Mother Maybelle Carter

Born Maybelle Addington in 1909, Mother Maybelle Carter was an innovative guitarist and one-third of the Carter Family, a band she formed in the 1920s with her cousin Sara and Sara's husband A.P.

Together with A.P.'s brother Ezra, Mother Maybelle had three daughters -- Helen, Valerie June and Anita -- with whom she performed until her death in 1978.