Henry William Thompson was an American country music singer-songwriter and musician whose career spanned seven decades.
Ellen Muriel Deason, known professionally as Kitty Wells, was an American pioneering female country music singer. She broke down a barrier for women in country music with her 1952 hit recording "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels", which also made her the first female country singer to top the U.S. country charts and turned her into the first female country superstar. “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” would also be her first of several pop crossover hits. Wells is the only artist to be awarded top female vocalist awards for 14 consecutive years. Her chart-topping hits continued until the mid-1960s, paving the way for and inspiring a long list of female country singers who came to prominence in the 1960s.
"The Great Speckled Bird" is a hymn from the southern United States whose lyrics were written by the Reverend Guy Smith, and transcribed by singer Charlie Swain. It is an allegory referencing fundamentalist self-perception during the Fundamentalist–Modernist Controversy. The song is in the form of AA, with each section being eight bars in a two-beat meter, with these sixteen bars forming the musical background for each verse. It is based on Jeremiah 12:9, "Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her; come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour." It was recorded in 1936 by Roy Acuff. It was also later recorded by Johnny Cash and Kitty Wells, Pearly Brown (1961), Hank Locklin (1962), Marty Robbins (1966), Lucinda Williams (1978), Marion Williams, and Jerry Lee Lewis. George Jones & The Smoky Mountain Boys also recorded it in the early 1970s.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1952.
Hungry Again is the thirty-fifth solo studio album by American singer-songwriter Dolly Parton. It was released on August 25, 1998, by Decca Records and Blue Eye Records. The album was produced by Parton and her cousin, Richie Owens. It is seen as a predecessor to Parton's critically acclaimed bluegrass trilogy, The Grass Is Blue, Little Sparrow, and Halos & Horns.
Honky Tonk Angels is a collaborative studio album by Dolly Parton, Loretta Lynn and Tammy Wynette. It was released on November 2, 1993, by Columbia Records. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on January 5, 1994, for sales of 500,000 copies.
Leather and Lace is a duet album by Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, released on RCA Records in 1981.
"I Let the Stars Get In My Eyes" is country music song that was written by Slim Willet and Tommy Hill. The song was an answer song to the big pop music hit Perry Como had with his song "Don't Let the Stars Get In Your Eyes."
Honky Tonk Angel may refer to:
"The Wild Side of Life" is a song made famous by country music singer Hank Thompson. Originally released in 1952, the song became one of the most popular recordings in the genre's history, spending 15 weeks at number one on the Billboard country chart, solidified Thompson's status as a country music superstar and inspired the answer song, "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" by Kitty Wells. In 1999, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
"Wings of a Dove' is a country song written by Bob Ferguson in 1958. It was popularized when it was recorded by Ferlin Husky in 1960. His recording topped the country charts for 10 nonconsecutive weeks. It was Ferlin Husky's third and final number 1 on the country chart, spending nine months on it. "Wings of a Dove" was successful on the pop charts as well, peaking at number 12 on the Hot 100. In 1987, Broadcast Music Incorporated awarded Ferguson with the "million air" plays for the "Wings of a Dove".
Songs That Made Country Girls Famous is a studio album by Lynn Anderson released in 1969. The album became Anderson's second top ten LP on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart, peaking at #9.
The singles discography of Kitty Wells, an American country artist, consists of ninety singles, nineteen B-sides, and two music videos. In 1949 she was signed to RCA Victor Records, where she released her debut single, "Death at the Bar" also in 1949. Dropped from RCA in 1950, Wells signed with Decca Records and released the single "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" in 1952. The song was an answer song to Hank Thompson's hit, "The Wild Side of Life", spending six weeks at number one on the Billboard Magazine Hot C&W Sides chart. The single sold one million copies and made Wells the first female country artist to have a single reach number one on the Billboard country list. Until the end of the decade, Wells became the only woman on the country chart that would consistently receive radio airplay. In 1953 the song, "Paying for That Back Street Affair" reached #6 on the Billboard Hot C&W Sides list, as well as twenty one additional Top Ten singles on the same chart between 1953 and 1959. This included singles such as the Red Foley duet "One by One" (1954), "Making Believe" (1955), "I Can't Stop Loving You" (1958), "Mommy for a Day" (1959), and "Amigo's Guitar" (1959). The latter song was written by Wells herself and later won her a BMI Songwriter's Award.
American country artist Loretta Lynn released 86 singles, two B-sides and 14 music videos. Her debut single was "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" (1960) via Zero Records. Promoting the song with her husband by driving to each radio station, the effort paid off when it peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. Arriving in Nashville, Tennessee, that year, she signed a recording contract with Decca Records. In 1962, "Success" reached the sixth position on the country songs chart, starting a series of top ten hits including "Wine Women and Song" and "Blue Kentucky Girl". She began collaborating with Ernest Tubb in 1964 and recorded four hit singles with him, including "Mr. and Mrs. Used to Be". Lynn's popularity greatly increased in 1966 when she began releasing her own compositions as singles. Among the first was "You Ain't Woman Enough " which reached the second position on the country songs list. She then reached the number one spot with "Don't Come Home A-Drinkin' " (1967). This was followed by "Fist City" (1968) and "Woman of the World " (1969).
The discography of American country music singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn includes 50 studio albums, 36 compilation albums, two live albums, seven video albums, two box sets and 27 additional album appearances. Briefly recording with the Zero label, she signed an official recording contract with Decca Records in 1961, remaining there for over 20 years The first under the label was her debut studio album Loretta Lynn Sings (1963). It peaked at number two on the Billboard Top Country Albums survey. Lynn would issue several albums a year with her growing success, including a duet album with Ernest Tubb (1965), a gospel album (1965), and a holiday album (1966). Her seventh studio album You Ain't Woman Enough (1966) was her first release to top the country albums chart and to chart within the Billboard 200. Other albums to reach number one during this period were Don't Come Home a Drinkin' (1967) and Fist City. Don't Come A'Drinkin would also become Lynn's first album to certify gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
"I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" is the debut single by American country music artist Loretta Lynn, released in March 1960. The song was among the first to not only be recorded by Lynn, but also to be penned by her. She composed the song while living in Washington State, maintaining her role as a housewife and occasional member of a local country music band. The composition was later recorded in California after Lynn was given money by a local businessman, who was impressed by her singing. "I'm a Honky Tonk Girl" was then issued as a single under the newly founded and independent Zero Records label in March 1960.
Kitty Wells' Country Hit Parade is an album by Kitty Wells that was released in 1956 on the Decca label. Joe Viglione of Allmusic.com gave it four stars and called it "groundbreaking", "a classic of the genre", and "entertaining beyond its historical importance."
The Kitty Wells Story is a double album consisting of re-recordings of the greatest hits of Kitty Wells. It was released in 1963 on the Decca label.
The Kitty Wells Show is a live album recorded at a concert by Kitty Wells, her son Bobby Wright, her husband Johnny Wright, singer Bill Phillips, and musicians Tommy Jackson, Paul Yandell and Odell Martin. The album was released in 1966 on the Decca label in the United States and on the Brunswick label in the United Kingdom.
Billboard Top Country & Western Records of 1952 is made up of two year-end charts compiled by Billboard magazine ranking the year's top country and western records based on record sales and juke box plays.
