Nashville, December 13, 1956. The morning paper carries a divorce suit under two photographs. One caption reads, June Carter Smith, her lonely nights. The other reads, Carl Smith, blighted their love. She is 27, with a baby of 14 months, married to one of the biggest stars in country music. Five months earlier, backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, a young singer from Arkansas had taken her hand and told her he had always wanted to meet her.
This is June Carter before Johnny Cash, as the record has her. Valerie June Carter from Poor Valley, Virginia, the daughter with the voice that would not stay in tune, who built an act out of guts and laughter. Little Junie on border radio, Aunt Polly on the Opry, and Minnie Pearl's routines she learned and never used. Carl Smith, the sweethearts of the Opry, and what her own divorce suit says happened after the first few months. Three versions of why it ended.
Then the tours with Elvis and the low voice he kept playing on the jukebox, acting school in New York with a baby in a dresser drawer, a second marriage to Rip Nix, Patsy Cline, and the song she wrote at her kitchen table while married to someone else. The night in London, Ontario. And what became of the men she left behind, and of her daughter Rosie.
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Sources include The Tennessean (1956, 1958); the Davidson County divorce file as cited in the National Register nomination for the Carl and June Carter Smith house in Madison; June Carter Cash, Among My Klediments (1979) and From the Heart (1987); Carlene Carter's and John Carter Cash's books; Mark Zwonitzer's history of the Carter Family; the Country Music Hall of Fame; and the Encyclopedia Virginia. Film from the Prelinger Archives. Images from Wikimedia Commons contributors.
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Valerie June Carter Cash was an American country singer, songwriter, comedienne, actress, and author. A five-time Grammy Award winner, she was a member of the Carter Family and the second wife of singer Johnny Cash. Before her marriage, she performed as June Carter, a name she continued to use professionally, including on songwriting credits. She played guitar, banjo, harmonica, and autoharp, and acted in several films and television shows. In 2009, she was posthumously inducted into the Christi...
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