Kitty Wells
Lonestar Ranch, Reeds Ferry, New Hampshire, 1981

Born Muriel Deason, Kitty Wells was one of the first great female country singers, a huge influence on Patsy Cline, Loretta Lynn, and others who followed. With a dignified performing style and a strong honky tonk voice, she and husband Johnny Wright comprised one of country music's most enduring acts—over sixty years in the business. Kitty's breakthrough came in 1954 when she answered Hank Thompson's megahit "Wild Side of Life" with her classic "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," which pinned the blame on men, not God, for causing "many a good girl to go wrong."