Back in the 1950s, when country music was still known as country & western, Patsy Cline was one of the first to sing with pop vocal phrasing. Her first three years recording were largely dismal as her singles failed to chart. Then came Walkin' After Midnight in 1957, which reached #2 on Billboard's country chart and #12 on the pop chart. During her eight-year recording career, Cline's last two—in 1962 and early '63—were most fruitful. Then in March 1963, she died in a plane crash. She was 30.
Unlike country singing stars Kitty Wells, Jean Shepard, Rose Maddox, Wilma Lee Cooper and others, Cline had a less provincial sound and a cooler delivery more akin to pop singers such as Kay Starr and Jo Stafford. Cline's records had a chill appeal and would inspire virtually all of the major female country singers who followed. She also helped establish Nashville's countrypolitan sound, and was the first solo female artist elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame.
What made Cline so appealing was her lonely, lovelorn sound and powerful, sophisticated voice that could bend notes, country-style, ever so gently. Out now from Elemental Music/Deep Digs is Patsy Cline: Imagine That - The Lost Recordings (1954-1963), a stunning new collection of 48 previously unreleased recordings.
Co-produced by Zev Feldman, Cline discographer and authority George E. Hewitt, and sound restoration engineer Dylan Utz, this collection features Cline's vocals on radio broadcasts, TV shows and demo recordings. All are worthy and warmly restored. What's nifty about this set is that it spans her full recording career, letting you hear her evolution from start to tragic finish, and there's no filler. All of it shows off her gift and charm.
I've listened to the album all the way through multiple times, and each go-round has been a new adventure with fresh revelations. Cline's voice has an embracing, pleading quality with a pretty vibrato and ring. As a result, she was a sympathetic victim of lost love on ballads and a robust good-time gal on two-step songs like San Antonio Rose and Bill Bailey Won't You Please Come Home.
All of the songs on this set are under three minutes long and take you back to a slower era, when listening to the radio and TV was a family ritual, main roads were narrow and two-way, gas stations had attendants, and eating out meant a diner. Above all, Cline's voice rings true, without pretense. Whatever she's singing about seems to have happened to her, and, in fact, it did.
JazzWax tracks: The LP release of Patsy Cline: Imagine That - The Lost Recordings (1954-1963) will be available only at local record stores on Record Store Day (this Saturday, April 12). To find a retailer near you, go here. Call first to be sure they have it. Digital will be out on April 18.
JazzWax clips: Here's The Wrong Side of Town demo in Arlington, Va., in 1954...
Here's Walkin' After Midnight in 1957 in Washington, D.C....
Here's I Fall to Pieces in 1961 on the radio in Nashville...
And here's Imagine That in 1962, taken off the radio in Nashville...
