Spotlight Artist: Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) – Part 3

After a successful run in Las Vegas, Patsy Cline returned to Nashville and Owen Bradley’s recording studio for what would be her last sessions. In February 1963 she recorded twelve new tracks, including a cover of Don Gibson’s “Sweet Dreams” and the Bob Wills classic “Faded Love”. She was unusually emotional and wept throughout the session; the emotion can be heard on both of these tracks. Bradley assumed that she’d had an argument with her husband, and when Charlie stopped by to see how things were going, he was quickly ushered out of the studio before Patsy saw him, so as not to break the mood.

“Leavin’ On Your Mind” had been released about a month before Patsy’s final recording sessions, in January 1963. It was the last single released during her lifetime. It reached #8 on the country chart, but unlike most of her previous hits, it was not a crossover success, stalling at #83 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Patsy Cline died on March 5, 1963 when the Piper Comanche aircraft carrying her back to Nashville from a charity concert in Kansas City, Missouri crashed amidst deteriorating weather conditions near Camden, Tennessee. Also on board were Grand Ole Opry stars Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Patsy’s manager Randy Hughes, who had piloted the plane. There were no survivors. Patsy was interred near her home in Virginia, at the Shenandoah Memorial Park.

Decca continued to release Patsy’s singles and albums in the years following her death. “Sweet Dreams”, her first posthumous release, was a #5 country hit, and despite having been recorded previously by both Faron Young and Don Gibson, it is Patsy’s interpretation that is considered the definitive version. The follow-up single “Faded Love” reached #7 on the charts and was her last solo Top 10 hit. After that, her singles charted lower, if they charted at all. She returned to the Top 5 one final time in 1981, when RCA Records released an electronic duet of Patsy and Jim Reeves singing “Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue)”.

In 1967, Decca released Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits, which eventually sold more than 10 million copies. It held the record as the best-selling country album of all-time by a female artist, until the 1990s when it was overtaken by Shania Twain’s The Woman In Me. In 1973, Patsy became the first female solo artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Her name began to fade from the public consciousness, but was brought back to the forefront in 1980 when she was portrayed on the silver screen by actress Beverly D’Angelo in the Loretta Lynn bio-film Coal Miner’s Daughter. Five years later, Hollywood told its version of the Patsy Cline story in the film Sweet Dreams, starring Jessica Lange and Ed Harris.

Although her recording career lasted a mere eight years, Patsy Cline cast a long shadow over the country music landscape. Virtually every female country vocalist who has emerged since her death has named Patsy as an influence. Her songs have been covered by such artists as Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, Reba McEntire, LeAnn Rimes and Sara Evans. Her Greatest Hits still holds the record for the longest run on the Billboard Country Albums chart for an album by a female artist, and she remains a best-selling artist for MCA, the successor company to Decca Records. We hope that you’ll enjoy our coverage as we look back at Patsy’s life and career throughout the month of January.

Album Review: George Strait – ‘#7′

Despite its title, #7 was George Strait’s sixth studio album for MCA and his third collaboration with co-producer Jimmy Bowen. It was his seventh album overall, if 1985′s Greatest Hits compilation is taken into account. Released in May 1986, it continues where the previous year’s Something Special left off, allowing Strait to further examine his Texas music roots. The album relies heavily on Western swing and Texas shuffles, along with a few more contemporary numbers intended to be released to radio as singles.

It has never been a secret that George Strait is a huge Bob Wills fan. The album opens with his rendition of the Wills classic “Deep Water”. Like most Bob Wills tunes, it was intended to be a dance song, and as such, the lyrics are of secondary importance and are somewhat superficial. What it lacks in lyrical depth, however, it makes up for with an incredibly satisfying melody and Strait’s vocal performance is flawless, as is the fiddle playing of Johnny Gimble. Considered one of the greatest fiddle players in the history of country music, and an alumnus of Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys, Gimble plays both the fiddle and mandolin throughout the album.

#7 generated two more #1 singles for Strait — “Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her” and “It Ain’t Cool To Be Crazy About You”. Both were from the pen of Dean Dillon, with Royce Porter sharing co-writer duties on the latter. They have gone on to become classics and both are on my short list of favorite George Strait hits. It was about this time that he developed his trademark, seemingly effortless crooning style, and truly began to blossom as an artist.

The truck-driving tune “Rhythm of the Road” allows for a brief change of pace before the album reverts back to a more laid-back style with the Western swing number “You Still Get to Me” and two Texas shuffle numbers — “Stranger Things Have Happened” and “Why’d You Go and Break My Heart”. “I’m Never Gonna Let You Go” is a more contemporary tune that probably would have done well as a single. It’s interesting that MCA chose to overlook it, releasing only the two aforementioned Dillon compositions to radio. Strait pays further homage to his Texas roots with the closing song, a remake of Tex Ritter’s “Cow Town”.

The one flaw of this album is that at 27 minutes and six seconds in length, it is too short. This is a forgivable shortcoming, however, because the quality of the songs more than compensates for the brevity of the collection. This is one of those rare albums that contains no filler, and for the most part doesn’t appear to have been recorded with the intention of racking up a lot of radio hits. This seems to be an album that Strait recorded to have fun, with a couple of radio-ready tracks thrown in almost as an afterthought.

#7 became Strait’s fifth album to attain gold status, eventually earning platinum certification. However, Strait’s continued commercial success in what should have been a banner year for him, was overshadowed by the tragic death of his 13-year-old daughter Jenifer in a car accident about a month after the album was released. The always private Strait never spoke publicly of the tragedy, except to dedicate his 1986 CMA Male Vocalist of the Year trophy to Jenifer’s memory.

An overlooked gem in the vast Strait catalog, #7 is readily available in both CD and digital formats from Amazon . It is well worth seeking out.

Grade: A

Playlist: Favorite George Strait songs

George Strait

Thursday, April 23rd, is St. George’s Day. George is the name of the patron saint of England. One of the most prominent of the military saints, legend has it that George slayed a dragon that had been terrorizing the people of Silene, in modern-day Libya, doing so on the condition that they convert to Christianity.

And of course, George is also the name of a few very important figures in country music, so this seemed like a good opportunity to dig a little bit into the back catalog of one of them. What follows is a chronological listing of some George Strait songs that, while not necessarily essential or definitive, are my personal favorites:

1. Amarillo By Morning (1983). Included on Strait’s 1982 sophomore album Strait from the Heart, “Amarillo by Morning” was released as a single in early 1983. It had previously been recorded by one of its co-writers Terry Stafford in 1973, Chris LeDoux in 1975 and Asleep at the Wheel in 1981. All of those renditions, however, were eclipsed by Strait’s. This is the first George Strait song I can remember hearing on the radio that really made an impact on me. At the time I didn’t realize it was a song about a rodeo rider. The lines “I hope that judge ain’t blind”, and “I ain’t rich, but Lord I’m free” made me think it was a song about someone who had been wrongfully imprisoned and was hoping to appear before a judge to have the conviction overturned. Eventually, I figured out that wasn’t what the song was about, but it remained a favorite anyway.

2. Right or Wrong (1984). This old Bob Wills classic has been recorded countless times. My collection includes versions by Merle Haggard and Reba McEntire with Asleep at the Wheel, but Strait’s version was the first one I ever heard. It is the only version to have gone to #1 on the Billboard Country Singles chart. It topped the chart in early 1984, becoming Strait’s fourth #1 hit.

3. Let’s Fall To Pieces Together (1984). The follow up to “Right or Wrong”, this was Strait’s fifth #1 hit. I’ve always thought it was a shame that he and producer Ray Baker only made one album together.

4. Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind (1984). The title track to Strait’s 1984 album, this marks the beginning of the “modern” George Strait. It was his first single to be produced by Jimmy Bowen, and by this time he’d begun to develop his trademark crooning-style, which was a much more relaxed style than some of his earlier releases. This song had been turned down by Reba McEntire, who didn’t feel comfortable singing it because of the line about “cold Fort Worth beer.”

5. Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her (1986). The lead single to the album #7, this song was previously recorded by its composer Dean Dillon, who has written many, many hits for George Strait. It was also included on Keith Whitley’s 1985 album L.A. to Miami, but wasn’t released as a single. This is one of Strait’s best vocal performances. He captures perfectly the pain and torment of the protagonist, who regrets having walked out on a woman that he comes to realize too late that he still loves.