Anita Carter carved out an independent path as a folk performer in the first half of the 1950s and again toward the end of the 1960s, even though she belonged to the most celebrated dynasty in country music. The Carter Family had dominated the genre throughout the 1930s until patriarch A.P. Carter and his former wife Sara chose to step away in 1943, dissolving the original lineup. Sara’s cousin Maybelle, the remaining original member, promptly reconstituted the act that same year under the name Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters, joined by daughters Helen, June, and Anita. The three sisters had already appeared on Carter Family radio programs back in 1935, and the revived ensemble quickly compensated for the loss of the classic group. Throughout the latter 1940s the Carters broadcast from stations in Virginia, Tennessee, and Missouri before relocating to the Grand Ole Opry in 1950.
Anita reached the country Top Five in 1951 via a one-time pairing with Hank Snow; both sides of the single—“Bluebird Island” and the flip “Down the Trail of Achin’ Hearts”—charted strongly. Mid-decade she also sang with the teenage trio ’Nita, Rita & Ruby, yet devoted the bulk of her schedule to the Carter act. The family remained a fixture at the Opry and served as opening act for Elvis Presley during 1956 and 1957. Following A.P. Carter’s passing in 1960, Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters adopted the simpler name the Carter Family and shifted toward mainstream country repertoire rather than gospel.
A sustained partnership with Johnny Cash began in 1961 when the group joined his touring revue. They cut the country Top 15 track “Busted” together in 1963; after June Carter wed Cash in 1967, the family appeared regularly on his ABC-TV program between 1969 and 1971. Although the Carter Family continued recording—frequently alongside Cash—into the early 1970s, the ensemble formally disbanded in 1969. That same year Mother Maybelle emerged as a key presence in the folk revival, reuniting onstage with Sara at the Newport Folk Festival and on the Rounder album An Historic Reunion.
Anita launched her own RCA sessions in 1966, placing “I’m Gonna Leave You” on the country charts. A second single followed in 1967, and her duet with Waylon Jennings, “I Got You,” climbed to number four by March 1968. She switched to United Artists later that year, but the resulting singles failed to register. Early-1970s recordings for Capitol brought her close to the Top 40 with “Tulsa County.” Her final chart entry alongside the Carter Family, “Praise the Lord and Pass the Soup,” appeared in August 1973. Ten years after Bear Family issued the compilation Ring of Fire, vocalist Anita Carter died in Tennessee during July 1999.
