Existing comment:
Kitty Wells
“I Heard the Juke Box Playing”
Words and music by Webb Pierce, Linda Baggett, and Kitty Wells
New York, 1952
Kitty Wells, “The Queen of Country Music”
In the 1950s, many country songs blamed women for the demise of relationships, but Wells (1918–2012) flipped the script with her recording of “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels.” The 1952 hit, written by J.D. Miller and recorded for Decca, was a lyrical response to Hank Thompson’s “The Wild Side of Life.” Initially banned by some radio stations, it quickly topped the country chart—a first for a solo woman artist—making Wells into a country music superstar. |