Remembering Patsy Cline: Performing Live Playlist
In honor of Women’s History Month, stream a 10-song playlist featuring the late great singer performing live.
By Andy Kahn Mar 5, 2025 • 6:00 am PST
Photo from 'On the Air: Her Greatest TV Performances' Album Cover
Legendary vocalist Patsy Cline tragically died on this date in 1953. The influential country and blues singer was just 30 years old when she was killed in an airplane crash outside of Camden, Tennessee. Cline and fellow musicians Hawkshaw Hawkins and Cowboy Copas were traveling home to Nashville after a performance in Kansas City.
Born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932, Cline auditioned for the Grand Ole Opry at age 15. By 1952, she had married Gerald Cline and began professionally calling herself Patsy Cline. Bill Peer, an early supporter of Cline, championed the young vocalist, leading to her first recording contract with Four Star Records and first recording session in January 1955. Cline’s debut single, “A Church, A Courtroom, Then Goodbye,” was released later that year.
Four Star later took the recordings to Decca Records and Cline established a fruitful working relationship with Owen Bradley, a producer integral to what became known as the Nashville Sound. Cline’s self-titled debut album was released in 1957. Her all-too-short career saw only two more albums issued in her lifetime, 1961’s Patsy Cline Showcase and 1962’s Sentimentally Yours.
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Cline found critical acclaim and success with the release of such now-classics as “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Fall To Pieces” and the Willie Nelson-written “Crazy.” She found further success with the likes of “When I Get Thru’ With You,” “She’s Got You” and her final single, 1963’s “Leavin’ On Your Mind.”
Cline became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1960 and made several appearances on the storied radio program. She also appeared on many other radio programs and television shows as well. The playlist below comprises the above-mentioned songs (and a few others) performed live by Patsy Cline at the Grand Ole Opry and on TV. There are also selections from a concert Cline performed on July 29, 1961, in Tulsa, Oklahoma at the Cimarron Ballroom.
Listen to Patsy Cline performing her greatest hits along with other favorites like “Bill Bailey, Won’t You Please Come Home,” “Shake, Rattle & Roll” and Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky” via this playlist:
[Originally Published: March 5, 2022]
