This week in 1961, Patsy Cline hobbled on stage at the Grand Ole Opry so she could assure country music fans she was going to be alright and she’d be back singing again soon.
On June 14, 1961, Cline and her brother, Sam Hensley Jr., were in a fatal car accident on Old Hickory Boulevard in Nashville when another car crossed into their lane. The driver and her son died from crash-related injuries. Cline suffered a head wound, a fractured hip, and a dislocated wrist. She was 29 years old, but deeply dedicated to her career, and she wanted fans to know that while she was down, she wasn’t out.
When she made her way to the Grand Ole Opry stage in July 63 years ago, she sang “Crazy”—the song that keeps her cemented as one of country music’s most remarkable voices in country music history.
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“You Can’t Appreciate Life Until You’ve Almost Left It”
“You don’t appreciate home until you leave it and, let me tell you, you can’t appreciate life till you’ve almost left it!” Cline reportedly told her mother following the car accident. “I used to think that happiness resulted when my earnings matched my yearnings! But not anymore!”
Following the crash, Cline suffered from scarring and chronic pain. She charted her first No. 1 song – “I Fall to Pieces” – while still in the hospital recovering from the crash. But “Crazy,” written by Willie Nelson, went on to become the biggest hit of her career.
“I didn’t particularly like the song when I first heard it,” Cline said of “Crazy” in the book Patsy Cline: The Making of an Icon by Douglas Gomery. “I thought it was too slow, and I didn’t quite understand it. But once we got into the studio and started working on it, it grew on me.”
While she survived the car accident, Cline died before her 31st birthday when the plane she was riding in with Randy Hughes, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Cowboy Copas crashed near Camden, Tennessee, on March 5, 1963. Cline reportedly had premonitions of her death. In the days leading up to the plane crash, she had handwritten a will and told several friends she needed to get her affairs in order.
Patsy Cline Told June Carter and Loretta Lynn Her Next Wreck Might Kill Her
She told June Carter and Loretta Lynn: “Honey, I’ve had two bad wrecks. The third one will either be a charm or it’ll kill me.”
Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Virginia, on September 8, 1932. She captured hearts and commanded attention with her haunting, velvety voice and a smoky yet crystalline vocal tone. She overcame gender bias and personal tragedies only to die at 30—and remain decades later as the gold standard of country music. Her hit songs include “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces,” “Crazy,” and “She’s Got You.”
Thanks to “Crazy,” Cline became one of the first country stars in history to cross over into pop, and she helped usher in a smoother, more sophisticated version of country music. She was one of the first female country music artists to headline her own shows and receive equal billing with the genre’s male counterparts. Several of her songs—including “Crazy”—have been inducted into the Grammys Hall of Fame, and multiple musicals have been written about her life.
One decade after her death, Cline became the first woman inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
(Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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