Patsy Cline: Trouble & Honey ~ 2

"The one thing I wanted to do more than anything was sing country music. One day I got real brave and decided it was time for me to do what I wanted to do."1

courtesy India K. Jones
Ginny Hensley, 8th grade

"I used to sing or hum along with just about every song I'd hear on the radio, and one day I got real brave and walked into the radio station in Winchester when a hillbilly band was being featured. I found the musicians and asked who the leader was. The big fellow came out and looked at me and replied, 'I'm the leader. What can I do for you?' I told the leader: 'If you will just give me a chance to sing with you on the radio, I'll never ask for pay.' And he told me, 'If you've got nerve enough to stand before that microphone, I've got nerve enough to let you sing.'"2

After this success, the teenager set her sights on greater things.

"The way I looked at it, if I wanted to go to Nashville and be on the Grand Ole Opry ~ the earlier I got started, the better!"1

Then during Ginny's sophomore year in high school, her father deserted the family. She had no choice but to quit school and go to work to help support her family, which now included 2 younger siblings: Sam (also called John), age 8 and Sylvia, age 4. Her first job was slaughtering chickens at Rockingham Poultry. Then she worked for awhile behind the counter at a Greyhound Bus Station. Soon, she landed a job at Gaunt's Drugstore, working at the soda fountain ~ much nicer than the chicken deal!

"Well, now ya met me, baby!"4
(at Gaunt's, to Pat Smallwood, who told Ginny she had hoped she'd meet her)

"You know, I'm gonna be something one of these days. I won't be doing this for the rest of my life."4

Unable to dissuade Ginny from becoming a singer, Hilda decided to assist her daughter instead. She knew a piano player, Jumbo Rinker, who played at a supper club called Melody Lane in nearby Martinsburg. One evening, she and Ginny showed up there and spoke with Jumbo. He agreed to let Ginny sing. Since he wasn't familiar with any of the country songs she asked him to play, Ginny sang pop!

"On Saturdays, I worked all day in Hunter Gaunt's drugstore in Winchester, and then at night, my mother drove me to Front Royal, where I sang pop tunes in a supper club from 10:00pm to 1:00am. Mother would come and pick me up at work and take me whenever I could get a job. We only had the one car, so Mom either had to stay with me the whole night or drop me off and come get me later. Jumbo Rinker and Kenneth Windle played for me then, but Mother didn't trust anybody with me. Usually we'd get home about three in the morning ~ totally exhausted. A few hours later I was up and getting ready for work and Mom was fixing breakfast for the kids. And you know something, we loved every minute of it!"1

In 1948, 16-year-old Ginny entered a local talent contest at the Palace Theater in Winchester. It was broadcast live on WINC radio! Ginny worked up an act along with a girlfriend, and sang "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Naturally, she took first prize!

Soon afterwards, she entered another contest at the Capitol Theater in Winchester ~ a regional audition for the national TV show, Original Amateur Hour. On her own this time, she sang a song from "Showboat," but did not land a spot on the TV show. Next came a minstrel show at the local high school, for which she sang "Oklahoma!"

That same year, a local orchestra conductor named Jack Fretwell came to Ginny's house to offer her a job as a singer with his orchestra at a new nightclub called the York Inn. Ginny quickly accepted. She also worked as the club's cigarette girl prior to showtime.

But where would Ginny be if it were not for Hilda?

"If I made a list of the people I admire, Mom would probably fill up half of it. She could do anything and everything. And she'd do it for me. She was the one person I could depend on. She never once let me down. I would never have gone anywhere if it hadn't been for Mother's faith and support."1

courtesy Jimmy Walker
Ginny Hensley

"Mama, Wally Fowler's at the Palace and I'm going down to the theater and see if I can get on the show!"1

In 1948, Ginny took the bull by the horns and showed up at The Palace Theater and announced herself!

"My name's Virginia Hensley and I sing!"1
(upon her first meeting with Wally Fowler, just before his show at The Palace Theater)

"Oh yes, I love it! I can do that one!"1
(her response when Wally asked her if she knew "I'll Hold you in My Heart")

Naturally, Ginny was a hit that night! Wally accompanied her to her house afterwards to meet Hilda.

"Mama, we got company. It's Wally Fowler!"1

"To be the best damndest singer that ever walked on the face of the earth, and go just as far as it'll take me!"4
(to Wally Fowler, when asked about her goals)

Wally was so impressed with Ginny's singing that he wanted to arrange an audition for her at the Grand Ole Opry! Hilda was skeptical, but Ginny was confident.

"If Mr. Fowler came over here from the theater, he must have liked the way I sing."1

Several weeks later, the call came. The Grand Ole Opry wanted Ginny to audition! But how would they get there? Nashville was hundreds of miles away! A kind neighbor agreed to drive them there.

"When I first came to Nashville in 1948, I drove in with my mother, sister and a friend of the family. We shared expenses. I didn't even have enough money to rent a hotel room. The night before we were to audition, we stopped outside town at a picnic site and spent the night sleeping on a concrete bench."2

Accompanied by none other than Moon Mullican, Ginny proceeded to wow Jim Denny and Roy Acuff! Acuff invited her to sing that very day on his radio show, Noon-Time Neighbors. Ginny made her WSM radio debut!

"Well, we nearly dropped. It was hard to believe. There we were, talking to Roy Acuff!"1

After her radio performance, Denny wanted Ginny to stick around for further assessment, but there was no money for a hotel, and the Hensleys were too proud to ask for help. They had no choice but to drive back to Winchester. Ginny was undaunted.

"After all, Mama: Wally Fowler, Moon Mullican and Roy Acuff all thought I was great!"1

But Ginny was 16, and a girl singer had to be at least 18 in order to sing on the Opry. No further phone calls came. Ginny continued to play gigs around Winchester, and joined a group called Gene Shiner's Metronomes for awhile. She dated a young man named Ray Horner, and was even engaged briefly to Elias Blanchfield. Her friend and accompanist, Jumbo, would take her out on adventures riding motorcycles or flying in his private plane. But everything would change in 1952....

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Credits: 1-Mark Bego, 2-Trudy Stamper, 3-Joan & Brian Gray,
4-Margaret Jones, 5-Buddy Killen