This Day In Music History

Forty-four years after singer Patsy Cline died in a plane crash near the banks of the Tennessee River, fans still leave plastic flowers and written messages at the crash site.  "I wish I could of met you, Patsy," one says.  Another says "Patsy, you're my inspiration in music."   Patsy Cline's influence continues long after she made us feel the longing and heartache in classics such as "Crazy" and "I Fall to Pieces." 

Cline was only 30 when she died in 1963.   When she sang of heartbreakt, we felt it because she felt it.  Cline grew up in the Winchester, Va., area and dropped out of school at 15 to support her family after her father deserted them.  To help the family make ends meet, as a teenager she sang in honky tonks, amateur musicals and talent shows. She signed her first recording contract in 1954 with Four Star Records.  The record deal lasted six years, but was a major source of frustration for Cline who claimed the record company swindled her out of her earnings.  Her big break came in 1957 when she sang "Walkin' After Midnight" on Arthur Godfrey's "Talent Scouts" show. The song became a hit on both country and pop charts. 

She endured a dry spell, and went into semiretirement.  Desperate for money, she signed with Decca Recods in 1960 and agreed to record "I Fall to Pieces," a tune chosen for her by producer Owen Bradley that featured backup vocals by the Jordanaires, best known for their work with Elvis Presley.  The song was one of the first country songs with "the Nashville sound" - lush musical arrangements with strings and backing vocal.  The song made both country and pop charts and revived Cline's career, and today, the song remains one of the top country songs of all time.  But the song was almost not recorded.  Patsy fought producer Owen Bradley over the song.  She didn't like the strings and said that the Jordainaires would drown her out. 

Cline survived a serious car crash in 1961 and continued recording with the Bradley-produced hits "Crazy" and "She's Got You." Her posthumously released singles "Leavin' on Your Mind" and "Sweet Dreams" both made the Top 10.  A popular 1985 movie, "Sweet Dreams," with Jessica Lange and the play "Always ... Patsy Cline" in the '90s helped keep her memory alive. She was voted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973.

To me, Patsy Cline had the best female voice I've ever heard on recorded music.  She had the ability to make the listener feel what she was singing; that's something that we don't have today from all of the cookie-cutter singers out there.  When she sang "I fall to pieces each time I see you again" I could feel it.  Of course, Harlan Howard deserves major credit for writing one of the greatest country songs ever written, but Patsy Cline made us feel it. 

I often wonder what country music would be like today if Patsy Cline had lived.  I'm not sure what the answer is.