While the Grammys have honored country music from the very first ceremony in 1959, they did not begin honoring by gender until 1965, when the country categories were expanded along with the other genre categories.

This is a look back at the Best Female Country Vocal Performance category. It was first awarded in 1965, an included single competing with albums until the Best Country Album category was added in 1995. When an album is nominated, it is in italics, and a single track is in quotation marks.

I’ve often made the case that female artists were making the best music in the 1990s, and the Grammys did a great job nominating songs and albums that were ignored at the CMA and ACM awards, which is not surprising, given that those shows have so few categories that are actually for songs and albums.

As usual, we start with a look at this year’s nominees and work our way back.

2009

• Martina McBride, “For These Times”
• LeAnn Rimes, “What I Cannot Change”
• Carrie Underwood, “Last Name”
• Lee Ann Womack, “Last Call”
• Trisha Yearwood, “This is Me You’re Talking To”

This year’s lineup includes three former winners and two women looking for their first victory in this category. Martina McBride is in the running for the eighth time in fifteen years, and with one of her more understated performances. Lee Ann Womack returns for a fifth time, having received a nomination for the lead single of her five most recent albums. Both ladies turned in good performances here, but they’ve been overlooked for records bigger and better, so they’re not likely to snap their losing streaks this time around.

As for the previous winners, LeAnn Rimes earned her third consecutive nod, bringing her total to five in this category. She hasn’t won since 1997, when she took home the award for “Blue.” If enough voters hear “What I Cannot Change,” she might have a shot, though the only version of the song that’s been a legitimate hit has been the dance remix.

Trisha Yearwood won in 1998 for “How Do I Live,” her only victory to date. But she’s earned her tenth nomination for “This is Me You’re Talking To,” which is arguably her strongest vocal performance of the ten. Like Rimes, the challenge is getting enough voters to listen to it, but she’s never been more deserving of the victory than she is this year.

Still, the favorite remains Carrie Underwood. She’s quickly become a favorite with Grammy voters, having won this category two years running, along with Best New Artist in 2007. She’s the nominee with the highest profile, and while “Last Name” is nowhere near the same league of “Jesus, Take the Wheel” and “Before He Cheats” in terms of artistry or impact, it was a big hit, something that the other four entries cannot claim.

If Underwood was nominated for “Just a Dream,” she’d have a mortal lock on this one. But the strength of the other nominees will at least keep this race competitive. If Underwood prevails, Grammy queen Alison Krauss better watch her back.

2008

• Alison Krauss, “Simple Love”
• Miranda Lambert, “Famous in a Small Town”
• LeAnn Rimes, “Nothin’ Better to Do”
• Carrie Underwood, “Before He Cheats”
• Trisha Yearwood, “Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love”

Looking at this lineup, you’d think that it was a golden age of female country artists, something akin to the mid-nineties. In reality, only one of these songs was a big radio hit, though three others managed to go top twenty. In terms of quality, however, this is the most consistent and thoroughly wonderful set of nominees this category has seen this century.  You’d have to go back to exactly 1999 to find a better lineup.

In a year when any winner would have been deserving, Underwood won for “Before He Cheats,” her second straight win for a signature mega-hit from her debut album.

2007

• Miranda Lambert, “Kerosene”
• Martina McBride, “I Still Miss Someone”
• LeAnn Rimes, “Something’s Gotta Give”
• Carrie Underwood, “Jesus, Take the Wheel”
• Gretchen Wilson, “I Don’t Feel Like Loving You Today”

Carrie Underwood’s award show golden streak capped off its inaugural year with two big wins at the Grammy awards: Best New Artist and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. It wasn’t the first time a country artist won both awards – LeAnn Rimes did so exactly ten years earlier – but Rimes didn’t do so on the heels of huge ACM and CMA wins. Underwood’s dominance out of the gate was truly unprecedented.

2006

• Emmylou Harris, “The Connection”
• Faith Hill, “Mississippi Girl”
• Gretchen Wilson, “All Jacked Up”
• Lee Ann Womack, “I May Hate Myself In The Morning”
• Trisha Yearwood, “Georgia Rain”

Emmylou Harris has been nominated for many obscure tracks in this category. This time, she actually won with one. “The Connection” was a new recording tacked on the end of a career-spanning compilation. It managed to triumph over a comeback hit from fellow Grammy favorite Faith Hill and Lee Ann Womack’s CMA winner for Single of the Year.

2005

• Alison Krauss, “You Will Be My Ain True Love”
• Loretta Lynn, “Miss Being Mrs.”
• Martina McBride, “In My Daughter’s Eyes”
• Shania Twain, “She’s Not Just a Pretty Face”
• Gretchen Wilson, “Redneck Woman”

Grammy voters have often honored new female artists for their debut singles. Gretchen Wilson’s win for her wildly popular “Redneck Woman” puts her in the company of Carrie Underwood, LeAnn Rimes, K.T. Oslin, Donna Fargo, Jeannie C. Riley, Jeannie Seely and Jody Miller. To date, only Underwood and Oslin have managed to win in the category again.

2004

• June Carter Cash, “Keep On the Sunny Side”
• Patty Loveless, “On Your Way Home”
• Martina McBride, “This One’s For the Girls”
• Dolly Parton, “I’m Gone”
• Shania Twain, “Forever and For Always”

Cash would’ve had a great shot if she was still alive, but dying the previous year clinched it. It’s worth noting that Twain and Loveless are cited for performances that rank among their best work.  “I’m Gone” was Dolly Parton’s eighteenth nomination in this category.

2003

• Faith Hill, “Cry”
• Martina McBride, “Blessed”
• Dolly Parton, “Dagger Through the Heart”
• Lucinda Williams, “Lately”
• Lee Ann Womack, “Something Worth Leaving Behind”

The pop production “Cry” may have caused a backlash for Faith Hill among country radio programmers, but Grammy voters continued to embrace her.   Hill is often underrated among critics, but her ability to find great songs from unknown singer-songwriters is excellent.  She plucked Angie Aparo out of obscurity when she cut this.  His moody original is worth seeking out.

2002

• Sheryl Crow, “Long Gone Lonesome Blues”
• Jamie O’Neal, “There Is No Arizona”
• Dolly Parton, “Shine”
• Lucinda Williams, “Cold, Cold Heart”
• Trisha Yearwood, “I Would’ve Loved You Anyway”

Parton won for one of her most ambitious recordings, reworking a Collective Soul rock smash into a spiritual mountain hymn. While she’d been nominated quite a few times, this was Parton’s first victory in this race since 1981.

2001

• Faith Hill, “Breathe”
  
• Jo Dee Messina, “That’s the Way”
• Dolly Parton, “Travelin’ Prayer”
• Lee Ann Womack, “I Hope You Dance”
• Trisha Yearwood, “Real Live Woman”

Yearwood’s song is among the best of her storied catalog, and Womack was in the running for her career record, but Faith Hill’s biggest hit was unstoppable.  Standing in the shadow of Shania Twain, it was easy to overlook Hill’s own impressive sales numbers, but Breathe is the fourth biggest-selling studio album ever by a female country artist.  With eight million copies sold, it trails three albums of Twain’s.

2000

• Emmylou Harris, “Ordinary Heart”
• Faith Hill, “Let Me Let Go”
• Alison Krauss, “Forget About It”
• Martina McBride, “I Love You”
• Shania Twain, “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!”
  

Her loss in the Best Country Album category the previous year allowed for more tracks from Come On Over to be eligible in 2000, and Twain repeated with the opening cut of that mammothly successful project.

1999

• Emmylou Harris, “Love Still Remains”
• Faith Hill, “This Kiss”
• Shania Twain, “You’re Still the One”
  
• Lee Ann Womack, “A Little Past Little Rock”
• Trisha Yearwood, “There Goes My Baby”

Twain’s ballad was nominated in the general Record and Song categories, and also won for Best Country Song. Here, she won over a very strong lineup. I’m most impressed that NARAS cited “Love Still Remains,” Harris’ gorgeous contribution to a low-profile Kate Wolf tribute.  That set also included a great track from Kathy Mattea.

1998

• Deana Carter, “Did I Shave My Legs For This?
• Patty Loveless, “The Trouble With the Truth”
• LeAnn Rimes, “How Do I Live”
• Pam Tillis, “All the Good Ones are Gone”
• Trisha Yearwood, “How Do I Live”
  

Yearwood took home the Grammy in the infamous “How Do I Live” showdown, leaving Rimes’ tepid version in the dust. Pop fans only familiar with Rimes’s performance must have been confused when Yearwood won the award, only moments after Rimes had performed the song on the telecast.

1997

• Mary Chapin Carpenter, “Let Me Into Your Heart”
• Deana Carter, “Strawberry Wine”
• Alison Krauss, “Baby Mine”
• LeAnn Rimes, “Blue”
• Trisha Yearwood, “Believe Me Baby (I Lied)”

LeAnn Rimes”s vocal performance on “Blue,” along with the retro charm of the composition and the media fascination about her precocious talent, added up to two Grammy victories in 1997.  In addition to this award, she was also named Best New Artist.

1996

• Alison Krauss, “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You”
  
• Patty Loveless, “You Don’t Even Know Who I Am”
• Martina McBride, “Safe in the Arms of Love”
• Pam Tillis, “Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)”
• Shania Twain, “Any Man of Mine”

Alison Krauss turned the schlocky sixties pop hit into a devastating plea of devotion.   Her Foundations cover triumphed over four top five country hits, despite peaking outside of the top forty during its chart run.   Such a feat would become more common, but this was the first time in the category’s history that the winning track was not a top ten radio hit.

1995

• Mary Chapin Carpenter, “Shut Up and Kiss Me”
• Patty Loveless, “How Can I Help You Say Goodbye”
• Martina McBride, “Independence Day”
• Reba McEntire, “She Thinks His Name Was John”
• Wynonna, “Is It Over Yet”

It’s hard to believe that Reba McEntire and Wynonna haven’t been nominated in this category since 1995, given that both women have remained prominent on the charts and in the media. This was Mary Chapin Carpenter’s fourth consecutive victory in this category, a record that has yet to be seriously threatened, despite a couple of back-t0-back wins from Carrie Underwood and Shania Twain.

1994

• Mary Chapin Carpenter, “Passionate Kisses”
  
• Emmylou Harris, “High Powered Love”
• Tanya Tucker, “Soon”
• Wynonna, “Only Love”
• Trisha Yearwood, “Walkaway Joe”

Carpenter’s third win in this category was her only victory for a song she didn’t write. “Passionate Kisses” was penned by Lucinda Williams, and it earned her the Grammy for Best Country Song the same evening.

1993

• Mary Chapin Carpenter, “I Feel Lucky”
• Reba McEntire, “The Greatest Man I Never Knew”
• Lorrie Morgan, “Something In Red”
• Pam Tillis, “Maybe It Was Memphis”
• Wynonna, Wynonna

This is the last year that an album was nominated with individual tracks, though they were still eligible in 1994. McEntire, Morgan and Tillis are represented with signature performances, and Chapin’s wry sense of humor was firmly established with her victorious hit, “I Feel Lucky.”

1992

• Mary Chapin Carpenter, “Down at the Twist & Shout”
• Kathy Mattea, Time Passes By
• Reba McEntire, For My Broken Heart
• Tanya Tucker, “Down to My Last Teardrop”
• Trisha Yearwood, “She’s in Love With the Boy”

Despite being known as an introspective songwriter, Mary Chapin Carpenter won her first Grammy for a Cajun dance romp. This trend would continue, as all four of her victories in this category would be for uptempo hits.  McEntire’s album was recorded in the wake of the plane crash that killed several band members and her road manager, while fresh-faced Yearwood was nominated for her debut single.

1991

• Mary Chapin Carpenter, “Quittin’ Time”
• Carlene Carter, I Fell in Love
• Kathy Mattea, “Where’ve You Been”
  
• Reba McEntire, “You Lie”
• K.T. Oslin, “Come Next Monday”

In addition to sweeping the industry awards for Song of the Year, “Where’ve You Been” earned its singer her first Grammy. Kathy Mattea would go on to win another Grammy for her Christmas album, and is a nominee this year for Coal, a collection of mining songs.

1990

• Rosanne Cash, “I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party”
• Emmylou Harris, Bluebird
• k.d. lang, Absolute Torch & Twang
• Kathy Mattea, Willow in the Wind
• Dolly Parton, “Why’d You Come in Here Lookin’ Like That”

k.d. lang’s first and only win in this category is also the last time the Grammy went to a full-length album. While Parton would return to this category at the turn of the century and be cited for four consecutive years, this would be her last nomination for a big radio hit.

1989

• Emmylou Harris, “Back in Baby’s Arms”
• k.d. lang, “I’m Down to My Last Cigarette”
• Reba McEntire, Reba
• K.T. Oslin, “Hold Me”
  
• Tanya Tucker, “Strong Enough to Bend”

K.T. Oslin won for the second year in a row, the first woman in history to earn consecutive victories in this category. This time, her win was for her #1 hit “Hold Me.”  The unconventionally structured composition also earned her a Grammy for Best Country Song.

1988

• Rosanne Cash, King’s Record Shop
• Emmylou Harris, Angel Band
• Reba McEntire, “The Last One to Know”
• K.T. Oslin, “80’s Ladies”
  
• Tanya Tucker, “Love Me Like You Used To”

K.T. Osln was the queen of the awards show circuit in the late eighties, winning several Grammy, CMA and ACM awards for her first two albums. She won her first Grammy for her breakthrough hit “80′s Ladies”, which was also the first song written by a woman to win the CMA award for Song of the Year.

1987

• Holly Dunn, “Daddy’s Hands”
• Crystal Gayle, “Cry”
• Emmylou Harris, “Today I Started Loving You Again”
• Kathy Mattea, “Love at the Five & Dime”
• Reba McEntire, “Whoever’s in New England”

McEntire has been showered with Female Vocalist awards, winning seven from the ACM, four from the CMA and twelve American Music Awards in that category. That dominance did not carry over to the Grammy Awards, who honored her only once in this race.   “Whoever’s in New England” was a career record for McEntire, pushing her to gold album sales, contributing to her CMA Entertainer of the Year victory, turning her into a video star and earning her a Grammy. She has won only one more Grammy in the years since: Best Country Collaboration with Vocals for “Does He Love You”, a duet with Linda Davis.

1986

• Rosanne Cash, “I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me”
  
• Janie Fricke, “She’s Single Again”
• Emmylou Harris, The Ballad of Sally Rose
• Juice Newton, “You Make Me Want To Make You Mine”
• Dolly Parton, Real Love

In one of the best twists in Grammy history, Cash started writing the tongue-in-cheek “I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me” as she drove home from the 1983 Grammys, inspired by her loss to Juice Newton three years earlier. The song inspired by a Grammy loss resulted in her sole Grammy victory. 

1985

• Janie Fricke, “Your Heart’s Not in It”
• Crystal Gayle, “The Sound of Goodbye”
• Emmylou Harris, “In My Dreams”
  
• Anne Murray, Heart Over Mind
  
• Dolly Parton, “Tennessee Homesick Blues”

Against a field of pop-flavored hits, the relatively country “In My Dreams” was Emmylou Harris’ third victory in this category, tying Anne Murray’s winning record in this field.

1984

• Deborah Allen, “Baby I Lied”
• Crystal Gayle, “Baby What About You”
• Emmylou Harris, Last Date
• Anne Murray, “A Little Good News”
• Dolly Parton, Burlap and Satin
  

Murray’s topical hit was adopted by Vice President Bush on the campaign trail later that year.   Murray’s victory was her third in this category, breaking a tie with Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Tammy Wynette for the most victories in this race to date. “A Little Good News” also earned Murray her only CMA awards, winning Single and Album in the fall of 1984.

1983

• Rosanne Cash, “Ain’t No Money”
• Emmylou Harris, Cimarron
• Juice Newton, “Break it to Me Gently”
• Dolly Parton, “I Will Always Love You”
• Sylvia, “Nobody”

Juice Newton had as much success on the pop charts as she did on the country charts, and her first Grammy nomination was in the pop field. But her only victory was for “Break it to Me Gently,” which was one of her biggest country hits, in addition to being a crossover smash.

1982

• Rosanne Cash, Seven Year Ache
• Terri Gibbs, Somebody’s Knockin’
• Barbara Mandrell, “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool”
• Juice Newton, “Queen of Hearts”
• Dolly Parton, “9 to 5″

Dolly Parton didn’t start winning Grammys until pop radio started spinning her records.   But while her first pop hits were penned by other writers, “9 to 5″ came from her own pen. Not only did it earn her the Female Country Grammy, it also won Best Country Song, the first time that award went to a female writer.

1981

• Crystal Gayle, “If You Ever Change Your Mind”
• Emmylou Harris, Roses in the Snow
• Barbara Mandrell, “The Best of Strangers”
• Anne Murray, “Could I Have This Dance”
  
• Sissy Spacek, “Coal Miner’s Daughter”

Orginally intended to be a duet with Kenny Rogers, Murray recorded the male lead part and her own harmony on the demo tape. To her surprise, the label decided to release the record that way when the deal with Rogers fell through. Despite Murray singing in a lower register than she was known for, it became one of her biggest hits, earning her another Grammy to boot.

1980

• Crystal Gayle, We Should Be Together
• Emmylou Harris, Blue Kentucky Girl
• Brenda Lee, “Tell Me What It’s Like”
• Barbara Mandrell, Just For the Record
  
• Billie Jo Spears, “I Will Survive”

Emmylou Harris’s second victory in this category came for her fifth studio album, which was an intentional attempt at making a pure, traditional country album. The title cut was an old Loretta Lynn hit, which had also served as the title cut for Lynn’s fourth studio album back in 1965.

1979

• Crystal Gayle, Talking in Your Sleep
• Emmylou Harris, Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town
• Barbara Mandrell, “Sleeping Single in a Double Bed”
• Anne Murray, “Walk Right Back”
• Dolly Parton, Here You Come Again
  

After ten Grammy losses in various categories, Parton finally picked up her first win with her first platinum-selling album. The title cut was a crossover hit, and the album also included such Parton standards as “It’s All Wrong But It’s All Right” and “Two Doors Down.”

1978

• Janie Fricke, “What’re You Doing Tonight”
• Crystal Gayle, “Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue”
• Emmylou Harris, “Making Believe”
• Barbara Mandrell, “After the Lovin’”
• Dolly Parton, “(Your Love Has Lifted Me) Higher & Higher”

Crystal Gayle followed in her big sister’s footsteps to country stardom. But while Loretta Lynn had never emerged victorious in this category, her little sister did, thanks to her omnipresent hit “Don’t it Make My Brown Eyes Blue.”

1977

• Crystal Gayle, “I’ll Get Over You”
• Emmylou Harris, Elite Hotel
• Dolly Parton, All I Can Do
• Mary Kay Place, Tonite! At the Capri Lounge, Loretta Naggers
• Tammy Wynette, “‘Til I Can Make It on My Own”

Tammy Wynette’s final nomination in this category was for one of her biggest hits, and she was the only former winner among the five nominees.  The trophy went to fellow future Hall of Famer Emmylou Harris for her sophomore set, Elite Hotel. Country Grammy king Vince Gill has often cited this Harris set as one of the best country albums of all-time.

1976

• Jessi Colter, “I’m Not Lisa”
• Emmylou Harris, “If I Could Only Win Your Love”
• Loretta Lynn, “The Pill”
• Dolly Parton, “Jolene (Live in Concert)”
• Linda Ronstadt, “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You)”

Emmylou Harris didn’t win the trophy this year, but she did contribute to the winning entry. Before achieving stardom herself, Harris recorded the harmony vocal to Linda Ronstadt’s cover of a Hank Williams classic. Harris and Ronstadt would go on to win two more Grammys for harmonizing with each other, with a little help from Dolly Parton.

1975

• Anne Murray, “Love Song”
  
• Dolly Parton, “Jolene”
• Tanya Tucker, “Would You Lay With Me (In a Field of Stone)”
• Dottie West, “Last Time I Saw Him”
• Tammy Wynette, “Woman to Woman”

Anne Murray continued the imported winner trend begun the previous year with Olivia Newton-John, though her home of  Canada was quite a bit closer to Nashville than Newton-John’s Australia. Murray would go on to become a Grammy favorite, winning awards in both the country and pop fields.

1974

• Barbara Fairchild, “Teddy Bear Song”
• Olivia Newton-John, “Let Me Be There”
• Marie Osmond, “Paper Roses”
• Dottie West, “Country Sunshine”
• Tammy Wynette, “Kids Say the Darndest Things”

Despite the controversy created by Olivia Newton-John’s victory, she won for a legitimately country record, her first of several top ten country hits. The following year, she would win Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “I Honestly Love You”, becoming the first of four women to win both the Pop and Country vocalist trophies. The feat was later accomplished by Anne Murray, Linda Ronstadt, and k.d. lang.

1973

• Skeeter Davis, “One Tin Soldier”
• Donna Fargo, “The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.”
  
• Loretta Lynn, “One’s on the Way”
• Dolly Parton, “Touch Your Woman”
• Tanya Tucker, “Delta Dawn”
• Tammy Wynette, “My Man”

Donna Fargo’s infectious hit won her the CMA for Single of the Year, in addition to earning her a Grammy. It was one of two million-selling singles from her debut album of the same name. The second, “Funny Face,” was also a crossover hit but was overlooked at the award shows in favor of its predecessor.

1972

• Lynn Anderson, “How Can I Unlove You”
• Jody Miller, “He’s So Fine”
• Dolly Parton, “Joshua”
• Sammi Smith, “Help Me Make it Through the Night”
• Tammy Wynette, “Good Lovin’ (Makes it Right)”

Kris Kristofferson penned Grammy-winning hits for Ronnie Milsap and Ray Price, in addition to  Sammi Smith. But it was the Smith hit that earned him the Grammy for Best Country Song, where he defeated a field that included two more of his own compositions.

1971

• Lynn Anderson, “Rose Garden”
• Wanda Jackson, “A Woman Lives For Love”
• Dolly Parton, “Mule Skinner Blues”
• Jean Shepard, “Then He Touched Me”
• Tammy Wynette, “Run, Woman, Run”

Even back in the early days of the Grammys, the organization was already acknowledging veteran artists, with pioneers Wanda Jackson and Jean Shepard scoring nods alongside those hot new hitmakers Dolly Parton and Lynn Anderson. The latter’s million-selling hit remains her signature song. 

1970

• Lynn Anderson, “That’s a No No”
• Jeannie C. Riley, “Back Side of Dallas”
• Connie Smith, “Ribbon of Darkness”
• Diana Trask, “I Fall to Pieces”
• Tammy Wynette, “Stand By Your Man”
  

Two great performances by Connie Smith and Jeannie C. Riley were nominated this year, but both were overshadowed by the massive Tammy Wynette hit “Stand By Your Man.”  Wynette made history twice this year, becoming both the first woman to achieve two victories in this category and the first woman to be nominated for Best Country Song.

1969

• Lynn Anderson, “Big Girls Don’t Cry”
• Jan Howard, “My Son”
• Jeannie C. Riley, “Harper Valley P.T.A.”
  
• Dottie West, “Country Girl”
• Tammy Wynette, “D-I-V-O-R-C-E”

Jeannie C. Riley was catapulted into stardom on the strength of “Harper Valley P.T.A.” In addition to her victory here, she was nominated for Record of the Year and Best New Artist.

1968

• Liz Anderson, “Mama Spank”
• Skeeter Davis, “What Does it Take”
• Connie Smith, “Cincinnati, Ohio”
• Dottie West, “Paper Mansions”
• Tammy Wynette, “I Don’t Wanna Play House”
  

Tammy Wynette won her first of two Grammy awards for her first #1 hit.   “I Don’t Wanna Play House” would serve as the domestic template for many of her best hits, with “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” “Kids Say the Darndest Things” and “Bedtime Story” revisiting this theme most successfully.

1967

• Jan Howard, “Evil On Your Mind”
• Loretta Lynn, “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’”
• Jeannie Seely, “Don’t Touch Me”
  
• Connie Smith, “Ain’t Had No Loving”
• Dottie West, “Would You Hold it Against Me”

Jeannie Seely’s victory for her debut single was something of a surprise, given it was competing against Loretta Lynn’s “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’.” That song was so popular that Lynn’s studio album of the same name went gold. Still, Seely’s hit is a classic in its own right, a standard that has since been covered by everyone from George Jones to Etta James.

1966

• Molly Bee, “Single Girl Again”
• Wilma Burgess, “Baby”
• Skeeter Davis, “Sunglasses”
• Jody Miller, “Queen of the House”
  
• Dottie West, “Before the Ring on Your Finger Turns Green”

How dominant was Roger Miller at the Grammy awards this year?  Even a parody of “King of the Road” won a Grammy.  Jody Miller, who was of no relation to Roger, managed to launch a moderately successful career on the strength of this “answer song.”

1965

• Skeeter Davis, “He Says the Same Thing to Me”
• Wanda Jackson, Two Sides of Wanda Jackson
• Jean Shepard, “Second Fiddle”
• Connie Smith, “Once a Day”
• Dottie West, “Here Comes My Baby”

West won the very first Grammy given in this category.   While she’s more widely known for her more cosmopolitan work in the seventies, she was quite the traditional country singer when she first arrived on the scene.   She won against an accomplished field, every one of them a legend.

Facts and Feats

Most Wins

• 4 – Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmylou Harris
• 3 – Anne Murray, Dolly Parton
• 2 – Faith Hill, K .T. Oslin, Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood, Tammy Wynette

Most Nominations

• 18 – Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton
• 10 - Trisha Yearwood
• 9 – Tammy Wynette
• 8 – Crystal Gayle, Martina McBride
• 7 – Reba McEntire, Dottie West
• 6 – Mary Chapin Carpenter, Tanya Tucker

Most Nominations without a Win

• 8 – Martina McBride
• 6 – Tanya Tucker
• 5 – Barbara Mandrell, Lee Ann Womack
• 4 – Skeeter Davis, Patty Loveless, Loretta Lynn, Connie Smith
• 3 – Janie Fricke, Pam Tillis, Wynonna

Tammy Wynette
Legendary Performances

In coordination with the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Shout Factory! has begun a new series of country music DVDs that collect archived performances of the genre’s legends, coupled with rare interview footage and Hall of Fame inductions.   The promise of this series cannot be overstated, both for fans of the artists profiled and the need for country music’s legacy to be preserved.

Both of the debut entries in the series follow the same format.   Fifteen performance clips from old television shows are arranged chronologically, and provide the bulk of each set’s content.    The defining singles of both artists are included, and in watching the clips, viewers can get a sense of how each artist developed, along with a fascinating window into how country music itself was presented on television over the course of four decades.

For a variety of reasons, the Marty Robbins collection is the stronger of the two.   Since his career dates back to the fifties, we’re treated to four performances from Country Style USA, one of the earliest country music television programs.  As we transition into the age of color television, we’re treated to a stunning performance of “My Woman, My Woman, My Wife” from the 1970 CMA Awards.    As the liner notes point out, Robbins penned the song in the hospital while recovering from his first heart attack.   In one of many appearances on these two collections by other country legends, Tennessee Ernie Ford gives a classy introduction that precedes the performance.

Robbins was one of country music’s true entertainers, and a perfect fit for television.   His broad smile while performing uptempo songs is infectious, and the drama he infuses to ballads like “Among My Souvenirs” and “El Paso” command undivided attention.  He even dresses for the part, donning full suits when singing uptown numbers and switching to Western wear for his down-home ones.    The performance that’s most entertaining on the disc is of “El Paso City”, from Robbins’ second television series.  It’s all he can do to keep from laughing as he delivers it, a rare break in character for the consummate showman.

The Robbins disc also boasts invaluable bonus features.   Though featuring only two, they are both essential viewing, and both come from 1982, the year which ended in his death.   The first is a lengthy, gripping interview, where Robbins speaks candidly about all of the thought processes that inform his creative decisions.  He speaks in wonderment of fans who come to his show repeatedly, even though he sings the exact same songs the exact same way every night.   He even questions his own labeling as a “Country and Western” singer, and claims that “El Paso” isn’t from that genre at all, but is rather an American folk song.

His Hall of Fame induction in 1982 is here as well, and his surprise induction is led by the great Eddy Arnold.  The serious, thoughtful man of the interview is back in full performer mode, grinning from ear to ear as he accepts his honor.  The contrast between the two clips is stark, but it makes total sense.   After all, Robbins makes clear in the interview that there’s a difference between Marty Robbins the performer and Marty Robbins the man.

Such a distinction did not exist in the career of Tammy Wynette, a self-described “average woman” who somehow became a star.    Whereas Robbins hammed it up for the camera, Wynette avoids it, rarely making direct eye contact with the viewer while she performs.  The Wynette disc doesn’t have quite the scope of Robbins’.  While her career started a decade later than his, the final clip comes from 1981, leaving out the final seventeen years of her life.

Still, what’s here is worthwhile.   She performs “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” on the 1968 CMA Awards, the first to be televised.   There are two clips from The Bill Anderson Show, with Jan Howard serving as sidekick.   Johnny Cash introduces her breathtaking performance of “‘Til I Can Make it On My Own”, from his 1976 network special.   Wynette got an NBC special of her own in 1980, and she delivers a powerful performance of one of her lesser-known songs, “He Was There (When I Needed You).”

The final performance is of “Cowboys Don’t Shoot Straight (Like They Used To)”, another should’ve-been smash that shows just how strong her artistry was as she entered the eighties.   We’re also treated to four duets with George Jones, and an early cover of  Loretta Lynn’s “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ On Your Mind).”

It’s my instinct to assume that the pool of clips to chose from for the Wynette collection was more limited, but it’s still noticeable how many of the big hits are missing.  Yes, we get the obligatory “Stand By Your Man” clip and the very essential “I Don’t Wanna Play House”, along with a strong performance of “Woman to Woman.”  But it’s a shame that classics like “Another Lonely Song”, “Singing My Song” and “Till I Get it Right” aren’t here, forcing us to settle for “Reach Out Your Hand” and a few too many duets with Jones.   As great as their chemistry together is, it takes the focus away from Wynette’s solo work.   Performances of Jones & Wynette could make for a great collection in their own right.

The bonus features also aren’t quite as good as those on the Robbins set.  We get two interviews instead of one, but neither are nearly as revealing.  There’s also the bewildering inclusion of local news footage about Tammy Wynette & George Richey’s wedding ceremony.

Wynette died shortly before her Hall of Fame induction in 1998, which is also included here.   It features wonderful performances of classic Wynette hits by Pam Tillis and Lorrie Morgan, but the induction itself focuses far too much on her personal life.  It’s also so awkwardly written that less informed viewers could be led to believe that Wynette wrote “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” in the aftermath of one of her failed marriages, even though that song was penned by Bobby Braddock.

Taken together, these two collections are an excellent start to what will hopefully become a long-running series.   A third collection focusing on Merle Haggard has already been released, and there’s no shortage of legendary acts who warrant their own entries in the series.    If country music fans and historians are lucky, there will be more of these in the future.

“I like to give artists a song they have to sing the rest of their lives. Songwriting is both my living and my pleasure, so I’m a happy man.” ~ Harlan Howard

The dean of country music songwriters, Harlan Howard paved the way for all future practitioners of his craft, lending an authenticity and eloquence to the music that will last for the ages. Through five decades of classic songs, Howard put his indelible stamp on the country music industry through sheer genius and, like many fellow artists and songwriters, rose through the ranks with country music as a constant love through a hardscrabble life.

Born and raised in a Michigan farm town, Howard, an orphan, was first drawn to country music by his weekly appointments with the Grand Ole Opry radio shows on Nashville’s WSM radio. This love affair with the music continued when he traveled to Nashville on weekends during his stint as an Army paratrooper in Georgia, and it was that appreciation for the fine art that led him to leave for Los Angeles in 1955 to work in the factories while attempting a career in songwriting. A year after arriving in Los Angeles, Howard met Tex Ritter and Johnny Bond, who were impressed with the young songwriter’s catalog, culled from numerous hours of writing songs in his head while working at the factory. One of the first tunes that Howard wrote eventually became a country classic, “Pick Me Up on Your Way Down”, first recorded by Charlie Walker and a #2 hit in 1958. Another early success came in 1960, with both Guy Mitchell and Ray Price taking his “Heartaches by the Number” to top of the pop and country charts, respectively.

In that same year, Harlan moved to Nashville with his second wife, Jan Howard, and their three children. Soon after, Harlan’s success rate skyrocketed. He enjoyed as many as 15 of his own songs in the country Top 40 simultaneously, a long-standing record. His friendships with young writers such as Willie Nelson, Hank Cochran and Roger Miller further developed his songwriting skills and laid the foundation for the future of country songwriting. They would collaborate in an effort to create the “next big hit” for a number of Opry stars at the time. One superlative song in this stretch was “I Fall to Pieces”, immortalized by Patsy Cline. The likes of Johnny Cash, George Jones and Buck Owens all achieved considerable success on the charts in the 1960s, displaying Howard’s unique ability to write witty love songs (“I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail”, Owens’ 1964 classic) or heartbreaking ballads (Bobby Bare’s breathtaking 1966 song, “Streets of Baltimore”).

Howard’s fortunes took a dip in the 1970s, although he would find sporadic chart success with songs such as Melba Montgomery’s “No Charge”. Throughout the decade and into the 1980s, Howard wrote infrequently, but the mid-to-late 1980s brought greater triumphs for Howard. The Judds’ version of his “Why Not Me” earned the CMA Single of the Year award in 1985, and the Reba McEntire chose his “Somebody Should Leave”, another #1 single in 1985, as the final single from her album My Kind of Country. “Life Turned Her That Way”, a Top Ten record for Ricky Van Shelton, earned Howard his sole nomination for Song of the Year from the CMAs (the song had also received a wonderful treatment from Mel Tillis in the late 1960s).

In 1989, Howard took further control of his career by starting his own publishing firm, Harlan Howard Songs, Inc., with wife Melanie, and leaving his long-term post at Tree Publishing. Howard’s run of hit records continued during the surge of female radio success in the 1990s. “Don’t Tell Me What to Do” helped Pam Tillis’ career gain new traction, becoming her first Top Five single (and a nominee for the CMA Single of the Year) in 1991. Also, the first single for Patty Loveless after career-threatening throat surgery was 1993’s “Blame It On Your Heart”, a #1 smash for two weeks. The tongue-twister, a co-write with Kostas, was named BMI’s most-played song of 1994, and launched Loveless into the top tier of country music superstars.

As a result of his consistency and continuous wealth of classic songs, the Country Music Hall of Fame welcomed him as a member in 1997. Other honors included induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the National Academy of Popular Music Hall of Fame and the Grammy Hall of Fame. His list of 100+ Top Ten singles is an honor roll of country music and its ability to challenge, change or just plain entertain the listener. For Howard, it was easy to determine the ultimate mettle detector of a country song and its prospects for greatness. He maintained that it must be, simply, “three chords and the truth”.

The Harlan Howard Songbook

• Above and Beyond the Call of Love/Buck Owens; Rodney Crowell
• Blame It On Your Heart/Patty Loveless
• Busted/Johnny Cash; John Conlee
• Don’t Tell Me What to Do/Pam Tillis
• Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got a Heartache)/Buck Owens
• Heartaches by the Number/Ray Price
• I Fall to Pieces/Patsy Cline; Aaron Neville & Trisha Yearwood
• I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail/Buck Owens
• Life Turned Her That Way/Mel Tillis; Ricky Van Shelton
• No Charge/Melba Montgomery
• Pick Me Up On Your Way Down/Charlie Walker; Faron Young
• Somebody Should Leave/Reba McEntire
• Streets of Baltimore/Bobby Bare
• Why Not Me/The Judds
• Your Heart Turned Left and I Went Right/George Jones

#58

Jan Howard

She’s been an Opry member for three decades, and by the time of her induction, she was already a presence on the Nashville music scene for eleven years. Jan Howard’s biography could have been its own country song, and even was at times, but her talent has always been coupled with grit.

She was born in Missouri, and only fifteen when she married. Three children and two divorces later, she moved to California with her sons. In Los Angeles, she met a young songwriter named Harlan Howard. They quickly married in Vegas, a union that would last for ten years. One night, she began to sing while washing the dishes, and he discovered she had a vocal talent she’d been too shy to share. He asked her to sing the demo for a song he’d written called “Mommy For a Day.” The song became a big hit for Kitty Wells, and Howard became her husband’s demo singer.

While she continued to record demos for Harlan, she also sang them for Buck Owens and Tex Ritter, and she sang the demo for the Patsy Cline smash “I Fall to Pieces” as well. Harlan knew his wife could be a star in her own right, and he penned her first big hit as a recording artist. “The One You Slip Around With” went to #13 in 1960 on the Challenge record label.

It was a good enough beginning to get her a spot performing on the Grand Ole Opry. After her first show, Patsy Cline flew into her dressing room and cussed her out for not introducing herself to “the Cline.” Howard retorted that where she came from, it’s the people already in town that are supposed to make the new folks feel welcome. Cline let out a rip-roaring laugh, and told her that anybody who’ll talk back to the Cline was alright in her book. They became good friends, remaining so until Cline’s death in 1963.

Howard’s recording career was uneventful until 1966, when she scored her biggest solo hit, “Evil On Your Mind”, and followed it up with the second and last solo top ten of her career, “Bad Seed.” The latter song was written by Bill Anderson, and most of the hits she would have in the following years would be duets with him. Together, they scored four top five hits in five years, including the four-week #1 “For Loving You” in 1967 and “Dis-Satisfied” in 1971, which the two co-wrote with Howard’s son, Carter.

It was for her son Jimmy that Howard wrote her most personal song, “My Son.” She wrote it in 1968 after she dreamed he’d died in battle in Vietnam. She had such difficulty recording it that the producers stitched together the song from multiple takes. She was hesitant to put it out as a single, but she realized that other parents with children overseas could make it their own. Tragically, her son was killed in battle only two weeks after the single was released.

In 1971, Howard became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. While her solo career had cooled by then, she was still having hits with Bill Anderson, and she’d also penned singles for Kitty Wells (“It’s all Over But the Crying”), Connie Smith (“I Never Once Stopped Loving You”) and Anderson himself (“Love is a Sometimes Thing.”

The Opry milestone was followed by another tragedy, when her youngest son David committed suicide. She was devastated, and was helped greatly by Johnny Cash & June Carter, who coaxed her back on to the stage by inviting her on their tour. She would later tour with Tammy Wynette as well, but her home base was always the Opry.

In 1979, after she found herself on the verge of suicide, she sat down and began writing a song called “My Story.” It would later grow into her autobiography, Sunshine and Shadow, which helped her come to terms with both the challenges and the blessings in her past. Howard remarried in 1990, and has remained an active and vibrant member of the Opry cast.

Jan Howard

Essential Singles

• “The One You Slip Around With”, 1960
• “Evil On Your Mind”, 1966
• “Bad Seed”, 1966
• “For Loving You” (with Bill Anderson), 1967
• “My Son”, 1968

Essential Albums

• Evil On Your Mind (1966)
• This is Jan Howard Country (!967)
• For Loving You (with Bill Anderson) (1968)
• Jan Howard (1969)
  

==> #57. Dale Evans

<== #59. Carrie Underwood

100 Greatest Women: The Complete List