Maybelle Carter (May 10, 1909 – October 23, 1978) was an American country musician.
She was born Maybelle Addington in Nickelsville, Virginia, the daughter of Hugh Jackson Addington and Margaret S. Kilgore.
On March 13, 1926, Maybelle married Ezra J. Carter. They had three daughters, Helen, Valerie June (better known 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. It was perhaps the first commercial rural Country music group. Maybelle was the guitarist and also played autoharp and banjo; she 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. Some have singled out the work of family friend Lesley Riddle as the inspiration for this technique.
See "Thought for the Day" below for an interesting news item regarding the above guitar belonging to Mother Maybelle Carter which she plays in today's video.
Wildwood Flower