Mother Maybelle Carter
| Maybelle Carter | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Maybelle Addington |
| Born |
May 10, 1909 Nickelsville, Virginia |
| Died | October 23, 1978 (aged 69) Hendersonville, Tennessee |
| Genres | Gospel music, country music |
| Instruments | Guitar "1928 Gibson L-5", Gibson L-1 banjo, autoharp |
| Years active | 1927–1978 |
"Mother" Maybelle Carter (May 10, 1909 – October 23, 1978) was an American country musician. She is best known as a member of the historic Carter Family act in the 1920s and 1930s and also as a member of Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters.
Maybelle Carter was born Maybelle Addington on May 10, 1909 in Nickelsville, Virginia, the daughter of Hugh Jackson Addington and Margaret S. Kilgore. According to family lore, the Addington family of Virginia is descended from former British prime minister Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth.
On March 13, 1926, Maybelle married Ezra Carter. They had three daughters, Helen, Valerie June (better known in later life as June Carter Cash), and Anita.
She was a member of the original Carter Family, which was formed in 1927 by her brother-in-law, A. P. Carter, who was married to her cousin, Sara, also a part of the trio. The Carter Family was one of the first commercial rural country music groups. Maybelle, who played autoharp and banjo as well as being the group's guitarist, created a unique sound for the group with her innovative 'scratch' style of guitar playing, where she used her thumb to play melody on the bass and middle strings, and her index finger to fill out the rhythm. Although Maybelle herself had first picked up this technique from the guitarist Lesley Riddle, it became widely known as Carter Family picking, an indication of the group's pivotal role in popularizing the style.
Perhaps the most remarkable of Maybelle's many talents was her skill as a guitarist. She revolutionized the instrument's role by developing a style in which she played melody lines on the bass strings with her thumb while rhythmically strumming with her fingers. Her innovative technique, to this day known as the Carter Scratch, influenced the guitar's shift from rhythm to lead instrument.
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