Maybelle Carter : NPR

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Turning The Tables: Maybelle Carter

Watch Courtney Marie Andrews And Rhiannon Giddens Perform A Maybelle Carter Song

October 2, 2019 • Courtney Marie Andrews and Rhiannon Giddens harmonize with all their hearts on the Carter Family's "You Are My Flower" during the 2019 NPR Music Turning the Tables opening concert at Lincoln Center.

Turning The Tables: Celebrating Eight Women Who Invented American Popular Music

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Turning The Tables: Celebrating Eight Women Who Invented American Popular Music

WBGO and Jazz At Lincoln Center

October 2, 2019 • This year, Turning the Tables focused on music's "founding mothers." Watch the season-opening concert at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, featuring Rhiannon Giddens, Lizz Wright and more.

Turning The Tables: Celebrating Eight Women Who Invented American Popular Music

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Maybelle Carter (second from right) in 1974 with her daughters (from left) Helen, Anita and June. GAB Archive/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption

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Mother, Matriarch And Mentor

August 16, 2019 • There really was no precedent for Maybelle Carter, who learned to play from her own mother and spent much of her life teaching her children — as well as generations of country stars that followed.

On The Border With Maybelle Carter And Lydia Mendoza

Lydia Mendoza had one of the most extensive performance careers for Mexican American women singers and an immense recording archive. Listeners to border radio in the 1930s would have heard her music alongside that of Maybelle Carter. Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images hide caption

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Turning The Tables

On The Border With Maybelle Carter And Lydia Mendoza

August 15, 2019 • We rarely place Mendoza and Carter, both great guitarists and lead vocalists in family bands, in conversation — though listeners to border radio stations in the late 1930s were often fans of both.

XET Station Break, Introduction, Theme Song/The Wandering Boy

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A Lifetime Of Labor: Maybelle Carter At Work

In the 1930s, when Maybelle Carter (left) was touring with her cousin Sara (center) and Sara's husband A.P. Carter as the Carter Family, the members of the group still labored on the family farm in Poor Valley, in southern Virginia. Donaldson Collection/Getty Images hide caption

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Turning The Tables

A Lifetime Of Labor: Maybelle Carter At Work

August 14, 2019 • Her musical career began in childhood. She witnessed the dawn of the recording era and helped create country music as one of the genre's biggest acts. But Maybelle Carter never stopped working.

For Women Musicians, Maybelle Carter Set The Standard And Broke The Mold

Maybelle Carter, playing her autoharp, performs with her daughter, Helen. Robert Alexander/Getty Images hide caption

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Turning The Tables

For Women Musicians, Maybelle Carter Set The Standard And Broke The Mold

August 13, 2019 • One of the most indispensable guitarists of all time, Carter was a quiet revolutionary. Though she didn't concern herself with celebrity or need to be the star, she deserves our deepest admiration.

For Women Musicians, Maybelle Carter Set The Standard And Broke The Mold

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The World Of Maybelle Carter: A Turning The Tables Playlist

Maybelle Carter joined with the Carter Family in 1926. GAB Archive/Redferns/Getty Images hide caption

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Turning The Tables

The World Of Maybelle Carter: A Turning The Tables Playlist

August 12, 2019 • The degree to which Mother Maybelle's guitar playing influenced the next century of country and roots music cannot be overstated. In this playlist, hear her Carter Scratch echo across generations.

The World Of Maybelle Carter: A Turning The Tables Playlist

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Turning The Tables: 8 Women Who Invented American Popular Music Chelsea Beck for NPR hide caption

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Chelsea Beck for NPR

Music

Turning The Tables: 8 Women Who Invented American Popular Music

July 31, 2019 • These women made some of the most significant music of the past century. They originated genres, broke political boundaries, nurtured generations of followers and in most cases, became icons.

Hear a conversation about the third season of Turning the Tables on Morning Edition

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Turning The Tables

The Motherlode

July 31, 2019 • A collection of glowing reviews, heartfelt remembrances, poems and tributes in celebration of the legacies of the eight women we're honoring in the third season of Turning the Tables.