Ten Favorite Country Who-What-Why Questions: Whose Shoulder Will You Cry On (#5)

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As the Jim Reeves song says, what were you doing last night? No, that's not today's country song with a who/what/where question in its title, but I didn't post last night. I was watching severe weather coverage online (I'm amazed at how many TV stations in other parts of the country do not interrupt for tornado warnings) and slowly moving the music around. So here's the next song on the list. #5: Whose Shoulder Will You Cry On - Kitty Wells Hey, it's a first! A husband and wife team used for two separate songs! The other day Johnnie and Jack were featured with their song "What About You," and here's Johnnie's wife, "Queen of Country Music" Kitty Wells. For the first part of her career Kitty Wells was an "afterthought" of sorts, signed to RCA because that was Johnnie & Jack's label. She didn't have much success, so she went to Decca. There she recorded "It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels," a song that was an answer song to Hank Thompson's "The Wild Side of Life." Despite the men in country music hating the song's "it takes two to tango" message (and the kicker is, it was written by a man!) it went to #1, became Kitty's biggest hit, and earned her the nickname "The Queen of Country Music." This is another one of her long list of hits, a song about a woman who's had enough of her cheating spouse ("you trifled around too much") and gets rid of him ("I don't trust you no more, so go knock on another's door"). Backed by the Tennessee Mountain Boys (Johnnie & Jack's band), Kitty made it just as country as it could be. She was, and it is. Whose Shoulder Will You Cry On Written by Kitty Wells and Billy Wallace Recorded by Kitty Wells Released as a single, 1955 You rode your free horse to death: