Although Maybelle Carter is most well-known for her incredible singing with her cousins, Sara and A.P.; as well as her unique and widely copied guitar style, she was also a very accomplished clawhammer banjo player. In fact, it was her early life clawhammer playing that ultimately led to her famous guitar style, often known now as simply “the Carter scratch.”

            She grew up as Maybelle Addington in a family steeped in the musical traditions of the Copper Creek community of Scott County.  From a young age she was called to play a variety of instruments in her family band, initially specializing in both autoharp and clawhammer banjo playing.  She learned to play clawhammer style from her mother, Margaret Addington, who was an accomplished player.  Her informal family band included her nine siblings, as well as, from time to time, other relatives and neighbors.

            Maybelle did not transition to guitar until she was in high school, when she began playing and singing regularly with her cousin,  Sara Dougherty. She approached the guitar by modeling her attack loosely after her clawhammer style, plucking out the melody on the bass strings with her thumb while strumming the rhythm on the high strings in a brush like fashion.  From the start, this style of playing attracted the attention of other guitar players and she became well known for her guitar playing.

            In 1915, her older cousin Sara became the wife of song collector and singer A.P. Carter. Maybelle began to back the couple on guitar and autoharp as she learned A.P’s vast collection of collected songs from the mountains of far SW Virginia.  In 1926, Maybelle married A.P.’s brother, Ezra “Eck” Carter when the couple eloped to Bristol. She had only known Ezra for four months.  The couple moved close to Sara and A.P. in Maces Spring, a small community in Poor Valley.

            A.P., as the manager for the family band, soon found them lots of appearances in nearby mountain communities. In the summer of 1927, the trio travelled to Bristol to record for the fabled Ralph Peer from New York who represented Victor Records.  The six songs they recorded were released on 78’s and were soon being played on radio stations across the nation.  They were so well received, that the Carter Family was soon invited to Camden, N.J., to record more records.  Their popularity spread and they were soon a national phenomenon.

            Through the Carter Family era, Maybelle played mostly guitar and autoharp and was encouraged by A.P. to sing tenor harmony behind Sara’s lead vocals.  In the 1936, Sara and A.P. divorced but the trio kept performing as the Carter family, primarily on ultra-high powered radio station XERF in Del Rio, Texas.  During that time (1938-1942) Maybelle’s three daughters, Anita, Helen and June began to appear regularly with the original trio until the original trio disbanded in 1943.

             Maybelle’s return to banjo playing began to happen as she travelled the South performing on radio stations as “Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters” taking her daughters on the road.  In 1950 she moved to Nashville where she was welcomed to the Grand Ole Opry.  In the 1960’s they toured with Johnny Cash, (a future son-in-law) and began to record a variety of records.  Her banjo playing was featured on several compilations.  Maybelle saw clawhammer playing as a return to the roots of her musical career; and her distinct, melodic style that had launched a whole new genre of guitar playing still shone strong.