Why Tammy Wynette’s ‘Stand by Your Man’ Was So Controversial

One of the most famous country songs ever is Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by Your Man.” The track provoked plenty of controversy. During her lifetime, Wynette had to defend the song’s lyrics over and over.

Tammy Wynette went to see a music producer feeling scared and with her hair disheveled

Billy Sherrill was the co-writer and producer of “Stand by Your Man.” During a 2000 interview with NPR, he recalled the first time Wynette walked into his office. Her hair was disheveled, she was frightened, and many other producers turned her down. 

“She had a kind of beaten type of appearance, you know, just like, ‘OK, you know, I’ve been kicked in the teeth so many times, one more time’s not going to kill me,’ that type thing,” Sherrill added. “But we changed all that.”

He appreciated her voice. “Just husky and soulful and tearful and dynamic and up and down,” he opined. “You know, everybody thought she had a big range. She didn’t have a big range, she was just loud and soft. And she lived it, you know. She lived every tear everybody ever heard her sing.”

Some feminists said Tammy Wynette’s ‘Stand by Your Man’ sent negative messages to women

Together, Sherrill and Wynette wrote “Stand by Your Man.” Wynette’s publicist, Evelyn Shriver, said the singer grew tired of defending “Stand by Your Man.” “What she said is, ‘It’s unbelievable to me that a song that took me 20 minutes to write, I’ve spent 20 or 30 years defending.'” 

The song enraged some feminists. A Newsweek article claimed the track encouraged beleaguered housewives to deal with their lot in life. Country singer Jeannie C. Riley, who gave us the feminist anthem “Harper Valley PTA,” felt the tune told women to deal with whatever their husbands dished out. Wynette’s record label, Epic Records, promoted the track as an antidote to women’s lib.

Shriver said Wynette defended the track. “She said, ‘The women I knew — my mother, my grandmother, my aunts — they stood by their man,'” Shriver said. “And she said, ‘Nowhere does it say [to] be a doormat and let this man walk on you.'”

How ‘Stand by Your Man’ performed at the Grammys

Regardless of the controversy, the song received acclaim. The tune won the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Vocal Performance — Female. Wynette beat out Riley, Diana Trask, Connie Smith, and Lynn Anderson to win the award.

Wynette was also nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Song but lost to Shel Silverstein for writing Johnny Cash’s “A Boy Named Sue.” Wynette went on to have other hits such as “Singing My Song” and “The Ways to Love a Man.”

Wynette made country music history with “Stand by Your Man” and the song inspires debate to this day.