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Kay Adams | |
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 Adams in 1966 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Princetta Kay Adams |
| Born | April 9, 1941 Knox City, Texas, U.S. |
| Origin | Vernon, Texas, U.S. |
| Genres | Country |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Labels | Tower, Ovation, Capitol, Granite, Frontline |
Princetta Kay Adams (born April 9, 1941) is an American country music singer.
Kay Adams was born Princetta Kay Adams [1] in Knox City, Texas, the fourth of five children to Charley Alva Adams (1908–1969) and Ola May Henson (1914–1993). Her father was a talented fiddle player. [2] She moved at the age of 10, along with her family, to Vernon, Texas.
In the 1960s, Adams arrived on the country scene with the songs "Six Days a Waiting," "Old Heart Get Ready," "Anymore," "Don't Talk Trouble To Me," "Trapped," "Roll Out The Red Carpet," "I Cried At Your Wedding," "Honky Tonk Heartache" and "She Didn't Color Daddy." She appeared as a regular on such Bakersfield based country music TV programs as Buck Owens' Ranch and the Dave Stogner Show .
At the inaugural Academy of Country Music Awards, in 1965, Adams was named Top New Female Vocalist. Merle Haggard was named Top New Male Vocalist, while Top Male Vocalist and Top Female Vocalist went to Buck Owens and Bonnie Owens. The following year, Adams was nominated for Top Female Vocalist.
Before 1966, women never recorded songs about truck driving. Adams, however, had a hit that year with "Little Pink Mack," a song giving the point of view of a woman driver, which is the only song on the album by a woman. In the song her truck has chrome and it "has polka-dot curtains hangin' in the sleeper," but is the fastest big-wheeler on the road. In her "truck drivin' boots" she stands about five-foot three, but she can take care of herself. With a full-force Bakersfield sound twangy Telecaster and some fuzz-tone steel guitar backing, she delivers the story of a truck driving woman who makes it clear she "cut my baby teeth on a set of Spicer gears. I’m a gear-swappin’ mama, and I don’t know the meaning of fear." All the truckers are asked, "Who's the gal in the little pink Mack?"
It was just a couple years before Tammy Wynette sang the praises of standing by one’s man, and a decade before Loretta Lynn celebrated reproductive freedom in her controversial hit, "The Pill," but country singer Kay Adams demolished at least one gender stereotype in 1966 with her hit single "Little Pink Mack."[ citation needed ]
Adams's vocal style carried a lot of Wanda Jackson’s sassy, husky-throated rockabilly abandon, a hint of Wynette’s lovelorn sob and a sense of Connie Smith’s emotional openness.[ citation needed ] More than just a novelty tune, "Little Pink Mack" was a friendly-but-firm challenge to the testosterone and diesel-fueled world of the "knights of the highway," long distance truckers.
Adams was married first to Robert W. Willard, in 1958. They were divorced in 1967 at Bakersfield. [3] She and her second husband also divorced. She married for a third time, to songwriter Buck Moore. She and Willard had two sons, Daniel Ray Willard (born December 19, 1959) [4] and Stewart Wayne Willard (born December 16, 1961). [5]
Her 1966 album A Devil Like Me Needs An Angel Like You, was a duo with singer Dick Curless. She also sang on the soundtrack-album of the western movie Killers Three (|1968), which also featured Merle Haggard and Bonnie Owens. In the 1970s, she recorded "I Never Got to Nashville" for Cliffie Stone's Granite Records. Most recently she recorded "Mama Was A Rock (Daddy Was A Rolling Stone)" in 1996 with BR5-49 for the compilation CD Rig Rock Deluxe: A Musical Salute To The American Truck Driver, and "Trixie's Diesel-Stop Cafe" with The Dixie Bee-Liners on their 2009 bluegrass concept album Susanville .
Kay Adams's albums include A Devil Like Me Needs An Angel Like You,Wheels And Tears,Make Mine Country, and Alcohol And Tears.
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions |
|---|---|---|
| US Country [6] | ||
| A Devil Like Me Needs an Angel Like You (with Dick Curless) | 16 | |
| Wheels and Tears |
| 36 |
| Make Mine Country |
| — |
| Alcohol and Tears |
| — |
| Made for Love |
| — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | ||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Country [7] | |||
| "Don't Talk About Trouble to Me" | 1965 | — | Make Mine Country |
| "Roll Out the Carpet" | 1966 | — | |
| "A Devil Like Me Needs an Angel Like You" (with Dick Curless) | — | A Devil Like Me Needs an Angel Like You | |
| "Anymore" | — | Make Mine Country | |
| "Little Pink Mack" | 30 | Wheels and Tears | |
| "Where Did the Good Times Go" | — | — | |
| "Trapped" | 1967 | — | Make Mine Country |
| "Six Days A-Waitin'" | — | Wheels and Tears | |
| "Husband Stealer" | — | Alcohol Tears | |
| "Big Mac" | 1968 | — | Wheels and Tears |
| "Gonna Have a Good Time" | — | — | |
| "Good Morning Love" | 1969 | — | — |
| "Let George Do It" | 1970 | — | — |
| "Step Aside Girl" | 1973 | — | — |
| "Hearts of Stone" | — | — | |
| "Reason to Feel" | — | — | |
| "I Never Got to Nashville" | 1975 | — | — |
| "Country Dreamer" | — | — | |
| "You Show Me Yours and I'll Show You Mine" | 1978 | — | Made for Love |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||
Merle Ronald Haggard was an American country music singer, songwriter, guitarist, and fiddler.
The Academy of Country Music(ACM) was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Among the founders were Eddie Miller, Tommy Wiggins, and Mickey and Chris Christensen. They wanted to promote country music in the western 13 states with the support of artists based on the West Coast. Artists such as Johnny Bond, Glen Campbell, Merle Haggard, Roger Miller and others influenced them. A board of directors was formed to govern the academy in 1965.
George Glenn Jones was an American country musician, singer, and songwriter. He achieved international fame for a long list of hit records, including his best-known song "He Stopped Loving Her Today", and for his distinctive voice and phrasing. For the last two decades of his life, Jones was frequently referred to as "the greatest living country singer". Country music scholar Bill Malone wrote, "For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved." The shape of his nose and facial features earned Jones the nickname "The Possum". Jones has been called "The Rolls-Royce of Country Music" and had more than 160 chart singles to his name from 1955 until his death in 2013.
Alvis Edgar "Buck" Owens Jr. was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and band leader. He was the lead singer for Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, which had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music chart. He pioneered what came to be called the Bakersfield sound, named in honor of Bakersfield, California, Owens's adopted home and the city from which he drew inspiration for what he preferred to call "American music".
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1974.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in 1969.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in 1966.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in 1965.
Bonnie Owens was an American country music singer who was married to Buck Owens and later to Merle Haggard.
The Bakersfield sound is a sub-genre of country music developed in the mid-to-late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. Bakersfield is defined by its influences of rock and roll and honky-tonk style country, and its heavy use of electric instrumentation and backbeats. It was also a reaction against the slickly produced, orchestra-laden Nashville sound, which was becoming popular in the late 1950s. The Bakersfield sound became one of the most popular and influential country genres of the 1960s, initiating a revival of honky-tonk music and influencing later country rock and outlaw country musicians, as well as progressive country.
Joe Cecil "Red" Simpson was an American country music singer and songwriter best known for his trucker-themed country songs.
New Country Hits is an album by American country music artist George Jones. It was released in 1965 on the Musicor Records label.
The Buckaroos were an American band led by Buck Owens in the 1960s and early 1970s, who, along with Merle Haggard's The Strangers, were involved in the development and presentation of the "Bakersfield sound." Their peak of success was from 1965 to 1970. In 2005, CMT named the Buckaroos No. 2 on its list of the 20 Greatest Country Music Bands.
Sing Me Back Home is the fifth studio album by American country singer and songwriter Merle Haggard and The Strangers, released in 1968 on Capitol Records.
1996 is the forty-ninth studio album by American country singer Merle Haggard, released in 1996. It was his last studio album on the Curb Records label, and was considered something of a return to form for Haggard despite poor sales.
The Strangers were an American country band that formed in 1966 in Bakersfield, California. They mainly served as the backup band for singer-songwriter Merle Haggard, who named them after his first hit single "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers". In addition to serving as his backing band, members of the Strangers also produced many of Haggard's records, sang lead vocals on select tracks, and co-wrote many of Haggard's songs with him, including the No. 1 singles, "Okie From Muskogee" and "I Always Get Lucky with You".
Gene Price, also credited as Willard Eugene Price and Willard E. Price, was an American songwriter, primarily noted for his songwriting association with Buck Owens. He was also a member of Merle Haggard's backing band The Strangers.
Strangers is the debut studio album by American country music artist Merle Haggard. It was released on September 27, 1965, by Capitol Records.
Just Between the Two of Us is a duet album by country singers Bonnie Owens and Merle Haggard with the Strangers. It was released in 1966 by Capitol Records.
Heart to Heart is a duet album by Merle Haggard and Leona Williams with backing by the Strangers, released in June 1983 on Mercury Records. It reached number 44 on the Billboard Country music chart.
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