Later inspiring artists like Patsy Cline and Dottie West, Patsy Montana made history with her 1935 single “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart”. Catchy and playful, it sold more than a million copies, becoming the first country song by a female artist to ever reach that milestone. While “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” was by far Montana’s most successful single, she would continue recording music for the next six decades. On this day (May 3) in 1996, the country music pioneer died at her home in San Jacinto, California. She was 87 years old.
The Life and Career of Patsy Montana
Ruby Rose Blevins (she added an “e” in her late teens, becoming Rubye Blevins) was born on Oct. 30, 1908, in Beaudry, Arkansas.
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Church songs, fiddle music, and Jimmie Rodgers were all woven into the fabric of Blevins’ childhood in nearby Hope, Arkansas. In 1930, she headed to California with her brother and sister-in-law, where she studied violin at the University of the West (now UCLA).
A year later, she won a talent contest singing Jimmie Rodgers’s songs and landed a job on a Los Angeles–area radio station as Rubye Blevins, the Yodeling Cowgirl from San Antone.
Eventually adopting the stage name Patsy Montana, she joined two other women to form the Montana Cowgirls. They performed at the radio station KMIC with singer-songwriter Stuart Hamblen and cowboy star Montie Montana.
Montana returned to Arkansas after the group disbanded, where an appearance on a Shreveport, Louisiana radio station caught the attention of Jimmie Davis, who invited her to sing backup for him at his next recording session.
While accompanying two of her brothers to the Chicago World Fair, Montana anded a job as vocalist for the Prairie Ramblers. That led to regular appearances on the National Barn Dance and extensive touring.
Her Signature Song
In 1935, Patsy Montana headed to New York with husband Paul Rose to record for ARC. That’s where she recorded the song that changed the entire trajectory of her legacy, “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart”.
Montana had written the song a year earlier while missing her boyfriend. She based it on the Stuart Hamblen song “Western Plains”.
“I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” was the first major country hit for a female solo country artist, and it remained her signature song throughout her career.
Elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996, Patsy Montana continued booking appearances and performing until her death that same year.
Featured image by Paul Natkin/Getty Images
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