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FACES: Women of Country Music in the Mountains

© Greg Cruey

Perhaps more so than most other parts of the country, Appalachia has served as America's musical soul. What follows is a look at the lives and music of a handful of the women who have played a part in that...

Tammy Wynette	Loretta Lynn	Dolly Parton
Kathy Mattea	Patty Loveless

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Tammy Wynette

The death of Tammy Wynette on April 6, 1998, left Nashville without a first lady of country music (as Tammy had come to be called).

A woman of contradictions: Tammy Wynette's life was a confusion of her two most well-known songs - "Stand by Your Man" and "D-I-V-O-R-C-E."

Born in the Appalachian section of Mississippi, near Tupelo, Tammy married at 17 and divorced 5 times over the next 39 years of her life. She knew what country music was about and kept in touch with the common people, working as a beautician for much of her early career.

Tammy's first single, "Apartment No. 9," broke the charts in 1966. After that, she had thirty-two straight No. 1 hits in country music and her 1969 album, Tammy's Greatest Hits, sold more copies than any female country recording artist ever had.

Real Name:	Virginia Wynette Pugh
Occupation:	Musician, Singer
Born:	May 5, 1942
Died:	April 6, 1998
Place of Birth:	Itawamba County, Miss.
Marriages:	First husband: Euple Byrd Second husband: Don Chapel Third husband: George Jones Fourth husband: Michael Tomlin Fifth husband: George Richey

For awhile, Wynette and her third husband, country superstar George ("No Show") Jones were"Mr. & Mrs. Country Music." Tammy's marriage to Jones ended in 1975, but her life continued to be a series of tragedies. Among them, she was kidnapped and her house was burnt down. But her musical success never really stopped: in 1993 she sang on the Honky Tonk Angels trio album with Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. Wynette recorded over fifty albums.

Tammy died in her sleep in April of 1998. She was fifty-five. Fifteen hundred friends, fans, and family members attended her funeral. The funeral could have been mistaken for a "Who's who in country music" meeting: George Jones, Wynonna Judd, Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Randy Travis, the Oakridge Boys, Lorrie Morgan and others... Tammy was burried in Nashville.

Shortly after her death, work began on a tribute album: Tammy Wynette...Remembered on Asylum Records.

Among the songs on the tribute:

• 'TIL I GET IT RIGHT - TRISHA YEARWOOD
• D.I.V.O.R.C.E. - ROSANNE CASH
• APT. #9 - MELISSA ETHERIDGE
• WOMAN TO WOMAN - WYNONNA
• YOU & ME - LORRIE MORGAN

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