One of country music’s most influential and enduringly popular figures, Patsy Cline managed to transcend with seeming effortlessness the uneasy rift between traditional country music and the more urbane Nashville sound that emerged full-blown in the late 1950s. Crossover Diva Cline was one of the few female artists at the forefront of the emerging Nashville sound. With her smooth yet ...
(Vocals, 1932–63) The late Cline, who died in a plane crash, was Nashville’s queen of the heartbreak ballad who, it was said, could ‘cry on both sides of the microphone’. She was catapulted from obscurity through a performance of her maiden single (and, soon, first hit), ‘Walking After Midnight’, on a TV talent contest ...
Nels Cline (b. 1956) was born in Los Angeles. He first came to prominence in the 1980s playing jazz, often with his identical twin brother, drummer Alex Cline. Cline has worked with many notable musicians in alternative rock, including Mike Watt, Thurston Moore and Wilco, of which he became a full-time member in 2004. Cline appears ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1933–50s) Patsy Montana And The Prairie Ramblers were stars of the WLS National Barn Dance, fortuitously paired for a number years beginning in 1933. Montana (1908–96) was born Ruby Blevins in Arkansas and arrived in Chicago after stints in Los Angeles and Shreveport. The Ramblers (originally Kentucky Ramblers: Tex Atchison, fiddle; Chick Hurt, mandolin/tenor banjo; ...
Although Insomniac had failed to repeat the commercial success of Dookie, it had maintained Green Day’s international momentum. Their constant touring had worn out their mental joints, leading to the cancellation of European dates in 1996; a period of reflection and musical re-evaluation followed. The gap between Nimrod (1997) and Warning (2000) removed Green Day from public eye and ...
January ‘Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)’ Billie Joe had actually written the acoustic ‘Good Riddance’ back in 1993 after his relationship with his first serious girlfriend Amanda ended. This bittersweet song was released as a single and, as well as becoming a hit, crossed over into a wider cultural arena, where it was used to highlight clips ...
February Producer Upheaval As producer and friend, Rob Cavallo had been pivotal in Dookie, Insomnia and Nimrod but the band thought change might stimulate their next album and turned to Scott Litt who had been crucial in delivering R.E.M.’s finest work. Litt saw the band perform their first acoustic-only set at Neil Young’s Bridge Street fundraiser ...
April California Music Awards Whilst their critical stock may have been low in other territories, it remained high in the Bay Area. This was confirmed when Green Day won eight statuettes at the annual California Music Awards (formerly the Bammies) held in Oakland on 24 April, hosted by Huey Lewis. Warning won Outstanding Album, and Outstanding Punk Rock/Ska ...
Spring Pop Disaster Tour Dookie spawned a number of Green Day imitators such as Blink-182, who scored hit singles including ‘What’s My Age Again ?’. Green Day shocked everyone by co-headlining with Blink-182 on the 42-date Pop Disaster Tour in America in April and May 2002. ‘I think we’ve had a broader experience,’ Billie Joe told Alternative Press, ...
(Promoter, manager, radio personality, 1914–89) Working out of Washington, D.C., this North Carolina-born promoter and behind-the-scenes media wizard was a key figure in the rise of country music’s popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Gay was instrumental in the careers of leading artists like Patsy Cline, Roy Clark, Jimmy Dean and Grandpa Jones. ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1913–63) A talented Ohio-born singer and flat-top-style guitarist, Lloyd Copas was a regular performer on the Grand Ole Opry from 1944 until his death in the same plane crash that killed Patsy Cline. Copas is best known for honky-tonk hits like ‘Filipino Baby’ and ‘Tragic Romance’. Styles & Forms | War Years | Country Personalities | ...
(Songwriter, vocals, 1928–2003) This Shelby, North Carolina-born singer and songwriter not only penned hits for others – Patsy Cline’s ‘Sweet Dreams’ and ‘I Can’t Stop Loving You’ (recorded by Elvis Presley, Ray Charles and dozens of other artists) – but also had hits of his own, with such original classics as ‘Oh Lonesome Me’, ‘I Can’t ...
(Songwriter, vocals, b. 1935) One-time member of the Cochran Brothers (with rock‘n’roller Eddie Cochran, no relation), Isola, Mississippi-born Garland Perry Cochran was one of the most-oft-recorded songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s. ‘She’s Got You’ (a hit for Patsy Cline), ‘Make The World Go Away’ (a hit for both Ray Price and Eddy Arnold) and Willie Nelson’s ...
(Songwriter, vocals, guitar, 1929–2002) Harlan Howard, inspired by Ernest Tubb, first began reaping his songwriting rewards in the late 1950s. ‘Pick Me Up On Your Way Down’ (1958) was his first hit when recorded by Charlie Walker, followed by ‘Heartaches By The Number’ (1959), which covered country and pop by Ray Price and Guy Mitchell ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1921–63) Harold Franklin Hawkins was born in Huntington, West Virginia, and is best remembered for the 1966 honky-tonk hit shuffle ‘Lonesome 7-7203’. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1955. His promising career was cut short when he was killed in the same 1963 plane crash that took the life of Patsy Cline and Cowboy ...
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