Sara, Maybelle formed what would become the most successful country music trio in the country.
Their big break came in 1927, when Ralph Peer and Victor records set out to record aspiring musicians using the new technology called the phonograph. The recording session was to be held in Bristol, Tennessee. She was not yet a mother but Maybelle made the eighteen hour drive to the recording session even though she was seven months pregnant at the time. She and the rest of her Carter family managed to make a big impression at these Bristol Sessions, even though they had to compete with another unknown future superstar by the name of Jimmie Rodgers. The Bristol Sessions marked the very beginning of the country music business.
I could sit and listen by the hour
When Maybelle plays the Wildwood Flower
As the Carter’s began to sing, she would make her guitar ring
The sound of Maybelle
Mother Maybelle
Along with Sara and A.P., they sang sweet harmony
To the sounds of Maybelle
Mother Maybelle
The next year, 1928, Maybelle and her troupe traveled to Camden, New Jersey where they recorded the all time classic Wildwood Flower. It sold more than 120,000 copies in 1929 and the band continued their success even through the lean years of the 1930’s great depression. Another new technology, radio broadcasting, brought their unique sound to virtually any home in America that owned a radio.
She took pride as a mother and a wife
Now she lives on the sunnyside of life
It will help us every day, it will brighten up our way
If we keep on the sunnyside of life
All country music fans know that soap opera dramas creep into the lives of country music stars about as often as they creep into the lyrics of their music. A.P.’s wife Sara ran off to California with his cousin in 1943 and the band was finished. Who knows what music they might have created had they stayed together?
Fortunately, Maybelle went on to create more great music herself. She formed a band with her three daughters called Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters. It was an all female band with Maybelle on guitar, Helen on accordion, June on autoharp, and Anita on Bass and lead vocals.They eventually joined with Chet Atkins and wound up as regulars on the Grand Old Opry. Later they appeared as regulars on Johnny Cash’s program after June got married to the star of the show.
Maybelle Carter was a mother to all of us who love music. She contributed so much with her guitar innovations, her great singing and by being an influence to many other musicians including the very distinguished Carter clan that she mothered.
Many years have come and gone, but her music lingers on
The sounds of Maybelle
Mother Maybelle
The sounds of Maybelle
Mother Maybelle
