Showcase - Patsy Cline (1961)

Patsy set up a template for female country singers, but also for country-inflected straight pop music that would escape the genre and cross over to the mainstream.

This second album features several of her biggest signature tunes: Crazy, Walkin After Midnight, and I Fall To Pieces. Each is a perfect little pop gem, and her voice is clear and emotional throughout.

There are a few more classic country-style cuts–like Floyd Tilman’s I Love You So Much It Hurts Me and Buck Owens’ Foolin Around–to round out the record and make it fit in both country and mainstream pop markets.

Cline died at only 30 in a plane crash. The history of country and country-adjacent singers who have died in plane crashes is enough to make you want to take the bus everywhere.