HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO 'MOTHER' MAYBELLE CARTER!

Born May 10, 1909 in Nickelsville, Virginia

Quoted from The Writer's Almanac by Garrison Keillor

May 10, 2019

 

       NOBODY PLAYED MUSIC quite like Maybelle Carter! Nobody before or since, though others have come close now and again. Still, you recognize when it's Maybelle on that big ol' guitar onstage at the Ryman Auditorium, the real home of the Grand Ole Opry, sponsored by WSM (We Shield Millions, the slogan of the National Life and Accident Insurance Company.

 

       "When she was 18, she and her cousin Sara and brother-in-law A.P. Carter cut an audition record in Bristol, Tennessee, for Ralph Peer of the Victor Talking Machine Company. Also recording that day was Jimmie Rodgers, 'The Singing Brakeman.' It was the beginning of commercial country music in the United States. Maybelle was the guitarist, and she used her thumb to play melody on the bass and middle strings, and her index finger to fill out the rhythm, what she called 'scratch style' guitar.

       "Through the years, the Carters recorded many traditional songs, including 'Wabash Cannonball,' 'Wildwood Flower,' 'Keep on the Sunny Side,' and 'Will the Circle be Unbroken.' Their first release for Victor was 'Wandering Boy' which starts:

 

       Out in the cold world and far away from home

       Somebody's boy is wandering alone

       No one to guide him and keep his footsteps right

       Somebody's boy is homeless tonight

 

       Out in the hallway there stands a vacant chair

       Yonder's the shoes my darling used to wear

       Empty the cradle, the one that's loved so well

       How I miss him there's no tongue can tell"

      

      Thanks to Garrison Keillor, who is a big fan of country and bluegrass music. Special thanks to the Carter Family for their many contributions even today to the music we love. Remember Mother Maybelle on this, her birthday, and pick one of her songs today the way she might have picked it so very long ago.