Vernon Nesbeth born c.1933

Vernon Nesbeth (born circa 1933* – 7 March 2017) was lead singer and founder member of The Jamaican and British vocal group The Southlanders who were the longest lasting vocal group in British pop music history. 

Originally born in Jamaica, Vernon came to Britain as a teenager in 1950 after winning an "Opportunity Knocks" contest in his native country. His first public performance in Britain was in a singing contest at the Paramount Club in the West End, which at time was the only Dance Hall in London which allowed unaccompanied black men in. Buoyed by his success at home, and backed by the Harry Webb band, Vernon gave it his all - and finished second to last! This shock sent him looking for a music teacher and he was given the address of the renowned black actor, singer and teacher, Edric Connor. On meeting, Vernon told the man destined to become his mentor that he wanted to learn music, to which Connor replied "I can't teach music, but I can teach you how to sing". 

This he set out to do, and Vernon attended lessons once a week for the next two years. Edric Connor never charged him, saying, "My payment will be the success I make you". By late 1953 Edric Connor was planning to record an LP of songs from the Caribbean and asked Vernon to form a quartet of backing singers. He recruited Frank Mannah, brothers Alan and Harry Wilmot (Harry was the father of popular contemporary British entertainer Gary Wilmot) from the Ken Hunter Quartet, and they made their live debut singing two songs from the LP at a celebrity nightclub in London. 

Now known as "The Caribbeans", shortly afterwards, whilst rehearsing in Weeks Studio, Hanover Street, two men walked in after hearing the singing from the street and offered to manage them. They were Sid Green and Les Farrell who suggested a change of name; so "The Southlanders” were born, signed to the Grade Organization and began touring the UK variety circuit plus dates in Europe where they established a reputation in Germany, Italy, France and Belgium. In 1955 the Southlanders signed to Parlophone and released their first single, "Earth Angel" which was produced by George Martin, several years before he came to prominence with Peter Sellers' comedy albums and the Beatles' recordings. 

                                   

Four more singles were released on Parlophone but it wasn't until they switched to Decca in 1957 that the Southlanders got their one, and only, top-ten hit "Alone", which is said to have sold 750,000 copies in the first few weeks of release. But it is their sixth and last Decca release that the Southlanders are most identified with, the novelty "Mole In A Hole", which they are required to do at every performance. The song failed to make the UK Singles Chart in 1958, but was performed at every Southlanders' event since its release. Vernon Nesbeth said that the group tried to take the song out of their set but that club managers and audiences insisted upon hearing it. "It's become protected. Untouchable. We've even sung it in Japanese.  The Southlanders then moved onto Top Rank and in 1961 released their last single "Imitation of Love". 

Throughout the late 50s and early 60s the Southlanders appeared regularly on the top rated television programmes of the day becoming familiar faces on such shows as 6.5 Special and Crackerjack. Live performances, however, had always been  the most important aspect of the Southlanders and they were among the first to join Jimmy Saville's Mecca dance hall shows.   

Since then they performed live at the Albert Hall in London, four times at the Palladium and continuously appeared in concerts, cabarets and cruise ships (including the QE2) throughout the world. "We went to all different parts of the world and cruise ships were certainly something that we couldn't do in normal life. It was also unique experience to play in Stockholm at midnight with the sun shining." said Vernon. The Southlanders often supported the top comedians of the day such as Jim Davidson, Michael Barrymore, Mike Read, Bobby Davro & Jimmy Cricket captivating the audiences with their stylish, highly entertaining act until they disbanded. 

Nesbeth semi-retired in January 2004 to reside in Spain with his wife Wendy; he died on 6 March 2017 in Torrevieja, Alicante, Spain. Frank Mannah died in 1991. Allan Wilmot retired and resided in South London. He died on 20 October 2021, at the age of 96. 

(Edited from Doo-Wop Blogg, Wikipedia, Oxford Reference & Rate Your Music) (* other source @ the British Expats pats.com Spanish Forum stated Vernon celebrated his 8oth birthday in 2008 which makes his birth year as 1928).

 

Big George Brock born 16 May 1932

George Brock (May 16, 1932 – April 10, 2020), billed as Big George Brock, was an American blues musician. A native of Mississippi, he moved to Missouri in the 1950s and operated a series of nightclubs. He played alongside Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Jimmy Reed, and Albert King. Brock starred in the 2006 film Hard Times, a documentary about his life. 

Brock was born in Grenada, Mississippi on May 16, 1932. By the time he was eight, he was working as a sharecropper picking cotton. Brock was surrounded by blues music, and recalled, "the blues grew like grass out of the ground." His father taught him and his brothers how to play harmonica as a child. 

As a teenager he moved to Mattson, Mississippi. There he met Muddy Waters, and they performed together on weekends. In the late 1940s he moved to Walls, Mississippi. While working as a pipeliner on Highway 61, Brock met Howlin' Wolf. He became his roadie and performed with him. Brock also met Memphis Minnie in Walls and jammed with her at house parties. 

Brock moved to St. Louis in 1950 where he was an amateur boxer for a while. In 1952, boxer Sonny Liston was training at a gym alongside Brock. Liston challenged Brock to sparring match. Brock won the fight in the second round, recalling that "he'd just come out of the pen. He thought he was pretty tough." He focused on his music career because it was more lucrative, forming his own band Big George & the Houserockers. Blues guitarist Albert King played in Brock's band before forming his own. 

                       Here's "All Night Long" from above album.

                                   

In 1952, Brock opened his own nightclub, Club Caravan, near North Garrison and Franklin avenues. Brock worked as a bouncer and performed there with his band which at times featured King, Big Baddy Smitty, or Riley Coatie on lead guitar. The club hosted acts such as Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Ike & Tina Turner, and Jimmy Reed. 

Big George & Muddy Waters 

In the early 1960s, Muddy Waters arranged for him to meet with the executives of Chess Records. Brock turned down the record deal because although he was offered a tour bus and proceeds from the shows he wouldn't have received any royalties from his recordings. He continued playing the club circuit, at one point he owned as many as three nightclubs at once. Brock closed the Club Caravan after his wife was killed during a shooting incident in 1970. He opened another Club Caravan at Delmar Boulevard and Taylor Avenue, but that closed in the late 1980s. 

In 2005, Brock signed to the label Cat Head Delta Blues & Folk Art. He put out the album Club Caravan which received favorable reviews and a Blues Music Award nomination for best comeback album. In 2006 he released the album Round Two, which received three Blues Music Award nominations. He was also featured in a documentary about his life titled Hard Times. In the film he visits the plantations where he worked as a child in Mississippi. 

In 2017, Brock was honored with a special concert at the National Blues Museum in St. Louis. Brock toured overseas in England, Italy, Switzerland and France. He continued to perform and regularly headlined various blues festivals, including the Bluesweek Festival and the Big Muddy Blues Festival. 

Brock was married three times and claimed to have forty-two children. He died after a long illness at home in St. Louis on April 10, 2020, at the age of 87. 

(Edited from Wikipedia)

 

Lee Emerson born 15 May 1927

 Lee Emerson (May 15, 1927 – December 2, 1978) was an American music singer and songwriter. 

A native of St. Paul, Virginia, young Lee Emerson Bellamy joined the Marines at age seventeen and returned home a combat veteran. He married Roberta Smith, a Billings, Montana girl and moved west. Over the next few years, he moved around a great deal, played baseball, worked at various laboring jobs, owned and/or operated taverns, and often had a band that worked his clubs. 

Lee Smith

Professional musicians who dropped by his place of business often suggested that he should go to Nashville. Before doing so, however, he cut a single record in Cody, Wyoming for a label called Wagon Wheel under the name Lee Smith. Roughly in late 1954, it apparently served as an introduction for his entry into the Nashville scene. He dropped both Bellamy and Smith as surnames and was thereafter known primarily as Lee Emerson. 

Among the figures who befriended Emerson in Nashville were manager of various people Eddie Crandall, Bob Ferguson, and perhaps most significant future legend Marty Robbins. Through the influence of one or some of these people, Lee obtained a contract with Columbia and did his first session on June 23, 1955. While none of his own recordings became hits, a song recorded at his third session on September 4, 1956 was covered on RCA by Porter Wagoner: "I Thought I Heard You Calling My Name" who had a hit with it. Over the years, other artists also did well with the song including Jessi Colter. 

                                   

Emerson spent most of his early years in Nashville in the employ of Marty Robbins. The two worked numerous tours together and Lee, who was a relatively tough customer, acted as a bouncer and body guard. They even recorded a couple of duets together with a rockabilly flavor although neither charted. Somewhat later in 1963, Emerson's composition "Ruby Ann" became one of Marty's number one hits (although the credit was under the name of his wife Roberta Smith). 

Lee's contract with Columbia expired in 1957 and for the next few years, he took care of some of Robbins' business affairs. A single for Mercury in 1961 under the name Heywood Jenkins had an R & B flavor, but failed to revive Emerson's singing career. In 1962 his wife divorced him and moved with her son t o San Diego. Soon after the divorce from Roberta came the divorce from Marty Robbins. Their relationship had been strained for a while and in 1964 Emerson bought back his old copyrights from Robbin’s publishing companies. He continued to write songs that were recorded by name artists, but none were more than minor hits on the lower end of the charts. Lee Emerson's last recording was a single on Plantation in 1976. 

Lee with Roy Acuff

By 1976, Emerson went to Texas for a while, but by 1978 he returned to Nashville. There he became involved with an aspiring singer named Darlene Yvonne (Darlene) Sharp, who also became involved with Barry Sadler of "The Ballad of the Green Berets" fame. In September 1979, the two had a serious scuffle at the Hall of Fame Motor Inn and thereafter made serious threats to each other. 

On December 1, they had another fight which ended in Emerson having a fatal gunshot wound. He was shot in the front seat of his van that was parked at the Knollwood Apartments where Sadler was visiting Ms. Sharp. Mr. Sadler and Ms. Sharp had been to the Natchez Trace Lounge the previous night with friends.  

Sadler indicated that Emerson had been entangled with Ms. Sharp for more than a year, even running her off the road at one point and later, knocked down her apartment door. On December 1, 1979, Mr. Sadler was charged with second-degree murder, under a sealed indictment by the Davidson County Grand Jury. In May of 1980, he was sentenced to 4 to 5 years in prison. But in September 1980, his term was reduced to 30 days and a two year probationary period. Emerson's son, Rod Bellamy, later collected some money from Sadler in a civil suit. 

(Edited from Hillbilly-Music.com)

Al Porcino born 14 May 1925

Al Porcino (May 14, 1925 – December 31, 2013) was a well-respected American lead trumpeter able to hit high notes during his prime with a strong tone and has the distinction of having played first trumpet in nearly every major big band of the '40s, 50s, '60s and '70s 

Porcino was born in New York, United States and grew up in Brooklyn and Weehawken, New Jersey. He originally wanted to follow in the footsteps of his idols Shelly Manne and Tiny Kahr and become a drummer, but his father’s job in the post Office didn’t pay enough to buy him any. So he started on a $12 trumpet which he played in the Wurlitzer Music High School marching band. Porcino stated in an interview with Marc Myers in 2011 that he was colorblind, so although he was drafted, he was never inducted into the military hence in 1943 he began playing with Louis Prima at the age of 18. 

Porcino, Charles Collins & Louis Prima '43

After Prima, Porcino played with the big bands of Georgie Auld, Louis Prima, Jerry Wald, Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa, and Chubby Jackson. He is probably best-known for his association with Woody Herman (1946, 1949-1950, and 1954), but he also played with Stan Kenton on two occasions (1947-1948 and 1954-1955). In addition, in the '50s, Porcino worked with Pete Rugolo, Elliot Lawrence, and Charlie Barnet, among others. In 1951, he was the first white musician to play in Count Basie's orchestra. 

                           Here’s “Day In Day Out” from above CD.

                                    

Following his move to Los Angeles in 1957, he co-led a band with Med Flory and played lead with the Terry Gibbs Dream Band during 1959 - 1962. He was frequently employed for the sound tracks of motion pictures and toured with singers including Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee and Judy Garland. He also recorded with the Bill Holman band and with Count Basie. Most significantly he was with Buddy Rich (1968), the Thad Jones-Mel Lewis Orchestra (1969-1970), and back with Herman (1972). He led his own big band in the mid-'70s who recorded behind Mel Torme, in addition to their own work. 

In 1977, after a tour of Europe the Mel Lewis / Thad Jones Orchestra, he lived in Germany and made Munich his adopted home. His know-how, steeled by decades of practice and experience, his uncompromising swing, his tastefull trumpet style, his incorruptible timing and, last but not least, the collection of his 100 best big band arrangements had a significant influence on the German jazz scene. So it happened that almost every big band musician in Germany was directly or indirectly his student. 

Porcino led an orchestra date for Jazz Mark in New York (1986) and his big band accompanied Al Cohn on one of the tenor's final recordings (1987). Although Porcino rarely soloed throughout the years, his sound and wide range added excitement to many big bands. Porcino led a big which performed regularly until shortly before his death after suffering a fall at his home in Munich on December 31, 2013. He was 88. 

(Edited from Wikipedia, AllMusic Arts journal & alporcino.com)

 

Rab Noakes born 13 May 1947

Robert Ogilvie Noakes (13 May 1947 – 11 November 2022) better known as Rab Noakes, was a Scottish singer-songwriter. He was at the forefront of Scottish folk music for over 50 years and recorded over 19 studio albums. He toured folk clubs and often performed at the Glasgow music festival Celtic Connections. 

Noakes was born in St Andrews, Fife, the son of Robert Noakes, a postal worker, and Elsie (nee Ogilvie), a local government officer and amateur singer. The family moved to Cupar, where Rab attended Castle Hill primary and then Bell Baxter high school, where he first met Davie Craig and Artie Trezise, friends with whom he would go on to make music. Leaving school at 16 he joined the civil service, working as a pensions and national insurance clerk, first in Alloa, then Glasgow and London. But he was also making a name busking and playing the folk club circuit. He made his first professional appearance in Glasgow in 1967 and in 1969 spent “nine weeks, seven days a week, four hours a night” playing in a hotel in Denmark with Craig. 

Noakes released his first album, Do You See The Lights, in 1970, with a line-up that included McKidd on electric guitar and the Scottish jazz bassist[ambiguous] Ronnie Rae. This recording included the songs "Too Old to Die", "Together Forever" and "Somebody Counts on Me". Noakes was a founding member in 1971 of the folk rock band Stealers Wheel, along with Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan. He sang backing vocals and played on Rafferty's first solo album, Can I Have My Money Back, most notably on "Mary Skeffington", a song about Rafferty's mother. After these sessions, he became an early member of Stealers Wheel, but left them before the release of the band's first album. 

                                   

Noakes recorded and performed with Lindisfarne, whom he supported on a national tour in 1972, and recorded his songs "Turn a Deaf Ear" on their first album, Nicely Out of Tune, and "Together Forever" on their second, Fog on the Tyne. Barbara Dickson recorded "Turn a Deaf Ear" on her album Do Right Woman, on which Noakes performed. In May 1972, the British music magazine NME reported that Noakes was to appear at the Great Western Express Lincoln Festival on 26 May that year. One of Noakes's best-known recordings, "Branch", was released as a single in summer 1974 from his album Red Pump Special, which was recorded in Nashville, Tennessee, and produced by Elliot Mazer. It had considerable airplay on BBC Radio 1, but without making the UK Singles Chart. 

The album Restless (1978) was produced by Terry Melcher at Starling Sounds, based at Tittenhurst Park in Ascot, the former home of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, then owned by Ringo Starr. The albums, Rab Noakes (1980) and Under the Rain (1984) followed, but it was not until 1994 that Standing Up appeared. Noakes subsequently toured with the Varaflames, containing Pick Withers, Rod Clements and the harmonicist, Fraser Speirs. 

Once known as a heavy drinker, Rab gave up alcohol in 1982. With his pop career apparently stalled, he moved to the BBC, where he made use of his vast musical knowledge and love of radio, working in Manchester and then Glasgow, as a senior music producer for music programmes on BBC Radio Scotland. He left in 1995 to create the production company Neon. In November 2007, his album Unlimited Mileage, again with the Varaflames, was released. In 2012, CDs of Standing Up Again' '(made in 2009) and Just in Case (recorded in 2007) were made available, having only been available to download until then. 

In 2015, he released the album I'm Walking Here. It was his 19th solo album and many of the songs tell the story of his working life as a songwriter and performer. It is a double album containing 26 songs. The first set consists of new compositions that show his gift for melody and love of Americana, and includes "Out of Your Sight", influenced by Buddy Holly, a tribute to a 1920s minstrel singer, and a poignant lament for Rafferty. The second album is dominated by "interpretations" (he hated the word "covers") of songs from early Cliff Richard to Garbage and Beck, along with the skiffle standard "Freight Train", on which he was joined by Jimmie MacGregor, and a finely sung treatment of the traditional "The Two Sisters". 

In 1988, he met Stephanie Pordage and they married in 1998. She became his muse, manager and collaborator. They both left the BBC to set up their own production company, Neon, in 1995. Pordage died from the effects of Parkinson's disease in 2021. Noakes was diagnosed with tonsil cancer in 2015, but treatment was effective and he was back recording The Treatment Tapes in 2016. He also toured in 2017, at the Leith folk club and with a full band at Celtic Connections. In 2022, he continued to tour and work in collaboration with other singers. 

Noakes died on 11 November 2022, suddenly, at the age of 75, in hospital in Glasgow.

(Edited from Wikipedia & The Guardian)

 

Ruud de Wolff born 12 May 1941

The Blue Diamonds were an Indonesian and Dutch 1960s rock and roll duo who sang in English, German, French and Spanish and sold 14 million records throughout their career. They were best known for their million-selling chart-topping single, "Ramona". 

Indo (Dutch-Indonesian) brothers Ruud de Wolff (12 May 1941 – 18 December 2000) and Riem de Wolff (15 April 1943 – 12 September 2017) founded the group shortly after immigrating to Driebergen-Rijsenburg in the Netherlands in 1949. They were born in Batavia (now Jakarta), Indonesia. 

                                   

                                      

Called the "Dutch– Indonesian Everly Brothers", the Blue Diamonds covered many Everly Brothers songs, but became famous in 1960 with their version of "Ramona", a song originally written for the 1928 film, Ramona. The song was written for promotional appearances with Dolores del Río (star of the film) but not featured in the film itself. The Blue Diamonds up-tempo version of it reached the American Billboard Hot 100 at number 72 in 1960. It sold over 250,000 copies in the Netherlands (the first record to ever do so) and over one million copies in Germany by 1961. 

Ruud De Wolff

Although their last hit was in 1971, they continued to perform together up until Ruud de Wolff died from bladder cancer at the end of the year 2000. After the death of his brother in 2000, De Wolff continued to make music. He also performed with his son under the name The New Diamonds. Although Riem De Wolff was diagnosed with cancer in his lungs and liver in August, he continued to perform and release albums until his death at a hospital in Blaricum, Holland on September 12, 2017. He was 74.

 (Edited from Wikipedia) 

Marino Marini born 11 May 1924

Marino Marini (11 May 1924 – 20 March 1997) was an Italian musician who achieved international success in the 1950s and 1960s. 

He was born into a family of musicians in Seggiano in the province of Grosseto to parents originally from Montecelio, Lazio. After briefly studying electronics, he studied piano, violin and composition at the Conservatorio Rossini at Bologna, teaching music on his graduation. In 1947, after military service, he was appointed artistic director of the Metropolitan music hall in Naples, where he developed a liking for Neapolitan music. In 1948 he visited the United States for six months, meeting Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Kenton and Charlie Ventura. American jazz was also a formative influence. On his return, Marini wrote music for films and revues and played in cabaret in Rome and Naples. 

In 1954, he placed a newspaper advert seeking “young musicians without experience, singing in tune. If not cheerful, don't apply." From the many applicants he chose Gaetano “Totò” Savio (guitar), Sergio Peppino (drums) and Ruggero Cori (bass and vocal) for a quartet, Marini playing piano and occasionally singing solo. This quartet played together from 1954 to 1960, a period regarded as the Marino Marini Quartet's most prolific and successful.  They made their first recording on the Durium label in 1955. The following year they appeared on Italian TV. 

                                   

Their recordings of "Guaglione", "Don Ciccio o' piscatore", "Rico Vacilon", "La Pansè", and "Maruzzella" were very popular, "Guaglione" becoming the first European single to sell more than five million copies. (It was used on the soundtrack of the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley.) Following this successful debut, Marini commenced touring with his quartet, in the following years performing in hundreds of concerts in western and eastern Europe, the US, the Middle East and Japan.

Marini's recordings in the late 1950s and early 1960s included covers of Domenico Modugno's "Volare" and "Ciao ciao bambina" and Rocco Granata's "Marina". In 1960, he won the first and the second prizes in the Naples song festival with "Serenata a Margellina" and "Uè uè uè che femmena". In 1958 he performed Mikis Theodorakis's "The Honeymoon Song" in Michael Powell's film Honeymoon.  In 1960 the first quartet disbanded and in 1961 new quartet was formed with Marini, Bruno Guarnera (guitar), Pepito di Pace (drums) and Vittorio Benvenuti (bass, vocal, dance). The quartet was re-formed again in 1963 with Francesco Ventura (guitar), Sergio (drums), and Franco Cesarico (bass guitar and vocal). 

Marino Marini's music was rooted in the tradition of Italian song, and in particular Neapolitan song, as he sometimes performed in the Neapolitan language (e.g. "Maruzzella"). Many of his numbers are in 4/4 or 4/8 time, but he sometimes used the 6/8 tarantella rhythm with an off-beat tempo accentuated by the piano on the second and fourth beat. He performed in several styles and genres, reinterpreting American standards or current pop songs (e.g. "Just Young") and using dance rhythms such as cha-cha-cha, the twist, the letkiss and the samba. He often combined genres (e.g. Neapolitan song and samba in "Ciccio 'o piscatore"). 

During several trips to America, Marino Marini had perfected his own style by watching the 'Greats' like Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Ventura and Stan Kenton, and discovered his own recipe to success — an authentic U.S. swing adapted to remakes and original Neapolitan songs. He made innovative use of the echo chamber (using one made to his own design) and is said to have been the first European performer to use sound mixing on stage, anticipating the techniques used by rock musicians in the 1960s. 

Among the performers he influenced were the French singer Dalida and the French-Italian Caterina Valente. He retired from performing in 1966 but continued to compose. He died from kidney failure on March 20, 1997 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. 

(Edited from Wikipedia & Bear Family notes)

 

Maybelle Carter born 10 May 1909

"Mother" Maybelle Carter (May 10, 1909 – October 23, 1978) was an American country musician and "among the first" to use the Carter scratch, with which she "helped to turn the guitar into a lead instrument." It was named after her. She was a member of the original Carter Family act from the late 1920s until the early 1940s and a member of the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle group. 

She was born Maybelle Addington in Nickelsville, Virginia, the daughter of Margaret Elizabeth (née Kilgore; 1879–1960) and Hugh Jackson Addington (1877–1929). By the time she was 12 years old, Maybelle was well versed in the traditional hill-country songs of the region and had become a skilled and original guitarist and autoharpist. When she was 17, she married Ezra .J. Carter, and they moved to Poor Valley, Virginia. 

To great local acclaim, Maybelle Carter began performing with the Carter Family at community gatherings and church events. The Carter Family were formed in 1927 by her brother-in-law, A. P. Carter, who was married to her cousin Sara, also a part of the trio. The Carter Family was one of the first commercial rural country music groups. Maybelle helped create the group's unique sound with her innovative style of guitar playing, using her thumb to play the melody on the bass strings and her index finger to fill out the rhythm. Her technique, sometimes known as the Carter Scratch, influenced the guitar's shift from rhythm to lead instrument and her innovative playing style would eventually be imitated by countless country and folk guitarists. 

Carter Family 1939

In 1927 the group won a contract with RCA Victor Records. Recordings and radio broadcasts brought the Original Carter Family (as they are now known) fame throughout the country. The group stopped performing in 1943, but Maybelle Carter formed a new group with her daughters. From 1943 to 1948, Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters were featured performers on the Richmond, Virginia, radio program Old Dominion Barn Dance. In 1950 they began performing on WSM’s Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, and they soon became stars. Maybelle was widely respected as a matriarchal figure in country music circles and was popularly known as "Mother Maybelle." However, she was only in her forties. 

                                   

Many of their recordings from the time, such as “Wabash Cannonball” and “Wildwood Flower,” are considered classics of country music. In the late 1950s the daughters stopped performing, but Carter remained with the Opry until 1967. 

Maybelle and her daughters toured as "The Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle," but after the death of A. P. Carter in 1960, the group revived the name "The Carter Family." The folk revival of the late 1960s revitalized interest in the Original Carter Family, and Carter performed at the Newport Folk Festivals of 1963 and 1967. She briefly reunited with former Carter Family member Sara Carter during the 1960s folk music craze, with Sara singing lead and Maybelle providing harmony as before in their 1966 reunion album. 

They frequently toured with Johnny Cash, her son-in-law, from 1968 on. The group performed regularly on Cash's weekly network variety show from 1969 to 1971. In 1970, in no small part owing to Carter’s innovations, the group was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. During the 1970s Carter continued to perform to appreciative audiences across the country and in Europe. Carter made occasional solo recordings during the 1960s and 1970s, usually full-length albums. Her final such work, a two-record set released on Columbia Records, placed on Billboard's best-selling country albums chart in 1973 when she was 64. Maybelle was also featured on The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's 1972 recording Will the Circle Be Unbroken. 

After the album took off, the Dirt Band decided to bring a third incarnation of the Carter Family, featuring Maybelle and various configurations of her daughters and grandchildren, on tour. They knew that there could be no substitute for the presence of a musical mentor who taught everyone what they needed to know to move the picking tradition forward. The Carter Family (Maybelle, Helen, June, and Anita) received the "Favorite Country Group" trophy from the American Music Awards in 1973. The following year Maybelle was individually honored with the first Tex Ritter Award by the International Fan Club Organization at Fan Fair in Nashville, TN. 

Maybelle Carter died in October 23, 1978, in Nashville Tennessee, after a few years of poor health and was interred next to her husband, Ezra, in Hendersonville Memory Gardens in Hendersonville, Tennessee. Two of their daughters – Helen and Anita – are buried nearby. By 1992 Maybelle Carter was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame. In 2005, The Carter Family received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. 

(Edited from Wikipedia , Britannica & NPR Music)