Monday, 8 September 2025

Patsy Cline born 8 September 1932

Patsy Cline (born Virginia Patterson Hensley; September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) was an American singer. One of the most influential vocalists of the 20th century, she was known as one of the first country music artists to successfully cross over into pop music. 

She was born Virginia Patterson Hensley, in a Winchester hospital. Her parents, forty-three-year-old Samuel Lawrence Hensley, a blacksmith, and his second wife, sixteen-year-old Hilda Virginia Patterson Hensley, had married six days before the birth. Until 1937 Hensley lived on her paternal grandparents’ farm near Elkton and with her maternal grandparents in Gore, just outside Winchester in Frederick County. The Hensley family moved nineteen times in sixteen years to various towns in the Shenandoah Valley, including Lexington, and during World War II to Portsmouth. They had returned to Winchester by 1948, when Samuel Hensley deserted his wife and three children. 

Hensley quit school shortly after her sixteenth birthday and to help support her family began working, first in a poultry plant and then later at a bus depot and as a soda clerk at a drugstore. She also began singing professionally at night and on weekends to supplement the money her mother made as a seamstress. Known in her youth as “Ginny,” During the next few years Hensley won amateur contests. She sang both country and western tunes and popular standards on local radio stations, and performed with a number of bands. 

In September 1952 Hensley auditioned for the country bandleader Clarence William “Bill” Peer, who had a radio show on a station in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Peer liked what he heard, hired her full-time to sing with his Melody Boys and Girls on the Maryland, Northern Virginia, and Washington music circuit, and gave her the stage name of Patsy. On March 7, 1953, she married Gerald E. Cline, the divorced son of a wealthy contractor from Frederick, Maryland. Virginia Patterson Hensley thereafter became known as Patsy Cline. 

By the time she had reached her early 20s, Cline was on her way toward country music stardom. She first recorded on the Four Star label in 1954 and Coal in 1955, but was unsuccessful, although it was produced by the former bandleader Owen Bradley, who was helping create what became the Nashville Sound, a synthesis of country and popular music designed to attract a mass audience. Cline initially resisted his attempts to tone down her “hillbilly” sound with pop arrangements for which he thought her voice was better suited. In 1954 Cline began a series of guest appearances on Town and Country Time, the half-hour daily music-variety television program of Connie Barriott Gay. 

                                     

                                    

This exposure won Cline a booking on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts, a televised variety show and talent competition, and on January 21, 1957, she won the competition by singing “Walkin’ After Midnight.” The publicity from this appearance increased her record sales. Gerald Cline, jealous of his wife’s success and frustrated that she did not stay at home like a traditional housewife, separated from Patsy Cline, and the childless couple divorced in Maryland on March 28, 1957. Cline had met Charles Allen Dick, a linotype operator for the local newspaper, at a Berryville dance in April 1956. They married on September 15, 1957, and had one daughter and one son. 

Cline began appearing on the radio and on Town and Country Jamboree, a local television variety show that was broadcast every Saturday night from Capitol Arena in Washington, D.C. Cline joined the Grand Ole Opry as a regular cast member in January 1960. She began to record more songs and performed to supplement the income from her husband’s printing job. The couple struggled until January 1961, when Decca released “I Fall to Pieces.” This Cline-Bradley masterwork topped the country chart and reached the twelfth spot on the pop chart. In June, Cline was critically injured in an automobile accident but had returned to the studio by August, when she recorded “Crazy,” a song written by Willie Nelson that rose to second place on the country chart and ninth place on the pop chart. In December 1961 she recorded “She’s Got You,” which became her second number-one country hit. 

Achieving newfound success, Cline won several outstanding female country singer awards during the next two years. Beginning in January 1962 she frequently appeared as the second-billed performer in a concert tour organized by Johnny Cash that also featured June Carter and George Jones. Her touring schedule included television performances on American Bandstand and the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show as well as concerts at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Mint Casino in Las Vegas. By early in 1963 she had recorded more than 100 songs. Her well-controlled, instantly recognizable voice wrung the last drop of emotion from every lyric. 

On March 5, 1963, while flying home to Nashville after a benefit concert in Kansas City, Missouri, in a plane piloted by her manager, Patsy Cline and the country music luminaries Lloyd Estel “Cowboy” Copas and Harold Franklin “Hawkshaw” Hawkins died in a crash near Camden, Tennessee. She was buried in Shenandoah Memorial Park just outside the city.  Cline was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1973. (Edited from Encyclopedia Virginia, Britannica & Wikipedia)

3 comments:

boppinbob said...

Please note tis is an updated post that replaces the original I did in 2013.

For “Patsy Cline - The Complete Studio Recordings (Enlightenment 2025)” go here:

https://pixeldrain.com/u/MZvKCzAE

1. That Wonderful Someone (2:34)
2. In Care Of The Blues (2:36)
3. Hungry For Love (2:32)
4. Too Many Secrets (2:20)
5. Don't Ever Leave Me Again (2:30)
6. Ain't No Wheels On This Ship (1:56)
7. I Can't Forget (2:28)
8. I Don't Wanta (2:26)
9. Three Cigarettes In An Ashtray (2:32)
10. Walkin' After Midnight (2:03)
11. Fingerprints (2:48)
12. Then You'll Know (3:24)
13. I Fall To Pieces (2:51)
14. Foolin' Round (2:14)
15. The Wayward Wind (3:21)
16. South Of The Border (Down Mexico Way) (2:28)
17. I Love You So Much It Hurts (2:15)
18. Seven Lonely Days (2:14)
19. Crazy (2:45)
20. San Antonio Rose (2:22)
21. True Love (2:09)
22. Walkin' After Midnight (2:01)
23. A Poor Man's Roses (Or A Rich Man's Gold) (2:38)
24. Have You Ever Been Lonely (Have You Ever Been Blue) (2:11)
25. Honky Tonk Merry Go Round (2:38)
26. A Church, A Courtroom, Then Goodbye (3:16)
27. Turn The Cards Slowly (2:13)
28. Hidin' Out (3:16)
29. I Love You, Honey (2:19)
30. Come On In (And Make Yourself At Home) (2:05)
31. I Cried All The Way To The Altar (2:25)
32. Stop, Look And Listen (2:22)
33. She's Got You (3:01)
34. Heartaches (2:12)
35. That's My Desire (3:03)
36. Your Cheatin' Heart (2:22)
37. Anytime (1:59)
38. You Made Me Love You (I Didn't Want To Do It) (2:48)
39. Strange (2:15)
40. You Belong To Me (3:02)
41. You Were Only Fooling (While I Was Falling In Love) (1:57)
42. Half As Much (2:29)
43. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You) (2:57)
44. Lonely Street (2:32)
45. Faded Love (3:45)
46. I'll Sail My Ship Alone (2:29)
47. When You Need A Laugh (2:51)
48. Crazy Arms (2:25)
49. Always (2:42)
50. When I Get Thru With You (You'll Love Me Too) (2:38)
51. Blue Moon Of Kentucky (2:10)
52. Someday (You'll Want Me To Want You) (2:52)
53. Who Can I Count On (2:16)
54. You Took Him Off My Hands (3:00)
55. Your Kinda Love (2:34)
56. Does Your Heart Beat For Me (2:39)
57. Dear God (2:31)
58. He Will Do For You (2:21)
59. The Heart You Break May Be Your Own (2:34)
60. Pick Me Up (On Your Way Down) (2:19)
61. Cry Not For Me (2:31)
62. Today, Tomorrow And Forever (2:38)
63. A Stranger In My Arms (2:28)
64. Try Again (1:59)
65. Love Letters In The Sand (2:25)
66. Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home (2:48)
67. Shoes (2:27)
68. Lovesick Blues (2:20)
69. Lovin' In Vain (2:12)
70. I'm Moving Along (2:07)
71. That's How A Heartache Begins (2:16)
72. He Called Me Baby (2:42)
73. There He Goes (2:27)
74. Crazy Dreams (2:32)
75. I'm Blue Again (2:11)
76. Love, Love, Love Me Honey Do (2:05)
77. Stop The World (And Let Me Off) (2:28)
78. Yes, I Understand (2:49)
79. Just Out Of Reach (2:31)
80. Life's Railway To Heaven (2:54)
81. If I Could See The World (Through The Eyes Of A Child) (2:55)
82. I've Loved And Lost Again (2:37)
83. How Can I Face Tomorrow (2:18)
84. Just A Closer Walk With Thee (2:51)
85. Walking Dream (2:19)
86. I Can See An Angel (2:23)
87. Let The Teardrops Fall (2:35)
88. Never No More (2:36)
89. If I Could Only Stay Asleep (2:40)
90. Gotta Lot Of Rhythm In My Soul (2:22)
91. You're Stronger Than Me (2:39)
92. So Wrong (3:02)
93. Leavin' On Your Mind (2:26)
94. Back In Baby's Arms (2:04)
95. Sweet Dreams (Of You) (2:34)

A big thank you to Country Klaus for the loan of above album.

boppinbob said...

Here’s my contribution:-

For “Patsy Cline – Imagine That: The Lost Recordings (1954-1963)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/aQbwmA5E

1. A Long, Long Ride
2. The Wrong Side of Town
3. I’ve Loved and Lost Again
4. Walkin’ After Midnight
5. A Poor Man’s Roses
6. I Don’t Wanta
7. You Win Again
8. That Lonesome Valley
9. Old Lonesome Time
10. Waltz of the Angels
11. Let The Teardrops Fall
12. Yes, I Understand
13. Dear God
14. I Don’t Wanta
15. Have I Told You Lately That I Love You
16. Come On In
17. Let’s Go to Church
18. Lovesick Blues
19. Winter Wonderland
20. Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
21. Gotta Lot of Rhythm in My Soul
22. I’m Hog-Tied Over You
23. How Can I Face Tomorrow
24. Lovesick Blues
25. Crazy Dreams
26. There He Goes
27. Loose Talk
28. Don Gibson & T. Tommy Introduction
29. Nobody But You
30. Come On In
31. I Fall to Pieces
32. Lovin’ In Vain
33. I Love You So Much It Hurts
34. San Antonio Rose
35. Crazy
36. Patsy Thanks Her Audience
37. Who Can I Count On
38. I Fall to Pieces
39. Fool Number One
40. She’s Got You
41. Seven Lonely Days
42. When I Get Thru with You
43. Imagine That
44. Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home
45. (Remember Me) I’m The One Who Loves You
46. Someday You’ll Want Me to Want You
47. Just A Closer Walk with Thee
48. May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You
49. Jimmy Dean Introduces Patsy Cline
50. Walkin’ After Midnight
51. Jimmy Dean & Patsy Cline Talk
52. Life’s Railway to Heaven

This unprecedented, limited edition two-CD set, fully endorsed by the Patsy Cline Estate, features 48 unissued tracks by the country music legend, all released legitimately for the first time. They survey the full breadth of the singer's artistry, from her first days as a professional musician with Bill Peer & the Melody Boys and Girls in the early '50s to the apex of her popularity, just weeks before she tragically died at the age of 30 in a plane crash on March 5, 1963.

Mike Bass said...

thank you Bob!