90 Kitty Wells' phenomenal success with "Honky-Tonk Angels" was no fluke. She recorded song after song that was written specifically from a female point of view. "Release
Me," "Broken Marriage Vows," "Making Believe," and countless other songs sympathized with the frustration, hurt, and anger that women often felt. With her old-timey plaintive voice, her old-fashioned gingham dresses, and her shy personality, she was able to say things in songs that had not been said before, partially due to the fact that she seemed non- threatening and believable (Figure 15).
The undeniable success that Kitty Wells achieved fmally convinced the music business powers that their long-time mantra of "women don't sell," if ever true, was not true any longer. Women who had been "girl singers" with male solo acts and family groups began to step up to the microphone as solo singers. Rose Maddox garnered her own solo recording deal in addition to the one she had with her brothers for the Maddox Brothers and Rose.
Seventeen-year-old Jean Shepard left her position with Hank Thompson's outfit for her own
Capitol Records contract. Goldie Hill, June Webb, and Wanda Jackson all felt the immediate benefits of Kitty's success.
Some of the less shy singers took the new freedom to sing with a female perspective
even further. Jean Shepard, especially, looked for songs that delved into the darker side of the male-female dynamic. Her album, "Songs of a Love Affair," explored the downside, and
surprisingly, the upside of an extramarital relationship. Kitty may have put herself in the
shoes of a misunderstood honky-tonk angel, but Shepard gave hard-core honky-tonk music
its first female voice with songs such as "Twice the Lovin' ," "Don't Fall in Love with a
Married Man," and "Did You Tell Her About Me?"--frank songs that unapologetically
confronted topics of sex, infidelity, and divorce. In her 1953 song, "Two Whoops and a