Anita Carter

Ina Anita Carter, the youngest daughter of Ezra and Mother Maybelle Carter, was an American singer who experimented with several different types of music and played upright bass and guitar with her sisters Helen Carter and June Carter Cash and mother Maybelle Carter as The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle. Maybelle and her three daughters joined WSM and the Grand Ole Opry radio show in 1950, The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle were bringing in more money to WSM from their "personals" or "shows" in the early to mid 50's filling every venue that they played with droves of people outside just to hear their show or hear June make everyone laugh. WSM radio received 15% of the door and they brought in more money than any other artists for a period in the early to mid 50's. An upcoming young singer, Elvis Presley, was an added attraction when he was added to the Opry shows in 1954 after bombing at the Grand Ole Opry on October 2, 1954. Presley was billed below the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle for over a year and even opened some shows for the Carters when Hank Snow or Faron Young were not on the Opry tour. Anita and the Carters would stay on the tour and would be an opening act for Presley after he became a star in 1956, after his hit song "Heartbreak Hotel".