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Country Music Artists Index

June Carter Cash

June Carter Cash was born Valerie June Carter in Maces Spring, Virginia.

She was born into country music and performed with the Carter Family from the young age of ten, beginning in 1939.

In March 1943, when the Carter Family trio stopped recording together after the WBT contract, Maybelle Carter, with encouragement from her husband Ezra, formed "Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters" with her daughters: Helen; Anita; and June.

The new group first aired on radio station WRTD in Richmond, Virginia, on June 1. Doc (Addington) and Carl (McConnell) -- Maybelle's brother and cousin, respectively -- joined them in late 1945. June, then 16, was a co-announcer with Ken Allyn and did the commercials on the radio shows for "Red Star Flour", "Martha White," and "Thalhimers Department Store," just to name a few.

For the next year, the Carters and Doc and Carl did show dates within driving range of Richmond through Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania.

June later said she had to work harder at her music than her sisters, but she had her own special talent, comedy. A highlight of the road shows was her "Aunt Polly" comedy routine. Carl McConnell wrote in his memoirs that June was "a natural born clown, if there ever was one." She attended John Marshall High School during this period.

In the late 1940s, Maybelle & The Carter Sisters, along with their lead guitarist, a young Chet Atkins, were living in Springfield, Missouri and performing regularly at KWTO.

Ezra "Eck" Carter, Maybelle's husband and manager of group, steadfastly declined numerous offers from the Grand Ole Opry to move the act to Nashville, Tennessee because the Opry would not permit Atkins to accompany the group onstage. Atkins' reputation as a guitar player had begun to spread, and studio musicians were fearful that he would displace them as a 'first-call' player if he came to Nashville.

Finally, in 1950, Opry management relented and the group, along with Atkins, became part of the Opry company. Here the family befriended Hank Williams and Elvis Presley (to whom they were distantly related), and June met Johnny Cash.
With her thin and lanky frame, June Carter often played a comedic foil during the group's performances alongside other Opry stars Faron Young and Webb Pierce.

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