walking upstream…
Kitty Wells
photo: capricorn records · public domain ↗Kitty Wells
sourcesWikipedia · Britannica · Rolling Stone
Born Ellen Muriel Deason in Nashville in 1919 and raised on Carter Family records and church gospel, Kitty Wells became country music's first major female star in 1952 with 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,' an answer record to Hank Thompson that was banned from some radio and the Grand Ole Opry stage for its frankness about men's infidelity. The song's massive success cracked open Nashville's assumption that women couldn't sell records as headliners, and Wells spent the next two decades as "The Queen of Country Music," clearing a path for Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and Dolly Parton. Her plainspoken, unadorned honky-tonk voice became a template for women singing hard truths in a genre that hadn't made much room for them.
the sound in question
1952
It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk AngelsKitty Wells
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The Carter Family1930s · Country / Folk
Wells sang gospel and old-time songs from childhood and took her stage name directly from a Carter Family song; her breakthrough hit even drew its melody from the same well of Appalachian tunes the Carter Family helped popularize.
listen: upstream & here
1928
Wildwood FlowerThe Carter Family
1952
It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk AngelsKitty Wells
listen forPlay the Carter Family's plain, harmony-driven 'Wildwood Flower,' then Wells's own 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels' — listen for the same unadorned Appalachian foundation underneath a much more pointed lyric.
Roy Acuff1930s-40s · Country / Old-time
Wells spent years on the road as part of Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys' touring show before her solo breakthrough, absorbing the plaintive, Opry-style balladry that was Acuff's trademark.
listen: upstream & here
1936
The Great Speckled BirdRoy Acuff
1955
Making BelieveKitty Wells
listen forListen to the mournful, old-time delivery on Acuff's 'The Great Speckled Bird' and then Wells's own aching 'Making Believe' — both lean on a plain, high, keening vocal style straight out of the Grand Ole Opry tradition.
Patsy Montana1930s · Western / Country
Patsy Montana's 1935 million-seller made her an idol to a generation of women who followed in country music, and music historians credit her directly with emboldening later stars, Kitty Wells among them, to claim a place as headliners rather than backing singers.
listen: upstream & heresource: San Diego Troubadour ↗
1935
I Want to Be a Cowboy's SweetheartPatsy Montana
1953
Honky Tonk WaltzKitty Wells
listen forPlay Montana's yodeling, guitar-picking 'I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart' and then Wells's own 'Honky Tonk Waltz' — different sounds a generation apart, but both are a woman singing country music entirely on her own terms.