Singer and songwriter June Carter Cash died last month in Nashville, Tennessee, following a heart operation. She was seventy-three years old. She was well known as the wife of country star Johnny Cash. But she was also a member of one of the most important families in country music. Steve Ember has more.

June Carter was part of what became known as the First Family of Country Music. In nineteen-twenty-seven, two years before she was born, the Carter family made some of the first recordings in country music.

June Carter performed with her family on the radio, then later with her mother and sisters at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville. She sang, played the autoharp and told funny stories.

June Carter studied acting in New York and appeared on television and in the movies. But she is perhaps best known for her abilities as a songwriter. One of her most famous songs -- co-written with Merle Kilgore -- is about falling in love with her husband, Johnny Cash. Here he sings what became one of his most successful songs, "Ring of Fire."