Country Legend Was Classically in-Clined

By: Wayne Lee Gay
Star-Telegram Classical Music Critic

She would have been a great Carmen.

Patsy Cline died 40 years ago today at age 30, when the small plane she was flying in from Kansas City to Nashville crashed through fog and storm clouds into a woodland near Camden, Tenn.

Born to a 16-year-old mother into small-town, Depression-era Appalachian poverty, Cline grew up in a family situation that included sexual abuse by her father. Had she received any formal musical training, she probably would have ended up playing the piano or violin in Carnegie Hall -- or, even more likely, singing at the Metropolitan Opera, instead of the Grand Ole Opry.

Her premature death -- as tragically untimely as Schubert's at 31 and Mozart's at 35 -- deprived the world of musical intelligence, spiritual instinct and ravishing native vocal quality of a sort heard -- at best -- in only a half-dozen or so members of any human generation.

Patsy Cline Remains Influential Voice

By: JOHN GEROME
The Associated Press

Forty years after country singer Patsy Cline's career was cut short in a plane crash near the marshy banks of the Tennessee River, fans leave plastic flowers and written messages at the crash site.

"I wish I could of met you, Patsy," one says.

"Patsy, you're my inspiration in music," another reads.

Cline's influence continues long after she expressed longing and heartache in classics such as "Crazy" and "I Fall to Pieces."

Cline recently topped Country Music Television's "40 Greatest Women in Country," a list selected by industry insiders; and MCA plans to release a tribute album with singers as diverse as Norah Jones, k.d. lang, Natalie Cole, Diana Krall and Terri Clark.

"They are timeless songs with timeless arrangements sung in a timeless voice," said country singer Bill Anderson, a friend and contemporary of Cline's at the Grand Ole Opry. "They sound as new and as fresh as when they first came out."

Pilots Recall The Fateful Day Patsy Cline's Plane Went Down

By: LEON ALLIGOOD
Staff Writer

Forty years ago today, Bill and Evelyn Braese secured a footnote for themselves in the almanac of country music.

The Jackson, Tenn., couple, who at the time were operators of the Dyersburg Municipal Airport, were the last people on the ground to see Patsy Cline alive.

On this day in 1963, Cline, fellow Grand Ole Opry stars Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Cline's manager-pilot, Randy Hughes, perished when the plane Hughes was flying crashed into a wooded hollow a few miles west of Camden, Tenn.

The Braeses, both veteran pilots, also are remembered for the advice they gave Hughes on that stormy afternoon when the single-engine Piper Comanche made a refueling stop: They urged the pilot to postpone the group's return to Nashville.

Celebrating Patsy Cline

Judy Sue Huyett-Kempf is so dedicated to Patsy Cline, her job often spills over into her volunteer work and private time.

Judy Sue is the project manager and group tour coordinator at Winchester-Frederick County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

“As a part of my job, I conduct Patsy Cline bus tours and work on any events that promote Patsy,” Judy Sue said last week from her office off Pleasant Valley Road in Winchester.

Judy Sue is also a volunteer with Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc. and is Treasurer of that group’s board of directors.

CPC was founded more than a decade ago by the late Fern Adams to preserve the memory of the country-western music star and Winchester native.

Cline’s Influence Continues to Grow

By: Adrian O'Connor
The Winchester Star

“Every day, I can safely say, is a Patsy day,” said a smiling Judy Sue Huyett-Kempf from behind the welcome desk at the Winchester-Frederick Convention and Visitors Bureau.

And, some days, Huyett-Kempf added, every visitor who stops by the bureau’s visitors center on South Pleasant Valley Road, is pursuing the legend of Winchester-born country music star Patsy Cline, who died 40 years today in a fiery plane crash in the hills of Tennessee just west of the Tennessee River.

On a recent Friday, for example, all 28 folks who signed the center’s guest book “were here for Patsy.”

Such is the continuing allure of a woman described by Huyett-Kempf as “the Madonna of the ‘50s,” a songstress never afraid to chase her dream of stardom — and never afraid to “push the envelope,” as it is said, in doing so.

'I Sat Down and Cried'
40 Years Later, Men Remember Patsy Cline

By: Adrian O'Connor
The Winchester Star

Lyndall Anderson attended Gore School with her back in the 1940s.

Carroll Bridgeforth traveled in the same circles as she did, often following the same band, the Kountry Krackers. Later, she would help him with what he hoped would be a burgeoning musical career.

Doug O’Connell once accompanied her on the piano for an impromptu number at a club in Front Royal. Forty years ago today, he wrote her obituary for The Winchester Evening Star.

Harold Madagan owns the drug store where she once worked behind the soda fountain, and is one of the those unofficial keepers of her flame here in Winchester.

Cline Memorial Service Set For Sunday

Star Staff Report

Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc. and the Always Patsy Cline Fan Club are co-sponsoring a public memorial service Sunday to observe the 40th anniversary of Winchester native Patsy Cline’s death.

Shenandoah Memorial Park, on U.S. 522 South in Winchester, where Patsy Cline is buried, is the location of the 2 p.m. service, which will be led by the Rev. Sandra H. Stamey, pastor of Crums Methodist Church in Clarke County.

There will be special music, invited guests, testimonials, and flowers decorating the grave. A reception will be held immediately after the service at Omps Funeral Home, South Chapel, on the grounds of Shenandoah Memorial Park.

Patsy Cline was killed in an airplane crash on March 5, 1963. She was on her way home to Tennessee from a benefit concert in Kansas.

Terri Clark was recording "Walkin' After Midnight" for a Patsy Cline tribute album when she learned that she is nominated for top female vocalist. Referring to the fact that this marks only her first ACM nomination, Clark said, "Truthfully, I was a little annoyed. I wasn't even thinking about [the ACM press conference] because when you've done this as long as I have and you're never really nominated, you learn to defend yourself from disappointment by assuming the awards aren't your thing. Making the music was more than plenty for me." At first, Clark thought her manager was pulling a prank when he told her of the nomination. "I actually thought it was kind of a sick practical joke -- and sort of told him so," she said. "But he was like, 'No, Terri. You're nominated.' Thankfully, vocals [for the recording session] are tomorrow, because I can't imagine the shrieking did great things for my voice."

The Guardian (United Kingdom):
The rackety life and sudden death of country-music singer Patsy Cline are commemorated on the 40th anniversary of the plane crash in which she died, aged 30. Nick Barraclough (7:00 pm, Radio 2) tells her story and plays the still popular records of one of the Grand Ole Opry's leading stars, whose funeral attracted 25,000 mourners.

Tonight, CMT Canada will air a two hour "Patsy Block," beginning at 9:00 pm EST. First, a broadcast of the 1986 Documentary, "The Real Patsy Cline," followed by a new special called "Memories of Patsy Cline." For more details, click Here to visit the CMT Canada website.

Eddie Stubbs will host his annual tribute tonight, from 7:00 pm - 12:00 Midnight CST, on WSM-AM 650. Listen online at www.wsmonline.com.

There will be a candlelight service held this evening at the Crash Site in Camden. For more information, contact Terry Hudson Here.

Tonight, British-born country artist Valerie will headline a 40th Anniversary Memorial Tribute to Patsy at the Sweetwater Saloon in Mill Valley, California. Proceeds from the memorial will benefit Celebrating Patsy Cline, Inc., and they hope to make a sizable donation.

Memories Live On For 4 Who Died

Patsy Cline Memorial Weekend

By: Melissa Robins
03/05/03

A memorial service was held Friday, February 28, at Briarwood School, in honor of Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, and Randy Hughes who were all killed in a plane wreck after leaving a benefit concert in Kansas City on March 5, 1963.

A member of the country music group Mavericks Robert Reynolds, and writer Brian Mansfield shared a moment about the legendary country music singer Patsy Cline. This year will mark the 40th anniversary of their deaths. Country stars Billy Walker and Jan Howard, still find it hard to speak of their dear friends they lost so many years ago.

Billy Walker was supposed to be on the plane, but received a call stating that his father-in-law had a major heart attack. Hawkshaw Hawkins, who hated flying in small planes, gave Walker his plane ticket so Walker could go be with his family. Hawkshaw rode with Randy Hughes and the others.

Patsy Cline's Last Show and Final Ride

Edward Morris
03/05/2003

Patsy Cline was tired, battling a cold and aching to see her kids when her plane crashed in Camden, Tenn., the rainy evening of March 5, 1963. Singer-songwriter Roger Miller, who was among the first to find the wreckage early the next morning, reported that the plane's single engine lay at the bottom of a large crater, suggesting that the Piper Comanche had plunged to earth at full speed.

Dying with Cline that day were fellow Grand Ole Opry stars Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas and the plane's pilot, Randy Hughes, who was also Cline's manager and Copas' son-in-law.

For two days, Cline had been trying to get back home to Nashville from Kansas City, Kan., where she had played three benefit shows on Sunday, March 3 to raise money for the family of popular disc jockey, "Cactus" Jack Call. He had died from injuries suffered in an auto accident in January.