Patsy Cline

Patsy Cline ranks among the most towering vocalists in country music's long story, opening doors for women to establish themselves firmly within Nashville's male-dominated system. Kitty Wells had already achieved stardom years earlier, well before Cline scored her major successes in the early 1960s. Brenda Lee, who worked with Cline's producer, matched her in forging a country-pop blend during the same period, while Skeeter Davis enjoyed comparable but shorter-lived acclaim. Cline nevertheless became the defining figure of that era, an icon whose aura may have grown stronger because a fatal accident ended her life just as she entered her artistic prime.

She launched her recording career in the mid-1950s. Although seventeen singles emerged from those sessions between 1955 and 1960, only one reached the charts. That track, "Walkin' After Midnight," climbed into the pop Top 20 and has since become a standard. The same period's recordings, later collected on several Rhino anthologies, found her sometimes delivering straight-ahead rockabilly and at other times exploring gospel-tinged ballads. She could not build on the success of "Walkin' After Midnight," partly because an unfavorable contract restricted her to songs from a single publisher.

Her fortunes changed sharply in 1960 once that contract lapsed. Producer Owen Bradley, who had overseen her earlier dates, now guided her toward material of greater suitability and stronger quality. "I Fall to Pieces," recorded at the first session where she could choose freely, marked the decisive shift. It topped the country chart and reached number twelve on the pop side, launching a string of country-pop crossovers over the following years. More lastingly, it established a model for polished Nashville country. Bradley supplied sweeping orchestral backdrops with lush strings and Jordanaires harmonies that leaned toward sophisticated pop while remaining rooted in country.

Nashville's finest session players supplied the core country sound, among them guitarist Hank Garland, pianist Floyd Cramer, and drummer Buddy Harmon. Cline's singing took on greater depth, assurance, and emotional range, conveying both timeless wisdom and vulnerability that kept her records resonant for later listeners. When k.d. lang recorded her 1988 album Shadowland with Owen Bradley, she deliberately sought to recapture this phase of Cline's work.

A serious car crash in 1961 did not slow her momentum through 1962, as both "Crazy" and "She's Got You" became major hits on country and pop charts. Songwriters such as Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, and Willie Nelson supplied much of her most poignant romantic material, including Nelson's "Crazy." Though her commercial peak had begun to wane, she was still performing at her highest level when a plane crash took her life in March 1963 at age thirty. Her reign as a major star lasted only a few years, yet her influence has proved enduring. The technical excellence of her recordings has been widely imitated, but few have matched the raw, often heartbreaking feeling she brought to the performances. Listeners seeking a less ornate presentation can turn to her radio-broadcast appearances, many of which have been preserved and released.