hypersongs

Kathy Mattea

A West Virginia country and bluegrass singer with four number one country singles, the 1989 hit "Where've You Been", the albums Coal and Calling Me Home, and, from 2025, a member of the Grand Ole Opry.

West Virginia to Mercury

Kathleen Alice Mattea was born in South Charleston, West Virginia on June 21, 1959 and raised in Cross Lanes. She learned guitar in junior high, sang classical music in the high-school choir, entered West Virginia University in 1976 and joined a bluegrass band, and moved to Nashville in 1978. She worked as a tour guide at the Country Music Hall of Fame, a secretary and a waitress while singing demos, and Byron Hill discovered her and helped her sign with Mercury in 1983.

Her debut, Kathy Mattea, came in 1984, followed by From My Heart (1985, the first with the producer Allen Reynolds), Walk the Way the Wind Blows (1986, her breakthrough) and Untasted Honey (1987), which included "Goin' Gone", her first number one. "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" was number one in 1988 for two weeks, and "Come from the Heart" and "Burnin' Old Memories" followed in 1989; she was the CMA female vocalist of the year in 1989 and 1990. A Collection of Hits (1990) is certified platinum, and Time Passes By (1991) included "From a Distance", produced by Mattea, Jon Vezner and Dougie MacLean.

Coal, Opry and Mountain Stage

Lonesome Standard Time (1992) was her first with the producer Brent Maher, and Good News (1993) won the Grammy for best southern, country or bluegrass gospel album; she was credited as the first Nashville star to speak openly about AIDS, and wore three red ribbons at the 1992 CMA Awards. Walking Away a Winner (1994), Love Travels (1997, with Michael McDonald) and The Innocent Years (2000), her last for Mercury, followed. Roses (2002) and Right Out of Nowhere (2005) were on Narada, and the Sago mine explosion of 2006 prompted Coal (2008, her own Captain Potato label, produced by Marty Stuart), which reached number one on the bluegrass chart; Calling Me Home (2012, Sugar Hill) and Pretty Bird (2018, produced by Tim O'Brien) continued the Appalachian turn. She entered the West Virginia Music Hall of Fame in 2011.

She appeared in Ken Burns's Country Music in 2019, was Distinguished Artist in Residence at the WVU School of Music in 2019 and 2020, and in September 2021 succeeded Larry Groce as host of Mountain Stage. On August 9, 2025, as she sang "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" at the Grand Ole Opry, Charlie McCoy interrupted with roses and invited her to join, and she answered yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, and thank you; Wikipedia gives August 11. She was inducted on October 11, 2025, with Terri Clark presenting. Setlist.fm lists about 351 setlists, with "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses" (45), "Love at the Five and Dime" (39) and "Come from the Heart" (35) ahead of "Where've You Been" (34). She has four number one country singles, five gold albums and one platinum, and two Grammys.

Albums

  • Willow in the Wind 1989 · Mercury

    Her fifth album: ten songs recorded at Jack's Tracks, with Jerry Douglas, Mark O'Connor and Edgar Meyer among the players.

  • Lonesome Standard Time 1992 · Mercury

    Her country and bluegrass album of 1992, produced and mixed by Brent Maher.

Songs

  • Where've You Been Willow in the Wind · 1989

    A song of an old couple, Edwin and Claire, written by Jon Vezner and Don Henry; a Grammy winner for Mattea and its writers.

  • Standing Knee Deep in a River (Dying of Thirst) Lonesome Standard Time · 1993

    The second single from Lonesome Standard Time, a ballad about being grateful for what we have.

Sources

  1. Kathy Mattea, Wikipedia
  2. Kathy Mattea, e-WV
  3. Kathy Mattea invited to be next Grand Ole Opry member, Saving Country Music (2025-08)
  4. Kathy Mattea, mattea.com