DECEMBER, 2025
HERITAGE MUSIC REVIEW
ELECTRONIC EDITION: Now free to email subscribers and supported by tasteful, music-oriented advertising with a unique news-format approach.
A monthly guide to early rock, blues, country, folk, and traditional jazz in the Seattle area and beyond.
Editor and Publisher: Doug Bright
Web: httpwhheritagemusicreview_com
Email: subscribe@heritagemusicreview.com
Editor's Note: Links to the books and albums mentioned in this issue come from my participation in the Amazon Associates affiliate program, which enables me to earn commissions on the products I recommend when readers buy them through this website. The links represent my judgment of the most relevant and reasonably priced musical packages available. Heritage Music Review does not collect, store, or share confidential information generated by its readers' purchases. Enjoy!
CONTENTS—December, 2025
Part 2:
NEW COLLECTION Unearths PATSY CLINE's "LOST RECORDINGS"
WHAT's IN STORE: News From The Musical Marketplace
CHECKIN, OUT THE SOUNDS: December Music CALENDAR (next message)
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PART 2:
NEW COLLECTION UNEARTHS PATSY CLINE's "LOST RECORDINGS"
By Doug Bright
Of all the giants of country music history, none, not even Hank Williams, has attained the universally acknowledged status of Patsy Cline. Since the release of the biographical blockbuster film
"Sweet Dreams”
in 1985, her record sales have amounted to about 15 million copies according to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Fortunately, thanks to a couple of comprehensive anthologies, everything she ever recorded commercially is currently available, but now, thanks to a relatively new but highly respected reissue label called Elemental Music based in New York and Barcelona, Spain, 52 tracks' worth of previously lost Cline recordings have come to light.
The first truly definitive compilation of Cline's recorded work was released in 1992 by MCA Records with help from Nashville's Country Music Foundation. Simply entitled
The Patsy Cline Collection,
it was a four-disc box set presenting the bulk of her work in meticulously documented chronological order, enhanced by a well-written biographical booklet with plenty of vintage photos and extensive recording session data. What didn't appear there was recently supplemented in a three-disc package from the UK-BASED budget label Enlightenment. Entitled
The Complete Studio Recordings,
it compiled Cline's three original Decca albums, three more that the label released after her death, and singles that weren't included on any of her albums. Available in CD, vinyl, and digital formats, the new package of lost recordings, named after one of its key tracks, is appropriately entitled
Imagine That.
"Patsy didn't record any holiday songs," co-producer George Hewitt notes. "Lucky for us, TV footage exists of two holiday duets." Both come from a December 12 episode of "Jubilee USA", the televised version of country star
Foley's radio series "Ozark Jubilee" originating from Springfield, Missouri.
The first one presents Cline in a beautifully harmonized rendition of "Winter Wonderland" with Foley. For "Let It Snow", a duet with fellow country star
Ferlin Husky,
Hewitt explains, "An elaborate set dressing was used which finds Patsy and Ferlin seated on a sofa as fake snow falls beyond the window. Then Patsy jumps to her feet and launches into her latest single, "Gotta Lot of Rhythm In My Soul" as she dances around the room."
The tempo is a bit quicker than the pop-rock single, with the twangy electric guitar replaced by a western swing backup with steel guitar and fiddles prominent and Husky shouting encouragements of, "Oh, yeah!" at strategic moments. It's another true highlight of this new collection.
The next item in the chronology is a May 1960 Grand Ole Opry segment that features Cline on
Carl Smith's
1954 hit "Loose Talk". The performance gets off to a bad start, but she saves the day. "The opening bars show Patsy's nerve as she continues while the band falls apart behind her," Hewitt elaborates. "Patsy leads them back in, and her shout excites the crowd as she wiggles about the stage during the guitar solo."
On June 4th, 1960, Patsy Cline and fellow country star
Cowboy Copas
appeared on "Jubilee USA" for a duet originally recorded in 1950 by
Tennessee Ernie Ford
and Ella Mae Morse. "I'm Hog-tied Over You" is a comedic portrait of a boy and girl who are attracted to each other but too shy to show it directly, so they resort to trading "take that" pranks. It was one of Copas's favorites, and as you might expect, he and Patsy are having great fun with it.
Just a few days later, Cline performed her latest single, "How Can I Face Tomorrow (when I know I'm losing you)" on Armed Forces Radio's "Country Style USA". It's always been one of my all-time Cline favorites, and although the live rendition lacks the powerful harmony part that she overdubbed on the record, she sings it in a slightly higher key, and the resulting delivery is even more plaintive.
From a September episode of "Country Style USA" comes a live rendition of one of Patsy's forgotten gems, a classic country shuffle called "Crazy Dreams". It was the undeservedly neglected flipside of her newest hit single, the more pop-oriented "There He Goes", and provides a refreshing contrast, with steel guitar and fiddles prominent on both versions. Cline performs the hit side on an October 14th edition of the Opry radio show. Taken at a somewhat quicker tempo than the record and graced with Don Helms' lyrical steel guitar, it's pure country honky-tonk.
By the time Cline appeared at the Opry in April 1961, "I Fall To Pieces", released by Decca the previous November, was already a huge hit, but on this show she presents the flipside, "Lovin' In Vain". It gets vocal backing from the Jordanaires, who had cut the record with her, and the tempo is a bit faster, enhanced by some fine steel guitar work. Of course, she's playing to a live audience, so the performance is especially dynamic.
On a September 1961 episode of Armed Forces Radio's "Take Five" series, Patsy presented two country standards that would soon appear on her second album,
Showcase.
She gives Floyd Tillman's waltztime ballad "I Love You So Much It Hurts" an expressive treatment tastefully accompanied by a rhythm section that features delightfully smooth lead guitar work. Her performance of
Bob Wills’
"San Antonio Rose" is faster than the studio version and a bit more showy, even ending with a yodel for good measure. "San Antonio Rose" and "Bill Bailey" are numbers Patsy would sing onstage to get an audience hollering and dancing," Hewitt notes.
On November 10th, Patsy Cline appeared on the Opry with her two biggest hits. The Jordanaires, whose vocal background had graced "I Fall To Pieces", are present on this live radio version. Yet instead of the well-known studio accompaniment, she fronts a simpler band arrangement that takes her back to the classic honky-tonk sound of her earliest recordings, with steel guitar delightfully evident. Unlike the now-legendary studio rendition of Willie Nelson's "Crazy", the Jordanaires are absent, allowing the piano a more prominent role. Naturally, the live performances are delivered with conviction, and the audience responds with the enthusiasm we would expect.
The next stop on the chronology is an appearance on December 2nd, 1961, for an Atlanta TV series called "Dixie Jubilee" with an audience of 300 people. Less than six months earlier, Patsy had been involved in a near-fatal car accident, so she begins her performance by thanking her fans profusely for the support she received during the process of recovery. "Regardless of hit records," she says, "the greatest gift that a person can have is the encouragement that you gave me right at the time when I needed you the most. You came through with the flyinest colors! I received over two thousand cards and letters, and a lot of 'em was from here in Atlanta. You'll just never know how happy you made this ol' country gal!"
Her set begins somewhat fittingly with "Who Can I Count On (if I can't count on you)", which had appeared on record as the flipside of "Crazy", and the audience greets it with a cheer of recognition. The show's backup band, The Sun Valley Boys, take the song a bit quicker than the tempo of the studio version, and of course, there are no Jordanaires and none of Patsy's wonderful overdubbed harmony on the chorus, but her delivery is spirited, enhanced by a hot steel player, and her rendition of "I Fall To Pieces" is at least as expressive as the previous month's Opry performance if not more so. She finishes the set with the current
Brenda Lee
hit "Fool Number 1", and not surprisingly, the plaintive ballad is a good match for her although she never recorded it herself.
On March 3rd, 1962, Patsy Cline presented her new hit, "She's Got You", on an Armed Forces Radio show called "Country Music Time". In contrast to her previous Armed Forces Radio appearance, this show was recorded at Sun Records founder Sam Phillips' Nashville studio with no audience, but the Jordanaires are still present to back her on a heartfelt rendition.
On April 16th, Patsy shared the Opry stage with Bobby Lord, a familiar figure on the Nashville scene. Their beautifully harmonized duet is the country standard "Remember Me (I'm the one who loves you)", which
Ernest Tubb
had recorded twelve years earlier. Lord's vibrant tenor voice is an excellent match for hers, and her career-long ambition to sing with him is easy to understand. The new collection presents them together again on a February 1963 Opry episode with an even more dynamic rendition of the pop standard "Someday you'll Want Me To Want you". To close the show, they're joined by host T. Tommy Cutrer singing bass on a gospel trio rendition of "Just A Closer Walk With Thee". "Gospel songs customarily wrapped country shows back then," Hewitt points out.
The new anthology presents Patsy Cline for another gospel closer from an Opry TV broadcast on August 7th, 1962. She's joined somewhat surprisingly this time by
Lonzo and Oscar,
best known along with
Homer and Jethro
for comedic material, and Ernest Tubb, who had helped launch her career. The song is "May The Good Lord Bless and Keep You", a favorite in Jim Reeves'
gospel
⠗⠑⠏⠻⠞⠕⠊⠗⠑⠲ "Ernest Tubb's gruff vocals contrast the mellow harmonies and high- fidelity backings for another enjoyable closer," Hewitt correctly observes.
On May 28th, Cline performed her new Decca single on Armed Forces Radio's "Take Five". Both sides of the record were graced with string orchestration and the ever-present Jordanaires, but as usual with "Take Five", the radio performances are backed by a tight studio band with neither string section nor vocal group. "When I Get Thru With You (you'll love me too)" was a pop rocker of the kind that
Connie Francis
might have recorded at the time, but however far removed the song is from the classic country arrangements that had characterized Patsy's early work, her energetic delivery on both recordings indicates that she's having a good time nonetheless. Her "Take Five" set also includes an energetic "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home" and a fine performance of "Seven Lonely Days", a blues-flavored country swinger that had appeared on her SHOWCASE album.
The single's flipside, "Imagine That", was a torch ballad on the order of "She's Got You". "Written by Justin Tubb," George Hewitt adds, "it's a song perfectly suited to Patsy's bluesy voice, and the made-for-radio version we've included is excellent. Decca neglected "Imagine That" for years—it fast became the most obscure of Patsy's hits, so it proudly serves as the namesake for our collection."
On January 15th, 1963, Cline made her final radio appearance, closing her "Country Music Time" set with the first verse of the gospel classic "Life's Railway To Heaven". Less than two months later, on March 5th, 30-year-old Patsy Cline was killed in a plane crash that also took the lives of country stars
Hawkshaw Hawkins
and
Cowboy Copas.
"Patsy Cline, along with her husband Charlie Dick who passed away in 2015, is interred in Shenandoah Memorial Park, not far from her hometown of Winchester, Virginia," co-producer Martin Melhuish elaborates. "A tall bell tower erected by friends and fans rises a few feet from her grave which bears a bronze marker with the inscription, "Death cannot kill what never dies."
Assessing the importance of his new anthology, George Hewitt writes, "These recordings are the treasured dreams I once had as a child. This special collection is filled with songs I'd hoped to find under my pillow, many years ago. I'm proud to be part of a project so important to Patsy's legacy, and this album is my dream come true."
WHAT's IN STORE: News From The MUSICAL Marketplace
Find The Merle Haggard Story At Phinney Books
"There's the guy I'd love to be and the guy I am," country music legend Merle Haggard once confided to biographer Marc Eliot. "I'm somewhere in between, in deep water, swimming to the other shore." All the complexity of the circumstances and choices that shaped him are revealed with unflinching honesty in Eliot's recent book THE HAG: The Life, Times, and Work of Merle Haggard. Your copy is waiting for you at Phinney Books in Seattle's Greenwood neighborhood.
Phinney Books
7405 Greenwood Avenue North
Web: www.phinneybooks.com
Phone: 206/297-2665
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Annual Open House At Dusty Strings!
Dusty Strings Music Store and School in Seattle's Fremont district, long known for its array of fine stringed instruments and instructional workshops, is hosting its annual open house from noon to 6 on Saturday, December 13th, with home-made refreshments and home-made music from local artists including the legendary Canote Brothers. If you can't make it to the open house, there's still a very good reason to visit the store this month: the holiday sale continues through December 30th with discounts on a wide selection of items.
Dusty Strings Music Store and School
3406 Fremont Avenue North
Phone: 206/634-1662
Web: www.dustystrings.com
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1962 Stratocaster At Emerald City Guitars
Emerald City Guitars in Seattle's Pioneer Square, well known for its fascinating selection of new and vintage acoustic and electric guitars, amps, and accessories, has recently acquired a 1962 Fender Stratocaster electric in very good condition. "The overall feel of this guitar is fantastic," the website proclaims, "with a super comfortable medium neck that is perfectly broken in, providing a strong sonic connection to the body. The pickups sound fantastic, with a vintage quality that many have tried to replicate; however, there is no substitute for the real deal!"
Emerald City Guitars
83 South Washington Street
Phone: 206/382-0231
Web: www.emeraldcityguitars.com
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On The Newsstand: Heritage Music Review
The print edition of Heritage Music Review is available by subscription for $15 per year plus $5 postage and on sale at the following Seattle newsstands and music venues:
FREMONT:
American Music: 4450 Fremont Avenue North
Dusty Strings Acoustic Music Shop: 3406 Fremont Avenue North
UNIVERSITY DISTRICT:
Bulldog News: 4208 University Way Northeast
GREENWOOD:
Phinney Books: 7405 Greenwood Avenue North
CAPITOL HILL:
Elliott Bay Book Company: 1521 10th Avenue
PIONEER SQUARE:
Emerald City Guitars: 83 South Washington Street
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