On 28 July 1999, Anita Carter, the youngest of the Carter Sisters and the first artist to record what would become Johnny Cash's signature hit "Ring of Fire," died in Hendersonville, Tennessee, aged 66, from complications of rheumatoid arthritis. As part of the Carter family, one of country music's most influential dynasties, she helped shape the genre both through the family group and her own solo recordings, and her original version of the song later became a defining moment in Cash's career.

Carter performed alongside her mother, Maybelle, and sisters June and Helen as the Carter Sisters and Mother Maybelle from 1949, and in May 1952 became the first woman from the Grand Ole Opry to perform solo on The Kate Smith Evening Hour. Her solo career produced hit duets, including "Down the Trail of Achin' Hearts" with Hank Snow (No. 2, 1951) and "I Got You" with Waylon Jennings (No. 4, 1968), while her 1962 solo debut album Folk Songs Old and New featured "(Love's) Ring of Fire" ahead of Cash's crossover hit version. She released several more albums, with her final record, Yesterday, coming out in 1990, nine years before her death.