Patsy Cline bio and Sweet Dreams

I have been remiss in not mentioning this before; Ken Burns’ new series about Country Music has been on PBS and just finished the 4th episode. I have been busy trying to do a lot of things, including getting posts ready for George Gershwin’s Oh, Kay. I have been catching the late night replay, and I have to say that, to this point, this may be the best work that Dayton Duncan (writer) and Ken Burns have done together. I loved Jazz and Baseball; enjoyed the rest.

But there is something about the first four episodes that has captured my attention in a way that the others did not. I have written this introduction three times and erased each draft. I think I finally have landed on the reason; and the reason parallels what I feel when I listen to the music of Beethoven. The pain of the man’s life is contrasted with the joy of the music.

Beethoven’s life encompassed a series of frustrations in both love and art, combined with a ferocious temper. His compositions tower over everything else I have ever heard in classical symphonic music. And when I consider his life and listen to his music, tears come to my eyes.

Dayton Duncan has brought out personal stories in much the same way. He tells us tales of hard times, poverty, physical pain, lost loves–all while he is playing music that touches our heart. The story about AP Carter and his wife, Sarah; the story about Hank Williams and his struggles with his wife, the bottle and the pain in his back; the story of Jimmy Rogers and his refusal to stop singing even when his TB was in an advanced stage; these are all stories that fill us with a deep sense of pain and loss. And at the same time, we hear the soundtrack of their music, and the beauty of the music makes the lives all the more tragic.

These deeply personal stories share a common thread; they are about people who started with nothing and made something of their lives through talent and grit. In the 4th episode, we heard about a number of people, including Johnny Cash, Jean Shepard, Hawkshaw Hawkins and Patsy Cline. I have featured Patsy’s music before, so you know that I have a deep and abiding love of her music, especially the later Decca cuts she made with Owen Bradley in the studios constructed by Owen and his brother, Harold, in Nashville. Her life was not an easy one; she fought both her enemies and her friends; she gave help to many other singers, such as a young Teresa Brewer. She resisted Owen and his arrangements, including the use of the Jordonaires as back up singers. Yet, her recordings are the stuff of legends, not everyday life.

For example, Patsy was recovering from a car accident that had left two people dead. She was pitched a song early one morning at home; on the spot, she decided to record Willie Nelson’s song, “Crazy.” But his way of singing the song stuck in her mind, and she had difficulty singing the song any other way. So, Owen sent her home for a couple of weeks and recorded all of the other instruments and singers. Then, he had her come back into the studio, and she recorded her solo on top of the other tracks. And the result was magical. It remains the best seller single to this day.

Her artistry is so apparent, from the diction to the timing to the little crescendos and decrescendos to the easy transitions to higher notes without sliding into them. Every one of her songs is like a master class in singing.

Well, as events unfolded, a friend in the music business (a DJ named Jack “Cactus” Hall) died in a car accident; and all of the country greats went to sing at benefit shows intended to raise money for his widow in Kansas City, Kansas. When the shows ended, one of the musicians needed to get back to Nashville to attend to his father, and Hawk gave the man his commercial ticket. Hawk, Patsy and Cowboy Copas went back a few days later in a small Piper.

The plane never made it to Nashville; it crashed in nearby Camden in bad weather. Roger Miller helped to find the wreckage during the search for survivors. There were none. Patsy Cline was dead at age 30.

As I looked at the last remnants of the plane and its occupants, the music on the soundtrack played “Sweet Dreams (of you).” And the tears flowed.

You need to see these episodes.

Here is a clip from the biopic of Patsy Cline; it is her voice, lip-synced by the actress, Jessica Lange.