1952: Kitty Wells’ ‘It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels’ becomes a hit
April 8, 2021
Singer Kitty Wells paved the way for other female country artists when she released the popular song “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels,” a response to Hank Thompson’s song “The Wild Side of Life,” in which a man blames his lost love on a woman’s decision to go out and party at night. Written by songwriter J.D. Miller, Wells’ song pushed back against the misogynist implications of Thompson’s hit, shocking much of the male-dominated industry and selling over 1 million copies.