Remembering Kitty Wells
By Walt Trott
When Tracy Pitcox of Heart of Texas Records invited me to write liner notes for this historic 16-track tribute to Kitty Wells, I thought that’s no chore. Fact is the Queen of Country Music’s barely been out of my thoughts since she left us on July 16, 2012 – and we’re all musically poorer for it. Indeed “Miss Kitty’s” sincere singing style made her a favorite of fans worldwide, few of whom have forgotten her impact.
Only two months earlier, on May 3, 2012, she had marked the 60th anniversary of recording her signature song, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” which went on to sell a million discs, while making her the first female country singer to shatter Billboard’s glass-ceilinged chart. It also crossed over into the trade weekly’s Top 20 pop chart, became the most popular answer song (by rebuffing Hank Thompson’s #1 “The Wild Side of Life”), and is now in the Grammy Hall of Fame for milestone discs.
She was born (Ellen) Muriel Deason in Nashville, Aug. 30, 1919.. At age 15, Muriel and cousin Bessie Choate, emboldened by the reception to their vocals in church, sang on WSIX’s Saturday “open mic” show in 1935.
In 1937, Muriel and farm-boy Johnnie from nearby Mt. Juliet first teamed with his sister Louise as WSIX’s Johnnie Wright & The Harmony Girls. After Louise wed Jack Anglin, it led to the duo Johnnie & Jack.
Touring with them and their backup boys, Muriel was mainly an added attraction to dress up the bandstand and sing a song now and then. At WNOX-Knoxville’s Mid-Day Merry-Go-’Round, however, program chief Lowell Blanchard noted the favorable feedback to Muriel’s heartfelt vocals, suggesting Johnnie come up with a stage name, as announcers were mispronouncing it “Merle,” causing confusion.
Johnnie liked The Pickard Family’s cover of a 19th century ballad “Sweet Kitty Wells,” and so with approval of Muriel and Lowell, “borrowed” the name in ’43, and needless to say, it stuck. The troupe toured throughout the decade, doing radio shows until RCA summoned Johnnie & Jack, who hit with “Poison Love,” and joined the Opry in 1951.
One night Johnnie & Jack were to play WSM’s Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree, when Paul Cohen, Owen Bradley and (song-plugger) Troy Martin tracked them down, telling Johnnie they had a song, an answer to ‘Wild Side of Life’ by J. D. Miller.
“They gave Johnnie a tape of the song, which we listened to, and though I liked the melody, I didn’t think the Hank Thompson song needed an answer” Kitty told me. “But I told Johnnie if he wanted me to record it, I would. I knew at least I would make (union) ‘scale’ for singing it.”
People tend to forget, by then Johnnie & Jack were celebrating their second Top Five record: “Cryin’ Heart Blues.” It was in July Kitty got a call from Audrey Williams (Hank’s wife) telling her the song was all over radio and a sure-fire hit. She not only found herself back “on the road,” but now as headliner, a first for a female country artist.
No one-hit wonder, she reemerged from her self-imposed retirement after more than a decade of travels, having broken the male-dominance in country music. Not only did she add successful answer songs, such as “Paying For That Back Street Affair” and “I’ll Always Be Your Fraulein,” but with Red Foley, set a Billboard duets longevity record in 1954, charting their #1 “One By One,” 41 weeks. Further, her solo “Makin’ Believe” sat in #2 spot 15 of its 28 weeks.
Kitty’s “Heartbreak USA,” was also first female chart-topper for the 1960s, at #1 four weeks. Charting through the 1970s, Wells chalked up a hundred listings, including additional pop entries “The Things I Might Have Been” and “Jealousy,” along with albums, her last Top Five being “Queen of Honky Tonk Street,” charting 27 weeks into 1968.
Wells was consistently top-ranked female artist in two decades, according to trade weeklies Billboard and Cash Box, garnered a “Lifetime Contract” with Decca, and 1976 induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was a dozen years before another female artist was inducted, Loretta Lynn, in 1988.
On this Heart of Texas album, Loretta performs her idol’s breakthrough hit “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” though she’d cut that classic previously, including with Kitty and sister singers Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette for Columbia’s album “Honky Tonk Angels” (#6, 1993). One can almost envision a young Loretta rocking her babies, hearing this song that inspired her own career. Cheers to Tracy and Loretta for bringing this about.
The label wisely chose to include male artists paying homage to the Queen, including fellow Hall of Famer Ronnie Milsap, who brings his own soulful style to Kitty’s 1956 cut “Searching.” Incidentally, this #3 Pee Wee Maddux tune was recorded by Wells during the same Dec. 17, 1955 session that produced two other gems: “How Far Is Heaven,” a near-Top 10 duet with daughter Carol Sue, 10; and “Dust On the Bible,” title of her famed gospel album in 1959.
RCA recorded Kitty solo in 1950, singing “ . . . Heaven,” credited to writers Tillman Franks and former Governor Jimmie Davis. Here it’s rendered seamlessly by The Whites, sisters Sharon and Cheryl with dad Buck, while “Dust On the Bible,” penned by brothers Walter and Johnny Bailes, is splendidly covered by Joe Paul Nichols. A fourth generation Texan, Nichols headed up The Five Pennies, and became a leading gospel act. (Sadly, Joe died of Lou Gehrig Disease at age 59, a year before Kitty’s passing.)
Another who admired Wells’ vocals is Pretty Miss Norma Jean, who in 1966 recorded RCA’s: “Norma Jean Sings A Tribute To Kitty Wells.” For this session, she selected “Will Your Lawyer Talk To God,” a perceptive Harlan Howard creation that peaked at #8 in 1962.
Although Kitty sang so feelingly about broken marriages, when her life’s partner Johnnie Wright died Sept. 27, 2011, they were 33 days away from celebrating a 74th wedding anniversary. Incidentally, early on Norma Jean was friends with fellow Oklahoman Wanda Jackson.
For this tribute, Tracy invited Wanda, agreeing to rekindle the flames of “Makin’ Believe,” initially written and recorded by Jimmy Work before Kitty made it her own on Decca. Although hailed as Rockabilly Queen, Jackson wrote and sang country songs, notably back-to-back 1961 Top 10s “Right Or Wrong” and “In the Middle of a Heartache.” She injects that same self-assurance in re-doing Kitty’s smash hit.
Prior to her own halcyon days, Jan Howard recalled singing intro demos for writer-hubby Harlan Howard, including what would be Kitty’s big hits: “Mommy For a Day,” smoothly recreated here by the First Lady of Bluegrass Rhonda Vincent, and “Heartbreak USA.” This time out, Jan dusted off Kitty’s last major chart single “It’s All Over (But the Crying),” a 1966 Top 20 Jan co-wrote with Harlan, possibly a precursor to their split the next year. Jan delivers a remarkably affecting performance here on this stirring ballad.
When one thinks of Jan, you also remember she was a duet partner to Bill Anderson, with whom she had her only #1 “For Loving You.” Bill’s also one of Music City’s top songwriters, and in 1962 offered “We Missed You” to then-Opry star Wells to record. Anderson opted to sing their shared hit for this tribute, bringing all the poignancy that the lady herself emotionally invested in it way back when, turning it into yet another Top 10.
Before his 2014 passing, Kitty’s long-time friend George Hamilton IV volunteered his awesome recording of Frankie Bailes’ haunting love lament “Oh, So Many Years.” Kitty recorded that ballad with Webb Pierce, Sept. 12, 1956, and it peaked for them at #8 on April 6, 1957.
This is the first time hearing Justin Trevino’s superb “A Tribute To Kitty Wells,” written just prior to his opening their Family Show (featuring the Queen, Johnnie, their son Bobby Wright & The Tennessee Mountain Boys) in the Lone Star State. He has so captured the essence of her appeal to audiences ever since she set out to make her mark on the music scene, and it’s heartening to know that the lady got to hear this for herself while down Texas way.
Such praise doesn’t take anything away from the wondrous salute to the artist, which Tom T. and Dixie Hall co-wrote for a 1982 Showtime Hot Ticket special, Country Music Tribute To Kitty Wells. Hall performed “Kitty Wells Started It All,” brandishing a cane, while both dancing and singing, Admittedly a long-time fan, Tom T’s repeating that musical remembrance for this set, citing her ascent to the heights of country music, succinctly noting, “She lived every part of a country girl’s dream.”
For decades after that spectacular showcase, Kitty continued to record and perform, marking her final tour in fall 2006, nearly 55 years after she and singer-husband Johnnie Wright departed Nashville to do a radio show at WBIG-Greenville, N.C. They experienced hardships, disappointments and modest successes, while creating a resume that eventually led to 1950s’ membership in WSM’s Grand Ole Opry, hit records for both acts, their own 1960s’ syndicated color TV series, film music, and more honors, including her 1986 Academy of Country Music Pioneer Award, a 1989 Grammy nomination for Owen Bradley’s “Honky Tonk Angels Medley” with Loretta, Brenda Lee and k. d. lang, and Kitty’s National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences’ Lifetime Grammy Achievement Award in 1991.
Other stunning stylings on this set include Amber Digby’s “There Must Be Another Way To Live,” Georgette Jones’ “You Don’t Hear,” and Mona McCall’s “Amigo’s Guitar,” one of my favorite Wells’ singles. Last but certainly not least, there’s Dottsy’s evocative take on Roy Botkin’s “The Lonely Side of Town”, originally released in 1955.
My hat’s off to Heart of Texas for taking the time (and obviously it’s been in the works several years, judging by the passing of Hamilton and Nichols) to pay allegiance to this iconic star, whom Trevino rightly calls a musical “treasure.”
But he’s not alone thinking that: During a recent satellite radio chat, host Bill Anderson asked fellow Country Music Hall of Fame pioneer Jean Shepard which female artists influenced her the most career-wise, without hesitation, she retorted, “Kitty Wells, Kitty Wells, Kitty Wells!” Amen.