| Helen married Glenn Jones in March,
and Anita married Dale Potter. June, coming off a #1 record with
Homer & Jethro in late 1949 ("Baby, It's Cold Outside") had her
own first solo recording sessions ("Grandma Told Me So" was released
in early 1950 on RCA) and Anita's first solo ("God Sent My Little
Girl")came out in August. Anita wanted to be a wife and moved to
Alabama with her new husband and appeared sporadically, especially
after 1955 when she became part of the rock group Nita, Rita and
Ruby. June also pursued a solo career after marrying Carl Smith in
July 1952 and even more so after their divorce, when she moved to New
York City to study acting. Various other artists, such as Becky
Bowman, were part of the group at this time. In the 1953-54 period
the sisters were sometimes together as Opry artists and appeared on
the syndicated Opry TV series. Thus (to get to the point of this
post) they did cross paths ever so briefly and slightly with Johnny
Cash in the mid-50s. However, there was no connection: John recorded
for Sun; the girls had left RCA, joined Columbia and then had no
recording contract after 1954, but toured extensively due to their
manager, Col. Tom Parker, who also was representing another Memphis
lad, Elvis Presley, at the time. So, their careers were on different
tracks.
John was also a member of the Opry, but the relationship was
rocky. The famous 1965 incident where, in a rage, he stomped out all
the footlights of the stage was the last straw, and he was advised
they "couldn't use him anymore." Of course, he redeemed himself
bigtime when he chose to host his TV show from the stage of the Ryman
Auditorium in 1969-71. But he was too busy and too popular to give up
prime touring days (Saturday nights and, later, Fridays) to fulfill
an Opry obligation (they were, back then, much more strict on artists
actually showing up), so rejoining as a regular member was never an
option.
So Johnny Cash and June Carter were never a "duo" on the Grand Ole
Opry. Neither were ever able (or willing) to crack into the tight
Opry community--he was a rockabilly from Memphis who moved to
Hollywood, not Nashville, in 1958. She was a cohort of people like
Hank Williams and Elvis, two others who were not exactly favorites of
the Opry brass, and her divorce from huge Opry star Carl Smith was
bitter. When June married John in 1968, it was not looked on as the
marriage of two titans at the time. Although they had won a Grammy
for "Jackson," John had not yet been "resurrected" ("At Folsom
Prison" had not yet been released), and the industry more or less
considered it "troubled singer marries member of his band," albeit a
prominent one. They of course sang together on the stage of the
Ryman, and later, the new Opry House, but not as "members." For (one
final) example, the Original Carter Family waited EIGHT years after
the formation of the Country Music Hall of Fame before they were
inducted. To us today (well, at least to me), that is unconscionable,
but it reflected the reality that they (and their offspring) never
got "inside."
- Mark
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