Patsy: Honky Tonk Angel, the life of Patsy Cline as brought to the stage by Ellis Nassour, author of the country-western star's biography, and featuring such hits as "Crazy," "I Fall to Pieces" and "Faded Love," with new tunes by composer George Leonard and lyricist Nassour. Monday, March 24 at 7 PM and Tuesday, March 25 at 3 PM.

Ramblin' Rhodes: Country Legend's Final Days Recalled

By: Don Rhodes
Columnist

The phone rang last week, and it was Charlie Dick, calling me back on the 40th anniversary of the plane crash that killed his wife, singer Patsy Cline. "I've got radio stations running out of my ears," Mr. Dick said in response to the voice-mail message I left at his house near Nashville, Tenn. "I've already gotten calls this morning from Kansas, Alabama and Pennsylvania, and I've got another station to call before this guy gets off the air at noon.

"And WSM (the Nashville radio station that's home to the Grand Ole Opry) is doing a five-hour tribute, and I'll be there for some of it."

It was March 5, 1963, when a single-engine, four-seater Piper Comanche crashed into a hill near Camden, Tenn. Besides Miss Cline, the crash also took the lives of fellow Grand Ole Opry stars Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins and pilot Randy Hughes, who also was Miss Cline's personal manager and Mr. Copas' son-in-law.

Software Program Designed to Spot Musical Hits

LONDON (Reuters) - Picking the next worldwide hit song could soon be as easy as running a software program. Hit Song Science (HSS), software developed by Barcelona-based company Polyphonic HMI, is designed to spot the hits before they are released.

The company says it picked out Norah Jones for stardom months before her debut album garnered eight Grammy awards.

"The HSS software looks for songs that match the musical traits of known hits," according to New Scientist magazine.

It identifies characteristics such as melody, harmony, beat variation, tempo, rhythm and pitch that send songs to the top of the charts.

Although there are millions of songs on the market, the biggest sellers are found in clusters with similar characteristics.

But those special traits are not always obvious. Irish rock group U2 and Beethoven had similar values according to the software. The Beatles and Elvis also matched up with their distinctive traits.

"There are a limited number of mathematical formulas for hit songs," said Polyphonic HMI's chief executive Mike McCready.

"We don't know why," he added.

Several major record companies are trying out the software to increase their chances of putting their money on a winner.

‘Every Song from Her Heart’
Patsy Cline Fans Gather for Memorial Service

By: Val Van Meter
The Winchester Star

Minnie Randall of Front Royal keeps a scrapbook on Patsy Cline. In her garage at home, she has photos she’s clipped from newspaper articles about Cline, whom she saw in person years ago in Washington, D.C.

On Sunday afternoon, Randall braved a brisk breeze at Shenandoah Memorial Park cemetery to attend a ceremony marking 40 years since the death of Winchester’s country music star.

Cline died in an airplane crash in Tennessee on March 5, 1963.

It was a ceremony of remembrance, as 50 people gathered in front of Virginia Patterson Hensley Cline’s grave, holding red carnations they later laid on her headstone.

There were those who knew her personally and those who only knew her through her music. And all of them loved her.

“She was a gift,” said the Rev. Sandra H. Stamey, pastor of Crums United Methodist Church in Clarke County.

“She sang every song from her heart, as if she lived it in her soul.”

Patsy Cline's Fans Want Hometown's Past-Due Homage

40 Years After Star's Death, Some Say She Still Has Not Achieved the Respect She Sought

By: Jacqueline L. Salmon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, March 10, 2003; Page B01

WINCHESTER -- The small crowd that huddled graveside in a brisk late-winter wind behind Omps Funeral Home could have been the mourners at any funeral -- except that they gathered here yesterday to celebrate the life, and grieve the loss, of someone who died 40 years ago.

Not just any someone, but the legendary Patsy Cline, who grew up in these parts only to die at the young age of 30, at the height of her fame, in a plane crash in Tennessee on March 5, 1963. Yesterday, some 40 fans clustered around the country singer's grave at Shenandoah Memorial Park here to shed a few tears and share a few memories.

"It's that love for her in our hearts that we've had for 40 years," said Judy Sue Huyett-Kempf, who heads a local fan club, Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc.

Cline died just as she was achieving the kind of success she had been striving for since she was a brash teenager supporting her mother and siblings by working various jobs around town while singing at the local radio station and in beer halls in Purcellville, Berryville and Front Royal.

Frederick County, VA
Patsy Cline Remembered 40 Years Later

By: Suzanne Dennis

WINCHESTER, VA, MARCH 9 - Sunday was a day of remembrance for country music fans as many came out to a special memorial service for Patsy Cline.

Family and friends gathered at Shenandoah Memorial Park to pay tribute to the famous country legend. Cline, who was born in Winchester, died in an airplane crash on March 5, 1963. And her fans say even though it's been 40 years since her passing, her legacy lives on.

Judy Sue Kempf, the Treasurer of Patsy Cline Inc. pointed out that on Cline's tombstone it says "Death cannot kill what never dies...Love. So it's that love for Patsy 40 years later stronger, getting stronger everyday."

Sunday's service took place at the exact time of Pasty's original March 9th funeral service back in 1963.

Patsy Cline's Friends, Fans Mark 40 Years Since Her Death

Lisa Arcaro
Daily Record

Patsy Cline sang with such emotion that it's not surprising she's still in the hearts and minds of her friends and fans 40 years after her death. Cline, known for such hits as "Crazy," "I Fall to Pieces" and "Sweet Dreams," died at age 30 in a plane crash March 5, 1963, near Camden, Tenn. The crash also claimed the lives of country performers Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas, and Cline's manager, Randy Hughes.

The new book "Remembering Patsy" (Rutledge Hill Press, $14.95), published in February, celebrates Cline and her music through candid photographs and the remembrances of those who knew her best and those who were touched by her talent years later.

For the book, author Brian Mansfield, a senior editor of CDNow Inc. and the Nashville correspondent for USA Today, compiled firsthand accounts by a variety of Cline's contemporaries, including Brenda Lee, Loretta Lynn, Roger Miller, Willie Nelson and Jan Howard, as well as tributes by many too young to have known Cline personally, including Trisha Yearwood, k.d. lang, Michelle Branch and Lee Ann Womack. Also included are recollections by Cline's husband, Charlie Dick.

Going Back To Brilliant Basics

Willie Nelson's early recordings were often ruined by misguided producers. But now, an album of early demos reveals a whole new side to the singer-songwriter's genius, says Andy Gill

07 March 2003

The most rewarding aspect of the current roots-music boom has been the resurgence of interest in seminal country-music figures such as Ernest Tubb and Hank Williams, with repackaged compilations of back-catalogue material allowing fans to track their artistic development as never before. One of the more remarkable of these is the recently released anthology of Willie Nelson's earliest recordings, made for a Nashville publishing company at the start of the 1960s. Crazy: The Demo Sessions offers a fascinating portrait of a towering talent on the verge of recognition – though it would be another dozen years, and about the same number of albums, before that talent would be heard in its natural, unspoilt setting, without the corny window-dressing of strings, horns and backing vocalists favoured by Sixties producers.

"The show went great! We were thrilled with the turn out for a Wednesday night. We did manage to get video/audio from the show. Not sure how it turned out, but it will be interesting in finding out."

Cline Museum Campaign Kicks Into High Gear

By: Stephanie M. Mangino
The Winchester Star

On the 40th anniversary of Patsy Cline’s death, a group dedicated to establishing a museum to honor the legendary singer began what many termed a “new era.”

Cline, a Winchester native, died in an airplane crash in Tennessee on March 5, 1963.

On Wednesday, Celebrating Patsy Cline Inc. announced a series of moves intended to bring a museum to the area.

CPC is kicking off a national development campaign, said CPC President Jim Stutzman Jr., as he stood amidst Cline memorabilia at the Winchester-Frederick County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Everyone possible will be solicited for help, he said, from record companies to country music stars, rock stars, producers, and “people who live around the corner.”

The group is looking for any and all grants that could assist the project.

Fans In Patsy Cline's Hometown Help Keep Her Memory Alive

By: Joce Sterman

WINCHESTER, VA, MARCH 5 - Patsy Cline may have passed away 40 years ago from Wednesday, but fans in her hometown of Winchester, Virginia, are doing all they can to make sure she lives on in memory.

On Wednesday, officials with Celebrating Patsy Cline, Incorporated announced a big push toward the establishment of the Patsy Cline Museum in downtown Winchester. The museum is slated for construction inside Patsy's childhood home, and organizers said that it has the potential to be an international tourist attraction.

Jim Stutzman, President of Celebrating Patsy Cline, Inc. said, "Patsy's fame extends well beyond our borders and I am confident that people will come from all around the world to visit the museum of Patsy Cline."

Stutzman said the museum is still about two years from completion.

THE FAMILY ALBUM: Country music fans will want to browse through Vinyl Hayride: Country Music Album Covers 1947-1989 (Chronicle Books, $24.95), a wonderful collection of glossy portraits of famous country album covers including those wonderful debuts by Elvis Presley and Patsy Cline. Remember the exciting red cover for Marty Robbins' Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs, the one where Robbins is grabbing his pistol in his holster? It's in here. As is Waylon Jennings' Leavin' Town, Kay Adams' Alcohol and Tears, Johnny Cash's At Folsom Prison, just about every great country artist you can think of: Minnie Pearl, Porter Wagoner, Dolly, Tammy. Yee-haw!