Another Day the Music Died...

... was yesterday, March 5, in 19 and 63, when Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed in a plane crash outside of Camden, Tennessee.  Randy Hughes, who was Copas' son-in-law, Patsy Cline's manager, and the pilot of the plane, was also killed.

You might point at the crash as proof of the old adage that bad luck comes in threes. The group was returning from a benefit show in Kansas City for the family of a disc jockey, Cactus Jack Call, who had recently died in an automobile accident. Jack Anglin, of the country duo Johnny and Jack, would himself be killed in a car accident a few days later on his way to a memorial service for Cline, Copas, and Hawkins.

Of the three, Patsy Cline is the best-remembered today. But at the time, all three were superstars of the Grand Ole Opry.  Hawkins had just recorded Lonesome 7-7203, which would, posthumously, become his biggest hit.

Here's Hawkshaw Hawkins with Lonesome 7-7203...

... After a stint selling stocks and bonds, and dabbling in managing other performers, Copas at age 50 had just revived his career with a major hit, Alabam. Patsy Cline with Cowboy Copas on I'm Hog-Tied Over You...



I'm hog-tied over all three of them.  They are missed, but never forgotten