Help us find and improve next week's Connection Finder profiles: Country Music's Ladies [closed]

+19 votes
2.0k views

Naomi Judd, of the country music mother-daughter duo The Judds, recently passed away, so we're featuring her in the Connection Finder next week, alongside other leading ladies of country music.

Here's who we're getting started on:

Can you help with these profiles, or expand their families? Adding relatives in any direction helps with connections. Every missing relative you add will make our connections to them closer.

Who else should we feature? Do they need a profile?

All profiles we feature need a good biography and a connection to the big tree. We also want each one to have an image, and the image needs to have proper source attribution explaining why it's in the public domain or why we have the right to display it.

We can't feature everyone mentioned (we only have room for eleven per week), but if we don't feature a profile you work on, we may use it sometime in the future. And, of course, all contributions help improve our shared tree.

We'll make a final decision on which ones to feature early next week.

Please reply here with what you're working on so that we don't duplicate our efforts. Thank you!

Help us plan other themes to feature for the rest of 2022 here.

WikiTree profile: Naomi Judd
closed with the note: Feature: https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/1418448/which-lady-of-country-music-are-you-most-closely-connected-to
in The Tree House by Abby Glann G2G6 Pilot (741k points)
closed by Abby Glann

21 Answers

+24 votes
Linda Ronstadt is a queen of country music.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ronstadt-3 She is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame and has received numerous awards include CMA awards. She has a profile, is connected, has a photo, and a background image. I hope that you will include her.
by Russell Butler G2G6 Pilot (144k points)
edited by Russell Butler
Thanks, Russell.
+21 votes
by Nikki Orvis G2G6 Mach 2 (25.1k points)
Thanks, Nikki.
+20 votes

Tammy Wynette probably belongs on that list.

by C Handy G2G6 Pilot (212k points)
Thanks, C.
+19 votes

June Carter Cash - https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carter-10370

After all, the Carters are the First Family of Country Music.

by Roger Stong G2G Astronaut (1.4m points)
Thanks, Roger.
+18 votes
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Addington-227  Mother Maybelle Carter has profile, image, linked.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Deason-532  Kitty Wells has profile, image, linked.
by Julia Read G2G1 (1.8k points)
Thanks, Julia.
+16 votes

Dottie West (1932-1991), connected, has photograph

Minnie Pearl (1912-1996), connected, has photograph

Crystal Gayle (living notable), sister of Loretta Lynn, connected, has photograph

I think Tanya Tucker's parent's profile is here, but her profile is privacy-locked.  Needs to be connected.

by E. Compton G2G6 Pilot (195k points)
edited by E. Compton
Thanks E.
+14 votes

Great picks! Chiming in to agree with others answers above.
*Dolly Parton is part of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2022! connected & photo
*Sisters: Loretta Lynn and Crystal Gayle both connected & photo
*Linda Rondstadt connected & photo
*June Carter Cash connected & photo

by Azure Robinson G2G6 Pilot (568k points)
Thanks, Azure.
+18 votes
Jean Shepard, a member of the Grand Ole Opry for 60 years.

[https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shepard-2829]
by Rodney Long G2G6 Pilot (885k points)
Thanks, Rodney.
+15 votes
Yes, I would like to help. I have already done some work on Reba'a tree, and manage some. I was her touring pianist 1985-88.
by Donald Howard G2G6 Mach 1 (16.8k points)
Thanks, Donald.
+16 votes
I am working on Dolly Parton's profile.
by Nicci Hartland G2G6 Mach 1 (17.7k points)
Thanks, Nicci.
+15 votes

I'd love to connect Mickey Guyton, CMA and Grammy nominee and last year's co-host of the Country Music Awards. She was the first Black woman artist to host.
 

Guyton has deep roots in Texas. Would folks like to help find a connection to our global tree?

by Karen Lowe G2G6 Pilot (194k points)
Mickey is now connected because....

(drum roll)

...I discovered that her great-uncle was formerly married to the aunt of our own USBH co-leader Denise Jarrett. And now we all know.
Thanks, Karen. What a great connection!
+12 votes
Can someone help get [[Smith-207865|Jacqueline (Smith) McEntire (1926-2020)]] added as Reba's mother
by Abby Lowe G2G6 (6.6k points)
Done. Thanks, Abby.
+16 votes

Don't forget about Rose Maddox of Maddox Brothers and Rose.   She was one of the pioneers of Country Radio and Music. Edit: Connected as of May 13, 2022

WikiTree Profile:  Rose Maddox

by Sandy Patak G2G6 Pilot (238k points)
edited by Sandy Patak
Thanks, Sandy.
+11 votes

I was going to suggest the McKean Sisters, Joy and Helen McKean as examples of Australian Country Music women, but as they are both still living, their profiles are closed, and I'm not sure what they are like in terms of biography.

I'm also not sure if they are connected.  I did find their parent's profiles  and could add to those, and although they started out as the McKean Sisters, they did both marry Australian country music stars; Slim Dusty and Reg Lindsay and may be connected through them.  They also have daughters who are country music performers; Anne Kirkpatrick and Diane Lindsay, though I don't think they have profiles.

Joy McKean does have a Wikipedia page, if that helps to open her profile?

by John Atkinson G2G6 Pilot (626k points)
I am connected to Joy McKean via her husband Slim Dusty.
Joy McKean has Wikipedia pages in four languages which would make her profile eligible to be listed. (provided it's managed by a project)
It sounds like we won't get someone that is ready enough at this late stage. I see she does have a profile - McKean-794. I'll contact the pm.

 Olivia Newton-John has a existing profile and she's on the list of Australian country singers. The profile is open and connected with a picture. It needs a biography, so I'll see if I can get onto the trusted list. Its currently managed by the Notables project

Thanks, everyone.
+12 votes

Lynn Anderson  it seemed her hit "Rose Garden" was playing everywhere in the early Seventies. She is connected, has a photo.

by Lincoln Lowery G2G6 Mach 6 (68.0k points)
Thanks, Lincoln.
+10 votes

Rita MacNeil would be a good Canadian addition.

by Laurie Cruthers G2G6 Pilot (167k points)
Thanks, Laurie.
+11 votes
[[Deason-532|Ellen Muriel (Deason) Wright (1919-2012)]] Kitty Wells.
by Judi Stutz G2G6 Pilot (338k points)
Thanks, Judi.
+10 votes
1A on NPR did a piece on black women in country music the other day. They mentioned Maren Morris, Joy Oladokun and Mickey Guyton.
by Jeffrey Wall G2G6 Mach 6 (66.4k points)

I was able to connect Mickey Guyton and have been puttering in the branches of Linda Martell. Here is her father Clarence Bynem. Want to start profiles for the other women?

Thanks, Jeffrey.
+11 votes

Colleen Caroll was Garth Brooks' and Betsy Smittle's mom. She was a country singer in the 40's and 50's. McElroy-877 She had rising fame due to her voice, but keeping up with a singing career's demands while raising children would have been too difficult to do, so she left the spotlight.

Betsy Smittle ( Smittle-28 ) was Garth Brooks' half sister, and she was a bass guitarist for Garth as well as a backup singer for Gus Hardin and Ronnie Dunn. 

Betsy was my third cousin once removed, related through my maternal grandma who was also born in Tulsa, Oklahoma (daughter of Edgar Vain Smittle Jr, Betsy's first cousin twice removed). Sadly, like many closely related cousins, I never got to meet her or at least say hi.

But years back, a relative (I think my great grandma or a great aunt? I can't remember) somehow got hold of her number. This was perhaps the 80's or 90's. She called Betsy and had an embarrassingly stupid, heated argument with her that "Garth really looks more like a Smittle!" Betsy's response: "No, he. is. not!"

Well, Colleen married Troyal Brooks in 1957, and Garth was born in 1962, so....

by Jennifer Fulk G2G6 Mach 6 (60.9k points)
Thanks, Jennifer.
+9 votes

Love all the suggestions! For those that are interested in working on notable Country Music profiles, check out the Country Music Hall Of Fame group:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Category:Country_Music_Hall_of_Fame

by Matt Melcher G2G6 Mach 1 (19.9k points)
Thanks, Matt.

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