Country Music

Classic Country Music Hits

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BEFORE “WALKIN’ AFTER MIDNIGHT” MADE PATSY CLINE A STAR, SHE WAS SINGING ON A REGIONAL TV SHOW HOSTED BY JIMMY DEAN — AND THE TWO DIDN’T ALWAYS SEE EYE TO EYE. Beginning in the fall of 1954, Patsy became a featured singer on Connie B. Gay’s Town and Country television broadcasts around Washington, D.C. Jimmy Dean was the host. Roy Clark, George Hamilton IV and Billy Grammer were part of that same circle. Patsy was still years away from “Crazy” and “I Fall to Pieces.” She had the voice, but national stardom had not arrived yet. And she and Jimmy weren’t exactly close. Years later, Bill Anderson remembered their relationship as “not quite oil-and-water” — two strong personalities sharing the same stage without always fitting comfortably together. That is what makes the old footage matter. Before either name became part of country music history, Jimmy Dean was introducing the show, and a young Patsy Cline was standing nearby, still fighting to be heard.

Patsy Cline, Jimmy Dean, and the Regional Stage That Came Before Fame

Long before Patsy Cline became a country music legend, she was working hard for every step forward. In the fall of 1954, Connie B. Gay began spotlighting Patsy Cline as a featured soloist on his Town & Country regional television broadcasts around Washington, D.C. The show included Jimmy Dean as host, along with Roy Clark, George Hamilton IV, Billy Grammer, Dale Turner, and Mary Klick.

That detail matters because it reminds us that stardom is often built in small, demanding rooms before it ever reaches a national stage. Patsy Cline had the voice that would later carry songs like “Walkin’ After Midnight,” “Crazy,” and “I Fall to Pieces,” but in those years, the wide spotlight had not arrived yet. She was still proving herself, performance by performance, in a regional scene that valued grit as much as polish.

A stage full of strong personalities

The old footage from that era carries a special charge because it shows an artist on the edge of something bigger. Jimmy Dean was already becoming a familiar presence as the host, and Patsy Cline was one of the singers helping make the program memorable. They shared the same stage, but they did not always share the same ease. Years later, Bill Anderson remembered their relationship as “not quite oil-and-water,” a phrase that captures two forceful personalities learning how to work beside each other.

That does not make the story cold. It makes it human. In any creative scene, not every collaboration is warm and effortless. Sometimes the most interesting moments come from tension, from respect that is present even when personalities do not naturally blend.

Why the old footage still matters

Connie B. Gay’s Washington country broadcasts were more than local entertainment. They were a launchpad. Jimmy Dean used that platform to grow into a major name, and Patsy Cline used it to keep building momentum before national fame finally found her. The same circle helped shape the careers of Roy Clark, George Hamilton IV, and Billy Grammer, making the show a kind of crossroads for future country history.

Looking back now, it is easy to focus only on the later legends. But the story is richer when we remember the early years: the small studio, the regional audience, the pressure to stand out, and the quiet determination it took to keep going. Patsy Cline was not yet the voice that would define a generation, but she was already becoming herself. Jimmy Dean was not yet a household name either, but he was already learning how to command attention.

Before either name became part of country music history, Jimmy Dean was introducing the show, and Patsy Cline was standing nearby, still fighting to be heard.

That is what gives these early images their lasting power. They do not show perfection. They show the beginning of something real.

 

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SHE GAVE UP HER OWN SINGING CAREER AND TAUGHT FOUR CHILDREN TO HARMONIZE IN A CAR WITH NO RADIO. AT NINETY, REBA McENTIRE’S MOTHER FINALLY GOT HER NAME ON A RECORD. Jacqueline Smith wanted to be a country singer. People in Oklahoma said she could have been as big as Patsy Cline. She was teaching school by sixteen. She married Clark McEntire, a three-time world champion steer roper, and raised four children on a ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma. The family car had no radio. So on the long drives to her husband’s rodeos, Jacqueline taught the children to sing harmony in the backseat. One of them was Reba. Reba went on to sell tens of millions of records. Her mother stayed a teacher, a librarian, a school secretary. Then, more than fifty years after those car rides, Reba made a gospel album. She refused to record “I’ll Fly Away” until her mother and her sisters could get to Nashville. When they arrived, all three sang harmony behind her — exactly the way Jacqueline had taught them. On another track, her mother suggested a change to the words. Reba put her name on it as a co-writer. “Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope” came out in February 2017. Jacqueline McEntire was ninety years old. She died three years later, at ninety-three.

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THE BUCKLE RONNIE DUNN WORE TO ACCEPT HIS 18TH ACM AWARD ISN’T AN AWARD AT ALL. Every artist who performs at Cheyenne Frontier Days walks away with one, and Brooks & Dunn have played the Daddy of ’em All several times over the years. You don’t beat anybody for it. You show up, you play the rodeo grounds in Wyoming, and the silver is yours. That is what sat on his belt on May 17 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, when Brooks & Dunn won Duo of the Year at the 61st ACM Awards. Second year running, and the eighteenth time in that category. No duo has ever won it more. “I don’t know why y’all aren’t getting sick of us,” Kix Brooks said at the podium. It was the second time in seven months the buckle made national television, because Dunn had it on in November too, when they took Vocal Duo of the Year at the CMAs in Nashville. So a man with closets full of trophies keeps reaching past all of them for the one piece of silver he didn’t have to win. On August 19 the ACM hands Cheyenne Frontier Days a trophy of its own, Fair/Rodeo of the Year, at the Honors ceremony in Nashville. Ronnie Dunn was wearing that place on his belt long before anyone thought to give it an award.

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On November 19, 2007, Charlie Daniels was at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for his annual Christmas For Kids benefit concert, an event created to help children in need enjoy a better Christmas. During the show, Martina McBride walked onto the stage carrying a small gift box. Inside was a card with news Charlie had waited decades to hear. He was being invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Charlie stepped back, clearly overwhelmed as the audience rose to its feet. For a man who had come to Nashville years earlier with his wife and young son, it was one of the highest honors country music could give him. “This is very emotional for me,” he told the crowd. The moment was especially fitting because Charlie had spent that evening trying to give something to other people. He came to the Ryman to help children at Christmas. Before the night was over, country music had given Charlie Daniels a gift of its own.

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BEFORE “WALKIN’ AFTER MIDNIGHT” MADE PATSY CLINE A STAR, SHE WAS SINGING ON A REGIONAL TV SHOW HOSTED BY JIMMY DEAN — AND THE TWO DIDN’T ALWAYS SEE EYE TO EYE. Beginning in the fall of 1954, Patsy became a featured singer on Connie B. Gay’s Town and Country television broadcasts around Washington, D.C. Jimmy Dean was the host. Roy Clark, George Hamilton IV and Billy Grammer were part of that same circle. Patsy was still years away from “Crazy” and “I Fall to Pieces.” She had the voice, but national stardom had not arrived yet. And she and Jimmy weren’t exactly close. Years later, Bill Anderson remembered their relationship as “not quite oil-and-water” — two strong personalities sharing the same stage without always fitting comfortably together. That is what makes the old footage matter. Before either name became part of country music history, Jimmy Dean was introducing the show, and a young Patsy Cline was standing nearby, still fighting to be heard.

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SHE GAVE UP HER OWN SINGING CAREER AND TAUGHT FOUR CHILDREN TO HARMONIZE IN A CAR WITH NO RADIO. AT NINETY, REBA McENTIRE’S MOTHER FINALLY GOT HER NAME ON A RECORD. Jacqueline Smith wanted to be a country singer. People in Oklahoma said she could have been as big as Patsy Cline. She was teaching school by sixteen. She married Clark McEntire, a three-time world champion steer roper, and raised four children on a ranch in Chockie, Oklahoma. The family car had no radio. So on the long drives to her husband’s rodeos, Jacqueline taught the children to sing harmony in the backseat. One of them was Reba. Reba went on to sell tens of millions of records. Her mother stayed a teacher, a librarian, a school secretary. Then, more than fifty years after those car rides, Reba made a gospel album. She refused to record “I’ll Fly Away” until her mother and her sisters could get to Nashville. When they arrived, all three sang harmony behind her — exactly the way Jacqueline had taught them. On another track, her mother suggested a change to the words. Reba put her name on it as a co-writer. “Sing It Now: Songs of Faith & Hope” came out in February 2017. Jacqueline McEntire was ninety years old. She died three years later, at ninety-three.

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THE BUCKLE RONNIE DUNN WORE TO ACCEPT HIS 18TH ACM AWARD ISN’T AN AWARD AT ALL. Every artist who performs at Cheyenne Frontier Days walks away with one, and Brooks & Dunn have played the Daddy of ’em All several times over the years. You don’t beat anybody for it. You show up, you play the rodeo grounds in Wyoming, and the silver is yours. That is what sat on his belt on May 17 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, when Brooks & Dunn won Duo of the Year at the 61st ACM Awards. Second year running, and the eighteenth time in that category. No duo has ever won it more. “I don’t know why y’all aren’t getting sick of us,” Kix Brooks said at the podium. It was the second time in seven months the buckle made national television, because Dunn had it on in November too, when they took Vocal Duo of the Year at the CMAs in Nashville. So a man with closets full of trophies keeps reaching past all of them for the one piece of silver he didn’t have to win. On August 19 the ACM hands Cheyenne Frontier Days a trophy of its own, Fair/Rodeo of the Year, at the Honors ceremony in Nashville. Ronnie Dunn was wearing that place on his belt long before anyone thought to give it an award.

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On November 19, 2007, Charlie Daniels was at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium for his annual Christmas For Kids benefit concert, an event created to help children in need enjoy a better Christmas. During the show, Martina McBride walked onto the stage carrying a small gift box. Inside was a card with news Charlie had waited decades to hear. He was being invited to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Charlie stepped back, clearly overwhelmed as the audience rose to its feet. For a man who had come to Nashville years earlier with his wife and young son, it was one of the highest honors country music could give him. “This is very emotional for me,” he told the crowd. The moment was especially fitting because Charlie had spent that evening trying to give something to other people. He came to the Ryman to help children at Christmas. Before the night was over, country music had given Charlie Daniels a gift of its own.