Kitty Wells - Heartbreak U.S.A. - 1961

I inherited this record this past year along with a stack of others. I must say, though that this is one of the records that jumped out at me when I was first thumbing through the records. Over the recent years I've fallen in love with a lot of old country artists. Many of the country western records of the 50's and early 60's are really good. I've really come to love many of the female artists from that era. But with all of this said, I have to admit that I consider myself still fairly uneducated when it comes to actually having heard much of this music. I have the records I've collected, but that's not tons. Before this record I had one other Kitty Wells record and I enjoyed that. This however by the look of it looked like an older record, which got me excited. It turns out this was her 7th release.

If you have any love for Patsy Cline I think you'll really enjoy this record. It has much of the same vibe. The songs are all really well written pop songs with a country twist. It's not really hillbilly music. The theme of the record as you could guess from the title is broken hearts and heartaches. A subject not exclusive to country music, but that twangy guitar and vocals suits the subject perfectly.

Some highlights for me are the title track and "Heartaches By The Numbers". Both are very catchy and you'll find yourself humming them long after listening to them. Another favorite here is "Open Up Your Heart (And Let The Sun Shine In)" which has been done by many artists. It has religious overtones speaking of the devil and such which may turn some off, but I like it. I think it is a really uplifting song and one I find running through my head many a day when I'm cheery. It's a good song to have around when you are down as well, because it is uplifting.

For a little more info on Kitty check out the Wikipedia entry on her. According to that site she is considered by Billboard the 6th most successful female artist ever. That's pretty impressive, especially when I think much of what she has done is sort of being forgotten. I think if you ask the average person to name a Kitty Wells song they might have trouble. Name a Patsy Cline song and I think you'll get more takers. It makes you think how much will the Britney's and Miley's of today will be remembered 50 years from now. Maybe they will be remembered, but will anybody be singing their songs. Okay I think "Hit Me Baby One More Time" will stay with pop culture, but I fear time won't be so kind to Miley or to the rest of Britney's catalog.

Sorry for the contemporary side track. Back to Kitty. Give the whole thing a listen. I think you'll find a few tracks on her that you will fall in love with. Also I do apologize in advance that I think there may be a skip or two on here that I couldn't avoid.

Enjoy!

01 Heartbreak U.S.A..m4a
02 Heart To Heart Talk.m4a
03 Heartaches By The Number.m4a
04 My Heart Echoes.m4a
05 I've Got A New Heartache.m4a
06 Open Up Your Heart (And Let The Sunshine In).m4a
07 This Old Heart.m4a
08 I'll Hold You In My Heart (Till I Can Hold You In My Arms).m4a
09 Excuse Me (I Think I've Got A Heartache).m4a
10 Cold, Cold Heart.m4a
11 The Best Of All My Heartaches.m4a
12 Leave All The Heartaches To Me.m4a

Kitty Wells - Heartbreak U.S.A.zip