Chet Atkins & Anita Carter
Grand Ole Opry 1951

Chet with Carter Family
(June, Helen, Maybelle & Anita)

b. Ina Anita Carter, 31 March 1933, Maces Springs, Scott County, Virginia, USA
d. 29 July 1999, Goodlettsville, Tennessee, USA.

The youngest daughter of Mother Maybelle Carter of the legendary Carter Family, she always maintained that she was singing professionally at the age of four, but did not get paid until she was six. In 1939, she and her sisters, Helen and June Carter, were appearing on Border Radio with the Carter Family. When the original Carter Family retired in 1943, she sang and played stand-up bass or rhythm guitar in the family group, Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters, on various radio stations, and from 1950 onwards, for many years, they were regulars on the Grand Ole Opry. They toured with Elvis Presley in the mid-50s, and in 1961, they began to appear regularly as part of Johnny Cash's show. She married fiddler Dale Potter in 1950 but the marriage soon ended. Although singing with her family group, she did at times also pursue a partially separate career. She made many solo recordings, the first being for RCA - Victor in 1950 and she also played bass and sang backing vocals regularly as a session musician. A year later she recorded with Hank Snow and they achieved Top 5 country hits with "Bluebird Island" and "Down The Trail Of Aching Hearts". She continued to work as a session musician and also recorded with Rita Robbins and Ruby Wright (the daughter of Kitty Wells) as Nita, Rita And Ruby. Carter married Don Davis and had a daughter, divorced and later remarried him and had a son before divorcing again in 1971. She later recorded for several major labels, including Mercury Records and Capitol Records. In 1968, "I Got You", a duet with Waylon Jennings, reached number 4 and in 1969, a duet with Johnny Darrell, "The Coming Of The Roads", also proved popular. She continued to travel with brother-in-law Cash during the late 70s and early 80s and was for a time married to Cash's guitarist, Bob Wootton. In 1982, she and sister Helen, with some of their children and a guest appearance from June's daughter, Carlene Carter, recorded for Audiograph. In 1988, working under the production of Jack Clement, she again recorded with her two sisters and Carlene. The resulting album proved very popular. She also made a guest appearance on the second volume of the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will The Circle Be Unbroken. During the 90s she suffered badly from arthritis, which severely restricted her ability to work.

Anita, Grady Martin, Marjorie (last name unknown), Hank
relaxing at the Copacabana night club, New York, after performing on the Kate Smith Evening Hour, March 26, 1952

BORN: March 31, 1933, Maces Springs, VA
DIED: July 29, 1999, Goodlettsville, TN
A member of country music's most famous family, Anita Carter found success of her own as a folk solo act during the early '50s and late '60s. The Carter Family had ruled country music during the 1930s, but broke up in 1943 after patriarch A.P. Carter and his ex-wife Sara decided to retire. Sara's cousin Maybelle, the third member of the Carters, re-formed the group the same year -- as Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters -- with her daughters Helen, June and Anita. The sisters had sung on Carter Family radio broadcasts in 1935, and the new group more than made up for the break-up of the originals. The Carters performed on radio from Virginia, Tennessee and Missouri during the late '40s, but moved to the Grand Ole Opry in 1950. In 1951, Anita stormed the charts on a one-off duet with Hank Snow; both "Bluebird Island" and its B-side "Down the Trail of Achin' Hearts" reached the Country Top Five. During the mid-'50s, she also performed with the teen trio 'Nita, Rita & Ruby, but spent most of her time with the Carters. The group continued to be popular on the Opry and even opened for Elvis Presley in 1956-57. After A.P. Carter's death in 1960, Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters became the Carter Family and performed more contemporary country than gospel. In 1961, the Carters began a long-running association with Johnny Cash by appearing on his roadshow. They recorded the Country Top 15 single "Busted" with Cash in 1963, and after June Carter married him in 1967, the Carters appeared on his ABC-TV show from 1969 to 1971. Though the Carter Family continued to record -- usually with Johnny Cash -- during the early '70s, they disbanded in 1969. Mother Maybelle became recognized as a major figure in the folk revival that year, appearing with Sara at the Newport Folk Festival and on the Rounder album, An Historic Reunion. Meanwhile, Anita had begun to record for RCA in 1966, hitting the Country charts with "I'm Gonna Leave You." Another single charted in 1967, and her duet with Waylon Jennings on "I Got You" reached number four in March 1968. Later in 1968, Anita moved to United Artists, but several singles proved unsuccessful. She recorded for Capitol in the early '70s and almost hit the Top 40 with "Tulsa County." Her last chart appearance with the Carter Family, "Praise the Lord and Pass the Soup," was released in August 1973. In July of 1999, ten years after the release of the collection Ring of Fire on the Bear Family label, vocalist Anita Carter passed away in Tennessee. ~ John Bush, All Music Guide

          

Grandmother Maybelle


Hank Williams Duet

1933 Stromberg Guitar/b>

More Anita records

LORRIE

Chet Atkins sessions

NITA RITA & RUBY


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