Legendary Guitarist Hank Garland Dies

RON WORD
Associated Press

ORANGE PARK, Fla. - Legendary guitarist and musician Hank "Sugarfoot" Garland, who performed with Elvis Presley, the Everly Brothers, Roy Orbison, Marty Robbins and Patsy Cline and many others, has died. He was 74.

Garland died Monday evening at Orange Park Medical Center from a staph infection, his brother, Billy Garland, said.

Family members said Garland's memorial service will be private.

In the 50s and 60s, Walter "Hank" Garland was the talk of Nashville, known for musical riffs that could take a recording from humdrum to dazzling, as he did on Elvis hits like "Little Sister" and "Big Hunk of Love." He also pioneered playing jazz in the country music capital.

Four decades after an auto accident almost killed him and ended his music career, Garland spent the final years of his life fighting ill health, trying to pry royalties out of record companies and talking with Hollywood about a movie based on his life.

"He is heralded as a quintessential Nashville studio guitarist," noted musician Wolf Marshall in an e-mail interview earlier this year.

UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY
Live In The Home of A Legend!

608 South Kent Street - the girlhood home of Patsy Cline is in need of a caretaker tenant. The property will be available in January of 2005. It has three bedrooms and a full bath and a nice backyard that opens out to undeveloped green space. The rent will be only $750 per month - tenant pays own utilities. The lease will require limited access by landlord and others to show and inspect the house for its future use as a museum related to this country singing legend. Serious inquiries only should contact Jean Compton with The Adams Companies at (540) 667-2424. Room layout plan is available. No walk throughs without approved applications. Credit and background check may be required.

The Days of Cline and Tubbs
The glory days of country live on at Jim McCoy’s Troubadour

By: Robin Boyd

Jim McCoy knows where he wants to spend the rest of his years. Tucked away in the majestic mountains of Morgan County, his Troubadour Lounge and Park is a little piece of paradise where, every day, the 75-year-old musician drinks coffee watching the sunrise - and bourbon watching the sunset.

For the last 20 years, this is where McCoy, who served as Patsy Cline’s longtime guitarist and became close friends with country stars like Ernest Tubb and Roy Acuff, and his wife Bertha call home. It’s also where they invite locals to spend evenings listening to live music.

It’s a typical Saturday night and people are dancing outside in the field behind the club to a local country western band. A moonlit mountain serves as a striking backdrop to the stage. As usual, McCoy is barbecuing chicken and hamburgers on his outside grill. The trees are sparkling with strings of white lights as patrons gather around picnic tables. As the mountain air cools, McCoy starts a bonfire. It’s hard to tell where McCoy’s business ends and his home begins. It’s hard to tell the difference between his customers and his family. It’s hard to tell if what McCoy does is work or play. And that’s exactly how he likes it.

Singer’s Dormant Bell Tower Rings After 17 Years

By: Val Van Meter
The Winchester Star

The voice of a long-dead country legend hailing from Winchester beckoned a fan here from California.

“It’s her voice that does it for me,” said Mario Munoz of Fresno.

The 32-year-old traveled across the country to hear the first songs Sunday from a memorial bell tower in Shenandoah Memorial Park. With roses in hand, he joined nearly 100 other fans to remember Patsy Cline.

It took 17 years to get the tower operating.

Jim Kniceley, vice-president of the committee that originally built the 40-foot tower in 1987, spearheaded the project.

Kniceley told Cline’s fans Sunday that, in April, “I just got disgusted,” and started “pestering people.”

Druggist Could Make Gaunt’s A Museum

By: Val Van Meter
The Winchester Star

Like the Roman god Janus, Harold Madagan was looking both to the past and to the future Saturday.

Between filling prescriptions and advising customers on the side effects of nasal sprays, he was greeting longtime fans of country music legend Patsy Cline and thinking about a future museum in her honor.

Gaunt’s was one of the stops for the faithful Saturday as Winchester remembered its internationally known daughter.

Cline worked there at the soda fountain in the 1950s, while she dreamed of being a star on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville.

Patsy Cline's Hometown Starting to Celebrate Her Achievements

Leda Hartman
Winchester, Virginia
05 Sep 2004, 16:53 UTC

Patsy Cline died in a plane crash in 1963. She was just 30 and just starting to make it big. Since her death, hundreds of thousands of her fans have come to Winchester, looking for the drug store where she made malts, or the radio station where she sang on Saturday mornings. But Patsy's pilgrims are out of luck if they expect someone to actually show them her old haunts.

There's no Patsy Cline Museum in Winchester, not even a guided tour. Why not?

Part of the answer lies in a rundown clapboard house on South Kent Street, the house where Cline lived, on the east side of town.

“The east side of Winchester was just everyday working class,” said Jim Knicely, Cline's neighbor. “The west side of Winchester was doctors, lawyers, notables, people who have always been here for years. One lived on one side of the town, and us working people lived on the other side.”

Always Patsy Weekend in Winchester
Fan Club Plans Yearly Events for Members and for the General Public

By: Melanie Mullinax
Special to The Winchester Star

Up to 200 Patsy Cline Fan Club members are expected to visit Winchester over the Labor Day weekend for four days of meetings, banquets, picnics, and celebrations.

While many of the events are only open to members of the fan club, two public events are scheduled. Friday evening, a kick-off banquet held at the Travelodge in Winchester is open to the public said Melvin Dick, director of the Patsy Cline Fan Club.

Tickets for the dinner include an update on placing Patsy Cline’s home on Kent Street on the historic registry, four entertainers, and a silent auction. Dick said tickets are $18 and reservations should be made through the fan club by Thursday.

Dick encourages the community to attend the open dinner. “This dinner really kicks off our weekend,” he said. “It’s a way for local people to recognize Patsy. Everyone who has ever attended one of our kick-off dinners has always enjoyed the event. They also become more appreciative of her when they find out all the trouble other people have gone through to get here.”

Jim Kniceley called me yesterday to report that the tape player and the speakers will be installed in the Bell Tower prior to the Labor Day Weekend. $1600 was donated for this project from fans. Jim appreciates everyone who contributed to this project.

The tower will also be painted but will require an additional $800 for the painting contractor. The officers of the Patsy Cline Bell Tower Committee would appreciate any donations to help cover the cost of painting the tower.

Painting Patsy
	Kelly Baltimore of Ashburn applies some lipstick-colored paint to a large mural of singing legend Patsy Cline on Thursday. She and other students at Performing and Visual Arts Northwest (PAVAN) have been working on the painting in downtown Winchester as part of the summer educational program. It is on the back and side of the building containing Valley Photo Centre and Full Frame Photography, and can be seen from Indian Alley, just north of Cork Street. ~ Photo by Rick Foster
	PAVAN students examine their work, which started on July 13 and completed on Thursday — about 18 hours of work for each artist. ~ Photo by Rick Foster
From the July 23, 2004 Edition of The Winchester Star.

The Valley Photo Centre is located in the Old Town Mall of Winchester. Turn right on Cork Street to Indian Alley. The murals are on the side wall of Valley Photo Centre and can be seen from Indian Alley and a parking lot next to it. They are also less than a block from the Sweet Caroline's night club that will be the site of a Patsy museum benefit concert at 8 p.m. on Saturday September 4. We owe Lauri Bridgeforth, the owner of Valley Photo Centre and Full Frame Photography, a sincere thank you. She gave permission for the PAVAN high school artists to paint the Patsy murals on her building. We now have a new "Patsy Site" in Winchester.