Song:It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels
Album:The Complete Country Hits 1952-62
Kitty Wells was a country music pioneer known as The Queen of Country Music. Her 1952 single It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels was the first by a female artist to top the Country Singles chart. And she continued to have success in the 50s and 60s. She was born Ellen Muriel Deason Aug. 30, 1919 in Nashville. Her father was a railroad brakeman and a part time singer. He taught Kitty to play guitar. She and her sisters performed on a local radio station as The Deason Sisters. At age 18 she married Johnnie Wright. Kitty toured with Wright and his sister Louise as Johnny Right and the Harmony Girls. Then Wright formed Johnnie & Jack with Jack Anglin. Anglin married Louise. Wright got the name Kitty Wells from the folk song Sweet Kitty Wells. She signed with RCA in 1949. But at the time record companies weren't promoting female country singers. RCA dropped Kitty in 1950. She was considering retirement when Decca Records exec Paul Cohen approached Kitty about recording It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels. Cohen wanted it to be an answer to the Hank Thompson hit The Wild Side of Life. The song was written by Louisiana swamp musician JD Miller. Kitty thought it was just another song. Some radio stations banned the song because of the controversial lyrics. But listeners loved it and Kitty became the first female to top the Country Singles chart since it was established in 1944. From there Kitty was a fixture in the country top ten until the mid-60s. And that included duets with Red Foley and Webb Pierce. You can get all her hits on this 2CD comp from the reissue label Acrobat. Kitty faded in the late 60s. But she continued to record and tour. She left Decca in 1973 and recorded an album for Capricorn. She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1976. After that she recorded for her own label and she and Wright continued to tour. You may recall Kitty, Brenda Lee and Loretta Lynn appeared on k.d. lang's 1987 single Honky Tonk Angels Medley. That was nominated for a Grammy. Kitty Wells and Johnnie Wright retired in 2000. He died in 2011 at age 97. Kitty Wells died on July 16, 2012 at age 92. Here's Kitty Wells performing It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels on a 1966 episode of The Jimmy Dean Show.
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