Many know her from the response song "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" but what most people don't realize is that Kitty Wells led the way for many women in country music and other genres across the board.Most people know her professionally as Kitty Wells, but to family she was Ellen Muriel Deason. On Monday July 16 2012, country music lost one of the last great honky tonk artists of her time period. Without the music of Kitty Wells, there would not be a Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, Reba McEntire, Dixie Chicks, Miranda Lambert etc. Kitty opened pathways for other genres as well. There would not be Joan Jett, Patti Smith, Heart, Janis Joplin, Melissa Ethridge, Alanis Morrisette, Grace Potter, and even pop artists such as Brittany Spears, Lady Gaga, and Katy Perry.
She began singing at an early age and playing guitar. Then she started
performing with her husband Johnnie Wright and his duo Johnnie &
Jack on the Louisiana Hayride show. Soon Wells was signed to a record
label but dropped because record labels at the time was not pushing for
women on the music scene. Many record companiesdidn't want to release other female records or sell them until Wells proved herself. She had a lot of pressure on her but did not let it phase her one bit.At the time that Kitty came out with "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", it was a time women were not taken seriously in music. In 1952, that song was almost banned from the Grand Ole Opry and many radio stations across America, but with sales dominating, stations began playing it and it became a hit. This was a rebuttal to Hank Thompson's "Wild Side of Life." It became so much of a hit in country music that it crossed over into the pop charts. The boys on music row said it was too racy, and people wouldn't like it. What happened? It spoke to people. Kitty was the voice for many women across America.
In 1976, she was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame. She was the third country music artist and eighth woman to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. This is what gave her the title "Queen of Country Music."
She paved the way for so many women in music by speaking from her heart in everything she did. She will be greatly missed but her music will live on forever.
