Lonesome · Poison Love

Johnnie Wright, born in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in 1914, and Jack Anglin, born in Franklin, Tennessee, in 1916, sang together as Johnnie and Jack for more than twenty years. They were family as well as partners. Wright married Muriel Deason, who became known as Kitty Wells, on 30 October 1937, and Anglin married Wright’s sister Louise. Their band was first called the Tennessee Hillbillies and then the Tennessee Mountain Boys, and Wells sang with the duo on the Louisiana Hayride.

Their first records were made for Apollo in New York on 25 March 1947, with Ray Atkins on dobro, Paul Buskirk on mandolin, Eddie Hill on bass and Paul Warren on fiddle. Apollo issued “Jole Blon” with “Sing Tom Kitty” that April. In August 1947 the two sang in the King Sacred Quartet in Cincinnati, alongside Clyde Moody, recording sacred songs such as “Turn Your Radio On” for King.

RCA Victor first recorded them on 31 January 1949 in the Fox Theatre Building in Atlanta, with Steve Sholes producing. Many of the early RCA singles were sacred songs, among them “Pray Together and We’ll Stay Together” and “Jesus Hits Like an Atom Bomb.” The session of 27 March 1950 at Brown Radio Productions in Nashville, at which Kitty Wells sang high baritone, produced “Poison Love” and “Lonesome.” RCA issued the two together that August, and “Poison Love” reached number four on the country chart in 1951. “Cryin’ Heart Blues,” cut in Atlanta in May 1951, reached number five.

From late 1951 the sessions were in Nashville, with Eddie Hill and Shot Jackson on guitars and Paul Warren still on fiddle. “(Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely,” recorded at Thomas Productions on 21 February 1954, went to number one. Chet Atkins took over as producer in 1956, and the later RCA sessions add Floyd Cramer’s piano, Buddy Harman’s drums and, on some dates, the Jordanaires. “Stop the World (And Let Me Off)” reached number seven in 1958.

After their last RCA single in October 1960 they moved to Decca, where they were billed as Johnny and Jack and recorded with Owen Bradley producing at 804 16th Avenue South. Maybelle Carter played autoharp on one of those sessions, in October 1961, and “Slow Poison” reached number 17 in 1962. Anglin died in a car crash in March 1963. Decca issued a last single, “Smiles and Tears” with “Love Problems,” that July.

Session details drawn in part from the Bluegrass Discography.