patsy cline

Some of the biggest country stars have a pretty big secret -- they aren't who you think they are!

This week (March 5, 1963) marks 51 years since the plane went down carrying Patsy Cline and fellow Opry Stars Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and manager Randy Hughes.

We recently honored Patsy Cline on the 50th Anniversary of the plane crash that took her life in 1963. Grand Ole Opry stars Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas were also killed in the crash. We know you remember Patsy's classics, but do you remember their biggest hits?

March 5, 2013 marks 50 years since the plane crash that took the life of Patsy Cline, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas and Randy Hughes. Over the last few years we had the chance to visit with the widow of Hawkins and Country Music Historian Robert K. Oreman.

If you visited the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in 2012, you were one of 564,777 visitors, meaning it was a very popular place to be. In fact, it was the largest attendance total in the museum's history, which spans 45 years. Two reasons for the phenomenal attendance rate? Taylor Swift and Patsy Cline.

On August 21st, 1961 Patsy Cline recorded one of her biggest hits "Crazy". The song , written by Willie Nelson was both a country and adult contemporary hit peaking at #2 on both of those charts and peaked at #9 on the pop charts. With the song's genre bending chart success, it has also been covered by many artitsts of different genres from country, pop and alternative.

The legendary Patsy Cline is the subject of an upcoming exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville. Patsy Cline: Crazy for Loving You will open in the museum’s East Gallery on Aug. 24, signing rent for a ten-month run.

They might all sing with a country twang, but according to Rolling Stone (via The Boot), Taylor Swift, Dolly Parton and Patsy Cline all qualify for the Women Who Rock list. The countdown celebrates “50 of the fiercest albums that female rock & rollers have given the world,” and it includes Lady Gaga, Carole King, Lucinda Williams and–of course–Aretha Franklin among others.

Every Sunday Morning, 6-9am on GNA, I take a trip back in time to enjoy the great Country Music stars and songs of yesterday.  Recently, we went to the '60s to remember the biggest hits of that decade.

The Mac-Hayden Theater in Chatham is presenting "Always...Pasty Cline" now through September 18.  The show captures an era of Country Music that is quickly being forgotten with humor, class and that notable Pasty Cline sass.

The Music and Memories of Aug. 2

The Music and Memories of July 22