Kitty Wells discography | |
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Studio albums | 36 |
Compilation albums | 11 |
Box sets | 1 |
The albums discography of Kitty Wells, an American country artist, consists of thirty-six studio albums, eleven compilation albums, and one box set. Wells' first album release was 1956's Country Hit Parade on Decca Records, which compiled her hits during her first four years of recording for the label. Prior to its release, many labels were reluctant to release albums by female country artists until Wells became the first female vocalist to sell records. [1] Following its release, Wells and her label issued three studio albums during the 1950s: Winner of Your Heart (1957), Lonely Street (1958), and Dust on the Bible (1959). After the success of Wells' number one single "Heartbreak U.S.A." in 1961, an album of the same name was released the same year.
In 1963, her fourth compilation album, The Kitty Wells Story, became her first album to chart among the newly created Billboard Magazine Top Country Albums list, peaking at #7. [2] In 1964, her tenth studio album, Especially for You , became her first studio album to chart on the same list, peaking at #19. [3] The latter started a string of albums that would peak on the Billboard country chart during the 1960s, including Burning Memories (#7; 1965), [4] Lonesome, Sad, and Blue (#7; 1965), [5] and Queen of Honky Tonk Street (#5; 1967). [6]
After collaborating with country artist Red Foley on a single, the pair released the album Together Again in 1967. The album reached #24 on the Billboard Country Albums chart. [7] The following year, Wells and her husband Johnnie Wright issued We'll Stick Together , whose title track became a minor hit. The duo also released a gospel album in 1972. In the 1970s, Wells' chart success declined and her albums remained absent from the Billboard lists. Before leaving Decca/MCA, Wells released Yours Truly, her final studio album for the label, in 1973. Wells signed with Capricorn Records in 1975 and released her thirtieth studio album, Forever Young , the same year. In 1979, Wells and her husband formed the label Rubocca Records, and Wells issued her final studio albums in 1979 and 1981 on Rubocca respectively.[ clarification needed ] [8] Hopefully one day all of Kitty Wells later Decca/Mca recordings from the 1960’s and 1970’s will be on CD discography on compact disc as of 2024 is selective.
Title | Album details |
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Winner of Your Heart | |
Lonely Street |
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After Dark |
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Dust on the Bible |
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Title | Album details | Peak positions | |||||||
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US Country [9] | |||||||||
Kitty's Choice |
| — | |||||||
Seasons of My Heart |
| — | |||||||
Heartbreak U.S.A. |
| — | |||||||
Queen of Country Music |
| — | |||||||
Singing on Sunday |
| — | |||||||
Christmas Day With Kitty Wells |
| — | |||||||
Especially for You |
| 19 | |||||||
Country Music Time |
| 14 | |||||||
Burning Memories |
| 7 | |||||||
Lonesome, Sad, and Blue |
| 7 | |||||||
Songs Made Famous by Jim Reeves |
| 24 | |||||||
Country All the Way |
| 9 | |||||||
The Kitty Wells Show |
| — | |||||||
Love Makes the World Go Around |
| 28 | |||||||
Queen of Honky Tonk Street |
| 5 | |||||||
Showcase |
| 22 | |||||||
Cream of Country Hits |
| — | |||||||
Guilty Street |
| 29 | |||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||||
Title | Album details |
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A Bouquet of Country Hits |
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Singin' Em Country |
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Your Love Is the Way |
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They're Stepping All Over My Heart |
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Pledging My Love |
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Sincerely |
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I've Got Yesterday |
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Yours Truly |
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Forever Young |
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Hall of Fame, Vol. I |
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Hall of Fame, Vol. II |
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Title | Album details | Peak positions | |||||||
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US Country [9] | |||||||||
The Kitty Wells Family Gospel Sing (with Kitty Wells' family) |
| — | |||||||
Together Again (with Red Foley) |
| 24 | |||||||
We'll Stick Together (with Johnnie Wright) |
| 30 | |||||||
Kitty Wells and Johnnie Wright Sing Heartwarming Gospel Songs(with Johnnie Wright) |
| — | |||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||||
Title | Album details | Peak positions | |||||||
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US Country [9] | |||||||||
Kitty Wells' Country Hit Parade |
| — | |||||||
Kitty Wells' & Red Foley's Golden Favorites |
| — | |||||||
Kitty Wells' and Red Foley's Golden Hits(with Red Foley) |
| — | |||||||
The Kitty Wells Story |
| 7 | |||||||
Kitty Wells |
| — | |||||||
Kitty Wells' Greatest Hits |
| 37 | |||||||
Country Heart |
| — | |||||||
Jesus Is Coming Soon |
| — | |||||||
Country Music Hall of Fame Series |
| — | |||||||
Queens of Country Music (with Jean Stafford) |
| — | |||||||
20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection |
| — | |||||||
"—" denotes releases that did not chart. | |||||||||
Title | Album details |
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The Queen of Country Music |
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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.
Patty Loveless is an American country music singer. She began performing in her teenaged years before signing her first recording contract with MCA Records' Nashville division in 1985. While her first few releases were unsuccessful, she broke through by decade's end with a cover of George Jones's "If My Heart Had Windows". Loveless issued five albums on MCA before moving to Epic Records in 1993, where she released nine more albums. Four of her albums—Honky Tonk Angel, Only What I Feel, When Fallen Angels Fly, and The Trouble with the Truth—are certified platinum in the United States. Loveless has charted 44 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including five which reached number one: "Timber, I'm Falling in Love", "Chains", "Blame It on Your Heart", "You Can Feel Bad", and "Lonely Too Long".
"It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels" is a 1952 country song written by J. D. "Jay" Miller, and recorded by Kitty Wells. It was an answer song to the Hank Thompson hit "The Wild Side of Life." First performed by Al Montgomery as "Did God Make Honky Tonk Angels" on the Feature label which was owned by songwriter J.D. Miller.
Ollie Imogene "Jean" Shepard was an American honky-tonk singer-songwriter who is often acknowledged as a pioneer for women in country music. Shepard released a total of 73 singles to the Hot Country Songs chart, one of which reached the number-one spot. She recorded a total of 24 studio albums between 1956 and 1981, and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1955.
Mark Nelson Chesnutt is an American country music singer and songwriter. Between 1990 and 1999, he had his greatest chart success recording for Universal Music Group Nashville's MCA and Decca branches, with a total of eight albums between those two labels. During this timespan, Chesnutt also charted twenty top-ten hits on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, of which eight reached number one: "Brother Jukebox", "I'll Think of Something", "It Sure Is Monday", "Almost Goodbye", "I Just Wanted You to Know", "Gonna Get a Life", "It's a Little Too Late", and a cover of Aerosmith's "I Don't Want to Miss a Thing". His first three albums for MCA along with a 1996 Greatest Hits package issued on Decca are all certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); 1994's What a Way to Live, also issued on Decca, is certified gold. After a self-titled album in 2002 on Columbia Records, Chesnutt has continued to record predominantly on independent labels.
American country music artist Patty Loveless has released 16 studio albums, 11 compilation albums, two video albums and 52 singles. Recording a tape of her own music, Loveless signed her first recording contract with MCA Records in 1985. Her self-titled studio album was released in January 1987 and peaked at number 35 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. She followed it with her second studio release, If My Heart Had Windows (1988). It peaked at number 33 on the country albums list and spawned her first major country hits: "If My Heart Had Windows" and "A Little Bit in Love". Her third studio album, Honky Tonk Angel (1988), would certify platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and produced her first number one country hits, "Timber, I'm Falling in Love" and "Chains". Loveless went on to release the studio albums On Down the Line (1990) and Up Against My Heart (1991). Together, both albums produced three top 10 singles including the number three hit "Hurt Me Bad ".
Dennis Marty Brown is an American country music artist. Active between 1991 and 1996, he has released six studio albums and has charted one single on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. Marty Brown and his wife, Shellie, currently reside in Simpson County, Franklin, Kentucky, since July 2004.
Loretta Lynn Sings is the debut studio album by American country singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn. It was released on December 9, 1963 via Decca Records and was produced by Owen Bradley. The album contained songs recorded shortly after she had signed with the Decca label. In total, four singles were released from the album. Two of these singles became major hits on the Billboard country chart. This included "Success", which became Lynn's first top ten hit. The album was received positively by critics and writers alike.
The posthumous discography of American singer Patsy Cline consists of recordings released after March 5, 1963. Since her death, Cline's record label and other labels have released numerous studio albums, compilation albums and singles. Decca Records planned to release Cline's fourth studio album at the time of her death. Instead, a compilation was released in June 1963 titled The Patsy Cline Story. The album reached number 9 on the Billboard country albums list and number 74 on the pop albums chart. Two singles posthumously released in 1963 became top 10 hits on the Billboard country songs chart: "Sweet Dreams " and "Faded Love". Following the release of two posthumous studio albums, Decca issued Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits in 1967. It was the highest-selling female country album for 28 years until Shania Twain surpassed her record in 1995. Greatest Hits was reissued multiple times and eventually was certified diamond in sales in the United States.
"The Race Is On" is a song written by Don Rollins and made a hit on the country music charts by George Jones and on the pop and easy listening charts by the unrelated Jack Jones. George's version was the first single released from his 1965 album of the same name. Released as a single in September 1964, it peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and at number 96 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1965. Jack's version topped Billboard's Easy Listening chart and reached number 15 on the Hot 100 the same year. The two recordings combined to reach number 12 on the Cashbox charts, which combined all covers of the same song in one listing and thus gave George Jones his only top-40 hit. The song uses thoroughbred horse racing as the metaphor for the singer's romantic relationships.
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 number fourteen 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.
"Heartaches Meet Mr. Blues" is a song written and originally recorded by American country singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn. It was released as a single on Zero Records in 1960 and was produced by Don Grashey. The song was Lynn's second single release in her career and would be one of three she would record for the Zero label before moving to Decca Records in 1961.
"I Walked Away from the Wreck" is a song written by Cindy Walker that was first recorded by American country singer-songwriter Loretta Lynn. It was released as a single in 1961 via Decca Records and later appeared on her debut studio album, Loretta Lynn Sings. "I Walked Away from the Wreck" was Lynn's first single with the Decca label and would start a series of major hits until the 1980s.
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.
Love Makes the World Go Around is an album recorded by Kitty Wells and released in 1967 on the Decca label in the United States and on the Brunswick label in the United Kingdom.
Queen of Honky Tonk Street is an album recorded by Kitty Wells and released in 1967 on the Decca label in the United States and on the Calendar Records label (SR66-9640) in Australia.