Long Lives the Queen: Celebrating Kitty Wells
Tom Roland
January 13, 2009
Kitty Wells sat calmly, almost regally, in a back room of the library at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, quietly contemplating her life and career.
The Nashville native has done quite a bit of reflection recently, thanks to a new exhibit at the Museum. "Kitty Wells: Queen of Country Music, Presented by Great American Country Television Network," which remains open until June 14, 2009, puts her history-making life in a big-picture perspective through exhibits of awards, chart reproductions, vintage TV footage and stage wear, including the peach dress she wore to the CMA Awards at the Grand Ole Opry House in 1976 on the night she was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
"Things," she reflected, "worked out pretty well for us."
That line alone proves that Wells is the Queen of Understatement as well as of Country Music.
"Well," she explained, with a smile, "I let other people do the bragging. I'm not one to really brag and carry on like that."
Of course, no one would blame Wells if she ever did engage in a little self-promotion. Before Loretta Lynn first told off her husband in song, before Tammy Wynette belted out her orchestrated declamations, before Dolly Parton stirred her pot of sonic fragility and glitz, Wells enjoyed a 14-year run of Top 10 hits that helped make it possible for women to achieve success as Country artists.
Wells wasn't the first female to make a mark on this music. Patsy Montana sold a million copies of her classic "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart," released in 1935. Lulu Belle Wiseman found acclaim on "The National Barn Dance," broadcast from Chicago over WLS radio, as half of the husband-and-wife team Lulu Belle and Scotty.
But no woman nabbed a solo No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart until Wells, who achieved that distinction with "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" in 1952.
"If it hadn't been for Kitty Wells," Barbara Mandrell suggested in a famous quote that's documented in the "Queen of Country Music" exhibit, "there wouldn't be a Dolly Parton or Tammy Wynette, and there certainly wouldn't be a Barbara Mandrell."
The magnitude of what Wells achieved becomes clearer when you put her into the context of her time. Women earned the right to vote in 1920, just 32 years before her ascendance, and during her peak commercial years in the 1950s society still maintained a strict division of roles according to gender. Men worked for a paycheck to support the home; women tended the house and took care of the kids. The feminist movement had yet to develop, though the frustrations that sparked it were already brewing.
"Kitty was always speaking for women," observed Patty Loveless, who covers numerous Country songs from the 1950s and '60s on her latest album, Sleepless Nights. "I do believe that she was a voice for all women during that time."
Many women had only recently entered the workforce, during World War II, as men were called into battle and factories suddenly needed personnel to meet the military's needs. And when the soldiers came back home, many of those women found it difficult to return to the role of housewife.
"After World War II, things began to change," the late Minnie Pearl is quoted as saying in the "Queen of Country Music" exhibit. "Women began getting fed up with their way of life."
Coincidentally, Wells first achieved success thanks to a song about being fed up with "The Wild Side of Life." Recorded by Hank Thompson, this single spent 15 weeks at the top of the charts, with a lyric that castigated a woman for choosing liquor and "the glamour of the gay night life." Lured by the prospect of a $125 recording payment, Wells agreed to record "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," which rebutted Thompson's hit by placing the blame on philandering husbands.
The timing in 1952 for release by Decca Records of this single was as perfect as Wells' interpretation of its message. Her performance was strong and defiant, stern but not harsh, pained but not defeated. The song lodged for six weeks at No. 1 (equivalent to the amount of time Faith Hill's "Breathe" and Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel" spent at the top position in this decade) and opened the door for Wells to follow it with a series of singles that mined the divide in broken homes, including the post-split "I Can't Stop Loving You," the resigned "Release Me," the forlorn "You Don't Hear" and the divorce ruminations "Will Your Lawyer Talk to God" and "Mommy for a Day."
Despite the disharmony of that subject matter, Wells enjoyed a home life marked by enduring love and stability. At 18, she married fellow singer Johnnie Wright in 1937, and the couple has stayed together for more than seven decades. Wright was part of a hit-making duo called Johnnie and Jack; when they toured with their band to play at radio stations to promote their shows in various markets, Wells would perform a few solo tunes. Acting as her manager, Wright eventually decided to make his wife the headliner in their show, despite an admonition from Roy Acuff, who believed the move was financial suicide.
Looking back, Wells remembered that Acuff, the King of Country Music, "kind of settled down when Johnnie showed him that you could headline a show with a woman. I don't think they" - the audiences who came to their shows - "really thought a whole lot about who headlines a show. We were always there together anyway."
Their relationship, like her rise to stardom, forecast an era when old adages might be reconsidered or even reversed, such as the truism that behind every successful man is a woman. In their case, Wright was always there to bolster Wells' career, which she believes could not have taken off without his support.
"He's always promoted my career," she maintained. "He really promoted me more than he did Johnnie and Jack."
That promotion elevated Wells into a uniquely distinguished career, measured by a catalog that includes 23 Top 10 singles and 35 Top 10 albums.
Since her 1976 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, other female artists, including Hill, Reba McEntire and Shania Twain, have been referred to on occasion as the Queen of Country Music. This doesn't cause Wells to feel slighted, though she admits that the passage of time may have made her a less immediate presence than she once had been.
"Some of the new artists might not be quite so familiar with my singing or with my songs," she said.
Still, the very fact that any performer might earn that distinction testifies to the legacy of Wells, who established the possibility that Country Music might have and acknowledge someone as its Queen at all. And those who are aware of history know who the true Queen is and will always be.
Just ask Loveless, who shared the stage with Wells and Lynn on the program that marked the reopening of the Ryman Auditorium in 1994. On that night, these artists, representing three generations of women in Country Music with careers that spanned five decades, joined to sing "Making Believe," which Wells had recorded in 1955. More than music bound them, as Loveless maintained.
"It is a common thread," she insisted. "And Kitty is what holds it all together."
On the Web: www.kittywells.com
CMA created the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 to recognize individuals for their outstanding contributions to the format with Country Music's highest honor. Inductees are chosen by CMA's Hall of Fame Panel of Electors, which consists of more than 300 anonymous voters appointed by the CMA Board of Directors.
2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.
The Nashville native has done quite a bit of reflection recently, thanks to a new exhibit at the Museum. "Kitty Wells: Queen of Country Music, Presented by Great American Country Television Network," which remains open until June 14, 2009, puts her history-making life in a big-picture perspective through exhibits of awards, chart reproductions, vintage TV footage and stage wear, including the peach dress she wore to the CMA Awards at the Grand Ole Opry House in 1976 on the night she was inducted into the Hall of Fame.
"Things," she reflected, "worked out pretty well for us."
That line alone proves that Wells is the Queen of Understatement as well as of Country Music.
"Well," she explained, with a smile, "I let other people do the bragging. I'm not one to really brag and carry on like that."
Of course, no one would blame Wells if she ever did engage in a little self-promotion. Before Loretta Lynn first told off her husband in song, before Tammy Wynette belted out her orchestrated declamations, before Dolly Parton stirred her pot of sonic fragility and glitz, Wells enjoyed a 14-year run of Top 10 hits that helped make it possible for women to achieve success as Country artists.
Wells wasn't the first female to make a mark on this music. Patsy Montana sold a million copies of her classic "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart," released in 1935. Lulu Belle Wiseman found acclaim on "The National Barn Dance," broadcast from Chicago over WLS radio, as half of the husband-and-wife team Lulu Belle and Scotty.
But no woman nabbed a solo No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart until Wells, who achieved that distinction with "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" in 1952.
"If it hadn't been for Kitty Wells," Barbara Mandrell suggested in a famous quote that's documented in the "Queen of Country Music" exhibit, "there wouldn't be a Dolly Parton or Tammy Wynette, and there certainly wouldn't be a Barbara Mandrell."
The magnitude of what Wells achieved becomes clearer when you put her into the context of her time. Women earned the right to vote in 1920, just 32 years before her ascendance, and during her peak commercial years in the 1950s society still maintained a strict division of roles according to gender. Men worked for a paycheck to support the home; women tended the house and took care of the kids. The feminist movement had yet to develop, though the frustrations that sparked it were already brewing.
"Kitty was always speaking for women," observed Patty Loveless, who covers numerous Country songs from the 1950s and '60s on her latest album, Sleepless Nights. "I do believe that she was a voice for all women during that time."
Many women had only recently entered the workforce, during World War II, as men were called into battle and factories suddenly needed personnel to meet the military's needs. And when the soldiers came back home, many of those women found it difficult to return to the role of housewife.
"After World War II, things began to change," the late Minnie Pearl is quoted as saying in the "Queen of Country Music" exhibit. "Women began getting fed up with their way of life."
Coincidentally, Wells first achieved success thanks to a song about being fed up with "The Wild Side of Life." Recorded by Hank Thompson, this single spent 15 weeks at the top of the charts, with a lyric that castigated a woman for choosing liquor and "the glamour of the gay night life." Lured by the prospect of a $125 recording payment, Wells agreed to record "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," which rebutted Thompson's hit by placing the blame on philandering husbands.
The timing in 1952 for release by Decca Records of this single was as perfect as Wells' interpretation of its message. Her performance was strong and defiant, stern but not harsh, pained but not defeated. The song lodged for six weeks at No. 1 (equivalent to the amount of time Faith Hill's "Breathe" and Carrie Underwood's "Jesus, Take the Wheel" spent at the top position in this decade) and opened the door for Wells to follow it with a series of singles that mined the divide in broken homes, including the post-split "I Can't Stop Loving You," the resigned "Release Me," the forlorn "You Don't Hear" and the divorce ruminations "Will Your Lawyer Talk to God" and "Mommy for a Day."
Despite the disharmony of that subject matter, Wells enjoyed a home life marked by enduring love and stability. At 18, she married fellow singer Johnnie Wright in 1937, and the couple has stayed together for more than seven decades. Wright was part of a hit-making duo called Johnnie and Jack; when they toured with their band to play at radio stations to promote their shows in various markets, Wells would perform a few solo tunes. Acting as her manager, Wright eventually decided to make his wife the headliner in their show, despite an admonition from Roy Acuff, who believed the move was financial suicide.
Looking back, Wells remembered that Acuff, the King of Country Music, "kind of settled down when Johnnie showed him that you could headline a show with a woman. I don't think they" - the audiences who came to their shows - "really thought a whole lot about who headlines a show. We were always there together anyway."
Their relationship, like her rise to stardom, forecast an era when old adages might be reconsidered or even reversed, such as the truism that behind every successful man is a woman. In their case, Wright was always there to bolster Wells' career, which she believes could not have taken off without his support.
"He's always promoted my career," she maintained. "He really promoted me more than he did Johnnie and Jack."
That promotion elevated Wells into a uniquely distinguished career, measured by a catalog that includes 23 Top 10 singles and 35 Top 10 albums.
Since her 1976 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame, other female artists, including Hill, Reba McEntire and Shania Twain, have been referred to on occasion as the Queen of Country Music. This doesn't cause Wells to feel slighted, though she admits that the passage of time may have made her a less immediate presence than she once had been.
"Some of the new artists might not be quite so familiar with my singing or with my songs," she said.
Still, the very fact that any performer might earn that distinction testifies to the legacy of Wells, who established the possibility that Country Music might have and acknowledge someone as its Queen at all. And those who are aware of history know who the true Queen is and will always be.
Just ask Loveless, who shared the stage with Wells and Lynn on the program that marked the reopening of the Ryman Auditorium in 1994. On that night, these artists, representing three generations of women in Country Music with careers that spanned five decades, joined to sing "Making Believe," which Wells had recorded in 1955. More than music bound them, as Loveless maintained.
"It is a common thread," she insisted. "And Kitty is what holds it all together."
On the Web: www.kittywells.com
CMA created the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961 to recognize individuals for their outstanding contributions to the format with Country Music's highest honor. Inductees are chosen by CMA's Hall of Fame Panel of Electors, which consists of more than 300 anonymous voters appointed by the CMA Board of Directors.
2009 CMA Close Up® News Service / Country Music Association®, Inc.