Patsy Cline first sang this song in 1957 on the “Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts” television show. She won that contest and went on to reach #3 on the country charts and #12 on the pop charts with this song.
Cline’s success owes some to Owen Bradley, the producer who created, for better or worse, the “Nashville Sound.” Working out of a studio in his home and then the Columbia Studios Recording Studio on Music Row, Bradley wanted to downplay the rural sound with a more cosmopolitan sound that appealed to a more general audience. He wanted to clean up county music.
Listen to the song and you can hear the changes he wrought. Gone is the honkytonk piano replaced with an easier listening style. Fiddles are replaced by lush strings. He also recorded with the musicians playing all at once in the same studio instead of separately.
Bradely’s approach became the dominant sound in Nashville for a decade until the outlaw sound of Willie Nelson, Jessie Colter and Waylon Jennings hit in the 1970’s.
I’m in Nashville for a few days with my bride and some lifelong friends. Music City is always a good time and a place to dig into some of the stories behind the songs we love (The Ryman Auditorium, The Johnny Cash Museum, Studio Tours, The Country Music Hall of Fame, etc.)
#Songoftheday #Spreadinghappiness #patsycline #Nashville #owenbradley
YouTube: https://youtu.be/bsRNCvHXHHU?si=FpJjJgTKCT3DvmLa
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/7E8nKMtXMqIQbvl1Ta9Ucw?si=4b952944e22e4340