Kitty performed with Johnnie and his sister Louise, as Johnnie Right and the Harmony Girls. They met Jack Anglin, who married Louise, and became a band, first known as the Tennessee Hillbillies, then the Tennessee Mountain Boys.
The song was controversial, and banned from being performed on the Opry in 1952. Even so, Kitty was able to join the Opry anyway, & she became a member that year.
Although many of her songs were considered controversial, it didn't hurt her, as people saw her as a role model & good mother and wife. She inspired other female artists to record risky material as well, such as Loretta Lynn ("Don't Come Home a-Drinkin' with Lovin' on Your Mind,") and Dolly Parton, ("Just Because I'm a Woman."
Kitty Wells success also proved to record execs that women could sell records too, and she was the first female country singer to have an album released, with Kitty Wells' Country Hit Parade. This broke the ground for other female artists to release their own LPs, starting with Patsy Cline's 1957 self-titled debut, Jean Shepherd's 1959 This is Jean Shepherd, and Rose Maddox in 1960, with The One Rose. Soon, every female country singer was releasing her own LPs.
Kitty Wells was the first female country singer to have her own syndicated television show, with 1968's The Kitty Wells Show. The show ran for one season only, as it had a hard time competing with shows by male country stars like Bill Anderson and Porter Wagoner.
Today, in her late 80's, Wells continues to make public appearances, and occasionally performs some of her songs.
- The Country Music Hall of Fame
- The Queen of Country Music
- Greatest Songs
- It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels Download/Purchase
- Making Believe Download/Purchase
- Paying For That Back Street Affair Download/Purchase
