Patsy Cline Tales

From one of Patsy's cousins, Rebecca

My mother (Sandra F. Newlin) is a cousin to Patsy Cline -- Patsy's grandmother Goldie Lavinia Newlin-Patterson- Allanson was my great-grandfather Salem Elijah Newlin's older sister.

My question is, what date did Patsy and Sam Hensley have that car wreck?
(I answered Rebecca: June 14, 1961 -- it was near Madison, TN)

I'm trying to get the exact year, because I'm working on putting my Mom's Newlin family tree together, and I want to have the right age of my mother when she babysat for Patsy. On that day, my mom babysat little Julie and baby Randy, and she remembered seeing Patsy wearing an arm cast. After Patsy finally got out of the hospital, she must have still been wearing the arm cast. My mom said she was only about 10 or 12 when she babysat that day.

My Grandpa Floyd had taken my mother Sandra over to visit Hilda Hensley that particular day. And after arriving at Hilda's house, one of Hilda's sick friends had called, and Hilda stepped out to visit her. Well, Patsy and Charlie and the kids where also there visiting with Hilda, who was Patsy's mother. And Charlie and Patsy were planning to go out, that day. But since Hilda all of a sudden had a change of plans, Patsy went upstairs to ask her younger teen sister Sylvia if she could watch young Julie and Randy. But Sylvia said no, that she had other plans.

So, since my Grandpa and Mom were still there, Patsy asked my mom if she wouldn't mind sitting with her kids for a bit, until her mother Hilda returned back from visiting her sick friend. Well, a few hours later, in walks an upset Patsy who was getting ready to have a hot and heavy argument with her husband, Charlie. All my Mom could recall was that they were arguing about him flirting with someone. Patsy had told my young mother that she better leave, because she and Charlie were about to really get into it, and she didn't want my mother to have to listen to them argue. Then Patsy asked my mom, "How much do I owe you for babysitting?" Not knowing how much to charge Patsy, for babysitting, my Grandpa Floyd just told Patsy, "Hey, Patsy, we'll just call it even if you give her an autographed picture." And so she did!

I believe that was the last time my Mother ever saw Patsy, alive. She cherished the photo that Patsy had signed, "To My Cousin, Love Patsy Cline." But unfortunately, years later, while my older aunt had helped us move, my mom discovered that her precious photo was stolen when she had put some of our old boxes of pictures in my aunt's car trunk. A few years ago, I saw that same exact picture hanging on my aunt's wall. But it had been touched up by my aunt, who had added her name on the photo! I was so upset with her, for taking my mom's picture of Patsy Cline. When I confronted her about it, she took down the picture, and I've never seen it again. When I asked my dear mother, "Mom, doesn't it bother you, that your sister would steal your keepsake from your cousin Patsy Cline?" she smiled with a BIG smile, and said, "Not really. Because she can have that picture, if she has to have it. But she can't steal my memories of the day that I got it!":)

My mom was also born in Winchester, Frederick Co, Virginia, and as a child, also recalls hearing a teenaged Patsy singing at their family picnics and "jam sessions" at Patsy's Uncle Robert Nelson "Bucky" Patterson's house. Those are the memories that my beloved mother holds dear, that my jealous aunt can't take away from her.

Thanks for helping put out a wonderful website, that shows how wonderful the late, legendary country singer "Patsy Cline" really was... I'm honored to be her cousin! It's a shame, though, that her star burnt out way too soon. But I'll bet that Patsy's up there in Heaven, just a-singing for the Lord... :)

Thank you, and God Bless.

From Ric Nelson

I just came across this Patsy Cline web page and I really don't know what she would think about all of this.

I was amazed that anyone knew about her notebook with titles and keys. With that, I can't resist telling what we did to her back then, once in awhile.

I was backing Luke Gordon, and after Don Owens started booking Pats on a regular basis, he would put her in a package with Luke. She would do 2 or 3 numbers each set and then sit down the rest of the time. This really pissed off the other musicians (I didn't care), since Don gave her an equal cut of the take.

So the way we'd work it was that we knew the 2 songs she was going to sing and the key they were in for the next set, and we also knew two more songs that she would sing after them, if the crowd wanted her to stay. If not, they would be the two lead songs of the following set.

After the second song she'd yell out to the crowd, "Do you want to hear another one?" And if the crowd roared, "Yeah", she'd turn sideways on the stage and say to us, "Okay boys, give me a B-flat (or whatever key the song was in) and let's try (and she named the song -- that we already knew, or course). She didn't want to make it look like this was planned. I'm sure that she had seen a singer do that and it impressed her that the singer could just "pull a song out of her head at a moment's notice." Fat chance of that.

Even though she could play the piano by ear, she didn't seem to be able to tell the difference between notes, but once in a key, she'd lock on to it.

So when she said "Okay boys, give me a B-flat," we'd all look back at our bass player, Larry King and if his thumb was up, we went up a 1/2 stop to B. That would be just enough to make her "squeak" through the high notes in the song. Then if she did another song after that, Larry would give us a "thumb down" and we'd go down a 1/2 step to A. That would be just enough to make her bottom out on the low notes.

The first time we did this, she told us, "I don't know if it's the cigarette smoke or the damn warm beer that they serve in here, but something is tearing up my throat."

Larry was tempted to tell her on the last gig she did with us before she moved to Nashville and we all told him, "Don't you dare," so she never knew. In fact, I told Luke about it only a few years ago. They were good buddies back then and we were afraid he'd spill the beans. Luke said that he had figured that we were doing something like that and he doubted if she was on to it!

When Don Owens heard about it, at first he laughed about it, and then he changed his position and raised hell. He was killed in an auto accident a month after Pats died.

I also saw something on the website about her premonition about being killed in a car wreck. She talked about that all of the time, especially when things were going good for her. She'd say, "The trouble with it going good is that it will have to go bad afterwards." She was in a bad car wreck before the one in Madison when she went though her brother's windshield. She always had a scar across her eyebrows and nose as a result.

Most of the musicians that played with her when she was working the Washington-Baltimore area are all gone now. But there still are a few and we talk about her once in a while. I can't believe that she's been dead 40 years!

From Marie Flynt:

Click on the image to read this great little tale:

courtesy Country Weekly

From Jim McCoy:

Working a show with Patsy in Luray, Virginia in 1957, I was very nervous. Patsy said, "Check my purse, find the nerve medicine"... it worked!

From Lorne Harasen:

I met Patsy on Friday, August 26, 1960 at WSM radio. I had just come from dinner with WSM Production Manager, Tom Hanserd. I was in Nashville to do the Mr. Deejay U.S.A. program which ran on WSM from 9PM to 10PM. Patsy was in the middle of the Friday Night Frolic, which was a live show that ran from 7pm to 9pm. There were numerous Opry stars doing the show including (if I can remember) Patsy, Jim Reeves, Ferlin Husky, Billy Walker, among others. Patsy was very friendly and down to earth. After I was introduced on the show, she came directly to me, saying that she wanted my opinion on a personal business matter. As a young broadcaster with little experience, and not being particularly worldly, I was a bit overwhelmed, to put it mildly. As it turned out, the advice she was seeking was no small matter. She was giving serious consideration to changing her record label. After success in the mid-1950s, she suffered through a dry spell as far as hits were concerned. I guess she was getting a bit antsy. While I'm not absolutely certain about this, it seemed to me that she was looking at joining Columbia Records. I don't know what prompted my advice, but I suggested that she hold tight and not move, at least not yet. My thinking was that she did achieve a measure of success at her label and that a little more patience would eventually work out fine. History will show that not long after our chat, she hit pay dirt with some of her biggest hits. I visited with her at the Opry the next night, had a picture taken with her which I treasure (Ralph Emery saw it a few years ago and asked for a copy, which I supplied), and she recorded some station breaks for the little station that I worked for at the time, which I still have in a file somewhere. I found her to be a straight-shooter with no star complex. Down to earth and integrity to burn. She seemed comfortable, outside of that nagging concern about needing a hit. Needless to say, she seems far bigger in death than she was in life. God knows what she might have accomplished if she had lived. I might say that her portrayal in the movie seemed to have a harder edge than I experienced. She was a strong woman, but people forget that she lost her life coming from doing a benefit for someone in need.

From Patsi Bale Cox, reminiscing about singer Faron Young:

Years ago, maybe in about 1983 or '84, I had hired a photographer to take some photos for a magazine article I was writing. The day of deadline I couldn't find him at his office... on a tip, I caught up with him at the Hall of Fame Lounge where he was roaring with Faron (who I'd known for some time). Faron was using the package that contained my pictures as a place mat! Suffice it to say I went ballistic at both of them. I grabbed Faron's drink off the package and cussed the hell out of him. A couple of the guys at the table looked very uneasy, and I later realized it was because of Faron's legendary temper. But Faron sat there a minute then broke into a wide smile and said, "Well, damn! I've only known two women in my life who could out-cuss me, and who would have ever guessed they'd both be named Patsy?" I adored him. And that sort of story is why so many others did as well.

Thought you might get a kick out of that.

From Jackie Burns:

When Patsy was in Vegas at the Mint Hotel in 1962, she and I would go bopping around to shop, etc. I was singing with Wynn Stewart and Merle Haggard at the Nashville Nevada Club there, that Wynn was co-owner of. Anyway, the night Patsy got to town, she came into the club. I had told her in Nashville at the DJ convention to look me up when she got to Vegas (she was a big Wynn Stewart fan). Merle hadn't hit yet (played bass). So, in she walks, hair in pin curls, wearing jeans, no makeup, etc. I took her the next day to my hair stylist, as she was opening at the Mint that night. Well, the bottom line is... I had a pair of little gold ankle boots ~ she flipped over them! I took her one day to buy a pair just like mine. Those are the boots in all her pictures and that you use on your website. When I first found your site and I saw that, my heart did flip flops!

From "Buddy" (note: I know who this is, but he wishes to remain anonymous):

Before Patsy became a "star," she used to do a gig with Buck Owens at a roller rink in Percyville, VA. I actually got to dance with her on several occasions. She was an okay dancer, but much better than me. Maybe she loved a challenge, which dancing with me could be. She usually dressed in street clothes, typical of the day for the 50's. Tears still come to my eyes when I hear any of her songs, and the only one that can do her songs is her. Others can sing the words, but no one can sing the songs.

From Jim Gouker:

I saw Patsy on the roof of the concession building of the Baddock Drive-In Theater near Frederick, Maryland around 1956. Lonzo and Oscar were appearing and Patsy got up and sang "A Church, A Courtroom, and Then Goodbye." Just like Jimmy Dean said, she sang her ass off! Flat top, mandolin, standup bass and Cousin Jody on his Dobro. I'm not sure if any were electric other than Jody's. A small P.A. that our gal made big. At that time she lived right up the road from the drive-in about a half a mile at Dutrow's Trailer Park, and was introduced as a local girl. Still married to Gerald Cline. Ah, the stories you hear around this area. True or not, folks love her and her music!

From David Ward Davis, author of "Jingle Bell Rock"

This is the first time this story has ever been told...Bobby told it to me in 1975 and I took notes. It is almost word-for-word as he described it. When I asked Marty Robbins about it, he laughed really hard, shook his head and said, "You know Dave, we had fun in those days. There's a million stories we could tell! Have Bobby tell you about Ronnie (Marty's son) punching him in the mouth!" (That's in the book).

I was thinking of one "Patsy Story" that Bobby told me...he swore it was true, as did Marty Robbins when I spoke to him in 1977.

He and Bobby were in Detroit for a big show. Patsy was also in this show, as was Hawkshaw and several others. Bobby and Marty were being bad boys...after the show they were in their 4th floor suite, and they had decided that it would be fun to fill some balloons up with water and drop them out the window, seeing who they could drench with the H20. They sent a bellhop out to find them some balloons, and of course he did. He thought it was all great and stayed with them and dropped a few himself! They weren't having any luck at all and had basically given up...there weren't many people walking by that late at night, and the ones who did, they kept missing!

After about a half hour of this foolishness, Patsy and a few others showed up. Of course, the two boys told them all about the fun they'd had, but they'd had no luck whatsoever in hitting their targets. Patsy walked over to the window and looked out.

"Now, that's about a dumb-ass thing!" she told them. "Where I come from, we hunt squirrels with rocks! You guys are blind as hell if you cain't hit somebody with a big ole balloon. I wouldn't wanna take either one of you huntin' with me!"

They made small talk for a little while, and they kept chiding her to prove that she was such a good shot.

"C'mon Patsy," Bobby prodded her. "Let's see if you can hit somebody!"

"She's all talk," Marty laughed. "It ain't as easy as it looks."

Of course, Patsy put up with it for awhile, but she wasn't going to be challenged for long. She walked over to the window again and looked down.

"Shit, I could hit a toad from here!" she exclaimed. With this, Marty handed her a water-filled balloon.

"There comes somebody now," Bobby pointed to a figure that had just rounded the corner and was almost directly beneath them.

"We couldn't tell who it was," Bobby laughed heartily as he related this story to me. "It was a man, we could tell that, but it was dark and there was no way to tell who he was."

"Marty was still agitating her, some of the others in the room joined in ~ I tend to think that Johnny Horton was in this group also ~ it's been so long ago I just can't remember..."

"Patsy had had her fill, she wasn't afraid of anything, and you were a damned idiot to ever challenge her! She'd bristle right up and call you names you never heard before...that's why we all loved her so much!"

"She leaned out the window and let the balloon go, and you guessed it...it hit the figure square on top of the head! We could hear him shouting and cussing, and of course we were all laughing and carrying on! We were young and had the world by the ass...hell we all had fun in those days...unlike today, where all the artists hide in their busses."

"Then, about five minutes later, came the knock at the door...no, I mean the pounding! I think Johnny Wright answered the door. All of our mouths fell open. The room became uneasily quiet. Standing in the doorway was a red-faced, dripping wet, angry and huge police officer!"

"Who the hell did that?" he demanded angrily. "Tell me, or I'll run every damned one of you down to the lockup!"

"It was an accident officer," Marty Robbins stepped forward. "Bobby and Patsy were having a water balloon fight and she ducked and the balloon flew out the window!"

"Bullshit, you think I'm stupid? I could hear you laughing and carrying on...you think it's funny throwing water balloons on passersby?"

"No, we don't think that's funny at all," Bobby cut in. "Let us make it up to you."

"You trying to bribe me?"

"No, officer!" Patsy finally spoke up. "We're just a bunch of country singers, havin' a little fun, and sometimes we ain't too damned smart. I threw the balloon...and I'm sorry."

The policeman thought about that for a moment. "Country singers you say? From Nashville?"

"Yessir."

"What's your name little lady?" His anger was gone, curiosity had taken over.

"Patsy Cline, pleased to meet'cha!" Patsy answered, reaching out her hand to shake his, "and we really are sorry about the water."

"Well, I'll be damned!" He smiled for the first time. "And the rest of these people are Nashville singers too?"

"This here's Marty Robbins, and Bobby Helms, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Johnny Wright..." Patsy introduced everybody in the room.

To make it short, the officer didn't do anything ~ he was totally mesmerized that he had been lucky enough to get doused by THE Patsy Cline and her cohorts!

"I'll bet that cop went around for years bragging to people that Patsy Cline had hit him with a water-filled balloon!" Bobby said to me.

"After that, whenever we did a show that included Patsy, her first words were: "I hope you assholes ain't got any water balloons with you!"