Without a scintilla of doubt, the most viscerally emotional country singer has to be Patsy Cline (1932-63) who’s brief career still had her become the most influential of vocalists of not only country music, but of pop and jazz as well. This three disc set includes all of her albums, including the three released after her death, and each one is simply essential listening.
Her earliest material sets the tone for what one came to expect of Country & Western music, as she swings with ease on pieces like “Walkin’ After Midnight” or “San Antonio Rose” and shows rich humor with a twinkle in her on things such as “Seven Lonely Days” and “Foolin’ Around”.
But what made her on another level delivery was her handling of torch songs. Her little ditty “Crazy”, for example (penned by Willie Nelson-which must have supplied him with a lifetime source of doobies) is simply the definition of remorse. Likewise, “She’s Got You” and “I Fall To Pieces” are tunes that will want you to stay away from sharp objects. She’s ble to touch a never like no others on emotional roller coasters such as “Strange” and “Sweet Dreams (Of You)”. Her ability to make each syllable enunciated a three dimensional delve into one’s psych is an art lost on 99.9% of today’s vocalists obsessed with either vocal pyrotechnics or angst. I ask you, what other singer has produced so many definitive versions of songs that, after being sung, cause every other vocalist to have their version compared to hers? Like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, she was “Beyond Category”