Mother Maybelle Carter

Maybelle married Ezra Carter when she was 16. The following year, in 1927, her brother-in-law, A.P. Carter, convinced his wife Sara and Maybelle (pregnant at the time) to make the journey from Virginia to Tennessee to audition for record producer Ralph Peer, who was seeking talent for the new recording industry. The Carter Family is believed to be the first commercial rural country music group. Maybelle played the guitar, autoharp and banjo, and created a unique sound for the group. She was widely respected and loved by the Grand Ole Opry community of the early 1950s, and was popularly known as "Mother Maybelle." In 1993, her image appeared on a U.S. postage stamp honoring the Carter Family. In 2001 she was initiated into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor. The Carter Family was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970 and they were given the nickname "The First Family of Country Music." In 1988, the Carter Family was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and received an award for the song "Will the Circle Be Unbroken".