SWEET DREAM COMES TO LIFE WITH RELEASE OF PATSY CLINE DUETS SEPTEMBER 14 Original Tracks Digitally Recreated to Pair Beloved Icon with Country Legends including Willie Nelson, Crystal Gayle, Glen Campbell, Bob Carlisle, Michelle Wright In the history of country music, Patsy Cline is more than revered; she is, to many, a member of that rarefied cadre of legendary artists who occupies sacred ground. So versatile was this beloved, soulful songstress, her appeal spilled over into the mainstream, transforming her into a pop icon as well. Her tragic demise in 1963 at the age of 30 only intensified popular devotion to the singer, who, had she lived, would have become an enduring superstar. More than three decades after her death, evidence of her legacy for contemporary artists is abundant, and many tout Cline as one of the central influences on their style and phrasing. Indeed, some of country’s greatest stars admit to being Patsy Cline fanatics, citing the terrible void that she left in the music world. Still, human nature is a curious thing: when we lose something rare or precious, we often attempt through innovation to recreate that which we have lost, whether it be youth, health, riches or love. Recent years have witnessed this desire to revive the extraordinary voices of those such as Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, weaving contemporary voices into their classic recordings. Such projects transcend mere nostalgia, allowing us to enter a realm where the world of the dream becomes real. This Fall, with the release of the Patsy Cline Duets, fresh territory of that dream-like world will be revealed. On September 14, the first of three planned volumes of Patsy Cline duets will be issued, pairing Cline with some of country’s most cherished artists, who are legends in their own right: Willie Nelson, Glen Campbell, Waylon Jennings, Crystal Gayle, Michelle Wright, Beth Neilsen Chapman, Bob Carlisle, John Berry and Mila Mason. Selecting the artists for the individual duets was hardly simple, although certain parameters guided the producer. For one thing, as the original key and integrity of the music had not been touched, the performers had to sing with ease in the keys that fall within Cline’s key spectrum. Yet perhaps more importantly, the artists should be appropriate for the individual melodies. Certain singers came easily to mind for obvious reasons: Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings were both contemporaries of Cline, not to mention that Nelson had penned the phenomenal Cline classic, "Crazy," and was a close friend of hers. Crystal Gayle and Glen Campbell, having emerged onto the scene later than Cline, both revere Cline as a trailblazer and consider themselves ardent fans, as do the other artists in the duets collection. Veteran record producer, Michael Blakey consciously selected a mixture of legendary and newer talent for the line-up, including double platinum-recording artist Michelle Wright and Gospel artist Bob Carlisle, whose 1997 recording "Butterfly Kisses" earned him not only a Grammy but the VH1 Artist of the Year award as well. Blakey explains that he approached the project with a mixture of reverence and apprehension. "I realized that in creating a new collection of Patsy Cline, I was heading into sacred ground," he recalls. However, after meeting with Charlie Dick, Cline’s husband, and receiving his support, Blakey proceeded with confidence. Then began the arduous task of first extracting Cline’s vocals from the mono tracks. This being nearly impossible, Blakey enlisted the help of a forensic scientist, who was successful in removing the original vocals. The tracks were then painstakingly re-created note-for-note in three-second increments. Although the integrity of the original music was preserved absolutely, Blakey opted to enhance the tracks by adding in orchestration. World-class session players were flown in from around the globe to add the horns, harps and strings that would augment and enrich the original recording. Cline’s vocals were put through state-of-the-art technology rendering them crystal clean, utterly devoid of distortion or hiss – as though they were recorded yesterday. When the recording was played for Charlie Dick back in Nashville, Blakey recalls, he sensed the experience had a chilling effect on Cline’s husband. "You see," explained Dick, "Patsy only sounded like that when she stood singing in front of me." The project received the full endorsement of both Charlie Dick and Cline’s children, as well as that of Sony/ATV Nashville president Donna Hilley. Hilley, who’s not even affiliated with the project, says, "Every music lover, regardless of their taste in music, should have this record." Between the labor-intensive re-recording of the musical tracks and the vocal recording of the duets, Volume One of The Patsy Cline Duets took over one-and-a-half years to complete. The artists who contributed to the duet were unanimous in their praise for the pristine quality of the recording, with Mila Mason referring to Blakey as the "George Lucas of the Recording Industry." The CD of Volume One of The Patsy Cline Duets will be available September 14 from Private I/Mercury Records and will be a fully interactive CD-ROM, featuring bios and photos of Cline and the other artists, as well as links to the Patsy Cline Duets website.

Originally Issued By Luck Media & Marketing In July 1999







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