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Bill Anderson on the tension between Patsy Cline and Jimmy Dean

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Bill Anderson, long-time friend of Jimmy Dean, comments on the “not quite oil-and-water” relationship between Cline and Dean.

Born Virginia Patterson Hensley in Winchester, Virginia, Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932-March 5, 1963) defined modern country music by using her singular talent and heart‐wrenching emotional depth to break down barriers of gender, class and genre. In her music and her life, she set a standard of authenticity towards which artists still strive. After years of hard work to overcome industry gender biases and her own personal hardships and professional missteps, she achieved success, only to have it punctured by uncanny premonitions and her untimely death at age 30.

TRANSCRIPT

Jimmy is one of my dearest friends and one of the closest friends I've ever had in the world and I loved him, but Jimmy Dean was Jimmy Dean, you know, and Patsy Cline was Patsy Cline. The two of them together it really must have been something.

I mean, I've seen some of the old films, of the TV shows, but the real scene between Patsy and Jimmy was probably backstage and and traveling from show to show or playing the various nightclubs and all that - their work together. I don't know if it was oil and water or not, but it was something close to it.

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