Kitty Wells was a true Country music original. A recording artist for over 40 years, she began her performing career as early as the 1930's performing as part of The Deason Sisters. The 1940's saw her join the already established Tennessee Hillbillies and then, on Jack Anglin's return from the Army, with her husband Johnnie Wright and Anglin, singing and playing guitar as part of their Johnnie and Jack duo.
Recording initially for RCA; who found her in your face determinedly 'unfeminine' fierceness difficult to market, her greatest success came when she signed for Decca Records. Paul Cohen, A & R man for the Stateside arm of the company, was looking for an answer song to Hank Thompson's 'The Wild Side of Life;' a song which to this day still rankles many with its thinly veiled sexism. It certainly inspired Ms Wells: her recording of Jay Miller's 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,' set her on the road to stardom, establishing her as the nascent queen of Country Music.
It really was no contest. And, for many, it stayed that way.
Kitty Wells was that rarest of rare things - a quiet revolutionary. Kind, sympathetic and willing to do whatever she could to help young musicians, especially young women musicians, gain a foothold in a precarious often combative industry, she will be remembered for this, for her unequalled generosity of spirit and, most of all, for her voice - which never failed to inspire and uplift.
It really was no contest. And, for many, it stayed that way.
Kitty Wells was that rarest of rare things - a quiet revolutionary. Kind, sympathetic and willing to do whatever she could to help young musicians, especially young women musicians, gain a foothold in a precarious often combative industry, she will be remembered for this, for her unequalled generosity of spirit and, most of all, for her voice - which never failed to inspire and uplift.
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