Tammy Wynette
Tragic Country Queen

The twentieth century had three great female singers who plumbed the darkest corners of their hearts and transformed private grief into public dramas. In opera, there was the unsurpassed Maria Callas. In jazz, the tormented Billie Holiday. And in country music, there was Tammy Wynette. Stand by Your Man, DIVORCE, Take Me to Your World are but a few highlights of Tammy Wynettes staggering musical legacy, all sung with a voice that became the touchstone for womens vulnerability, disillusionment, strength, and endurance.In Tammy Wynette, bestselling biographer Jimmy McDonough tells the story of the smalltown girl who grew up to be the woman behind the microphone, whose meteoric rise led to a decadeslong career full of tragedy and triumph. Through a highprofile marriage and divorce, her dreadful battle with addiction and illness, and the struggle to compete in a rapidly evolving Nashville, Tammy Wynette turned a brave smile toward the world and churned out masterful hit songs though her life resembled the most heartbreaking among them. Tammy Wynette is an intimate portrait of a music icon, the Queen of Heartbreak, whose powerful voice simultaneously evoked universal pain and longing even as it belied her own.