KITTY'S NOTES AND MEMORIES:
WHEN I KNEW "TWITTY"

DID I EVER TELL YOU HOW I KNOW CONWAY AND HIS FAMILY? HIS BAND BACKED ME WHEN I MADE MY FIRST RECORDING.

DURING THAT TIME I MET SAMMY SMITH, AS SHE WAS RECORDING ALSO, AND CONWAY'S BAND WAS BACKING HER. SHE WAS ON HER WAY TO NASHVILLE. AFTER A FEW YEARS SHE RECORDED HER BIG HIT "HELP ME MAKE IT THROUGH THE NIGHT".

I MET LEW HOUSTON, CONWAY'S STEEL GUITAR MAN, AND LATER WE WERE MARRIED. LEW HOUSTON PLAYED STEEL GUITAR FOR CONWAY ALL DURING THE LEAN YEARS OF CONWAY'S CAREER WHEN HE WAS TRANSFERRING FROM ROCK AND ROLL TO COUNTRY. CONWAY AND LORETTA LYNN STARTED SINGING DUETS, AND THEY WERE A GREAT DUO. THEY SANG DUETS AND "MADE MANY GREAT HITS" TOGETHER FOR MANY YEARS AND THEY WERE THE BEST OF FRIENDS.

I KNEW CONWAY AND FAMILY FROM 1964 ON. THE BAND MEMBERS FAMILIES DID THINGS TOGETHER AND TRAVELED TOGETHER, SOME. I STILL HAVE MY BOWLING SHIRT THAT SAYS "THE TWITTYBIRDS".

I REMEMBER A NEW YEARS EVE IN CHICAGO, WE HAD SOME FUN AFTER THE JOB, WHEN WE ALL WENT TO MANY MOVIES. CONWAY LOVED MOVIES, AS HE ALMOST NEVER GOT TO GO TO MOVIES IN PEACE, AS HE WAS EITHER WORKING OR THE FANS WOULD SPOT HIM AND HE COULD NOT JUST GO OUT WITH HIS WIFE MICKEY WITHOUT EXPECTING A CROWD WANTING AUTOGRAPHS.

I WAS SINGING ON MY OWN WITH MANY DIFFERENT BANDS WHEN I MET LEW HOUSTON, HE WAS WITH THE CONWAY TWITTY BAND CALLED "THE LONELY BLUE BOYS". I MET WANDA JACKSON, PRETTY MISS NORMA JEAN AND SO MANY OTHER STARS THROUGH KNOWING LEW.

CONWAY WENT ON TO NASHVILLE, MADE IT BIG, AND GOT A NEW SOUND. BIG JOE, HIS BASS PLAYER, FRONT-MAN AND LIFELONG FRIEND, WAS KILLED IN CAR WRECK IN NASHVILLE, CONWAY GOT A NEW BAND, EXCEPT FOR PORKCHOP, TOMMY MARKHAM, THE DRUMMER. HE THEN TOOK OFF WITH HIS NEW SOUND, HIS NEW BAND AND STARTED MAKING HISTORY WITH HIS BACK TO BACK #1 HIT RECORDINGS.

KITTY AND LEW HOUSTON
AND THE
STEEL DRIVERS