#TST: Tammy Wynette

Time again for Two Step Tuesday!

It’s been a minute or two since we talked about the women of country music. So today is the day we get to listen and learn a little bit about Tammy Wynette.

Wikipedia tells us this about our female country musician:

Tammy Wynette (born May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer-songwriter and one of country music's best-known artists and biggest-selling female singers.

Wynette was called the "First Lady of Country Music", and her best-known song, "Stand by Your Man", is one of the best-selling hit singles by a woman in the history of country music. Many of her hits dealt with classic themes of loneliness, divorce, and the difficulties of life and relationships. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Wynette charted 20 number-one songs on the Billboard Country Chart. Along with Loretta Lynn, Lynn Anderson, and Dolly Parton, she is credited with having defined the role of women in country music during the 1970s.

Wynette's marriage to country music singer George Jones in 1969 created a country music "couple", following the earlier success of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Though they divorced in 1975, the couple recorded a sequence of albums and singles together that hit the charts throughout the 1970s and early 1980s.

Tammy Wynette was born Virginia Wynette Pugh near Tremont, Mississippi, the only child of Mildred Faye (née Russell; September 3, 1921 – June 24, 1991) and William Hollice Pugh (June 2, 1916 – February 13, 1943). Wynette's father was a farmer and local musician who died due to a brain tumor when Wynette was nine months old. Her mother worked in an office, as a substitute school teacher, and on the family farm. At Pugh's death, Mildred left her daughter in the care of her parents, Thomas and Flora Russell, and moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to work in a defense plant during World War II. In 1946, Mildred married Foy Lee, a farmer.

The Russell home had no indoor toilets or running water. Wynette was raised with an aunt, Carolyn Russell, who was only five years older, more like a sister than an aunt. As a girl, Wynette taught herself to play a variety of musical instruments left behind by her father.

Wynette attended Bellflower High School. A month before graduation, several months before her 18th birthday, she wed her first husband, Euple Byrd. He was a construction worker, but had trouble keeping a job, and they moved several times. Wynette worked as a waitress, a receptionist, and a barmaid, and also in a shoe factory. In 1963, she attended beauty college in Tupelo, Mississippi, where she learned to be a hairdresser. She continued to renew her cosmetology license every year for the rest of her life – just in case she ever had to go back to a daily job.

She left Euple before the birth of their third daughter, who developed spinal meningitis. Wynette tried to earn extra money by performing at night. Euple did not support her ambition to become a country singer, and according to Wynette, as she drove away he told her, "Dream on, Baby". Years later, he appeared at one of her concerts as she was signing autographs and asked for one. She signed it "Dream on, Baby."

Today’s Two Steppin’ Playlist: (Coincidentally, all of these songs were #1 hits)

1. I Don’t Wanna Play House
2. Take Me To Your World
3. D-I-V-O-R-C-E
4. Stand By Your Man
5. Run, Woman, Run
6. Good Lovin’ (Makes It Right)
7. Bedtime Story
8. Til I Get It Right
9. Another Lonely Song
10. You and Me

See you again soon! Share with me your thoughts about this playlist.  If you have a favorite country artist, let me know and I’d be happy to feature them.