Patsy Cline

Her recovered wristwatch had stopped at approximately 6:20 p.m. The plane wreckage was located approximately from its Nashville destination in a forest outside Camden, Tennessee. Forensic examinations concluded that everyone aboard had been killed instantaneously from their injuries and did not suffer. Until the wreckage was discovered the following dawn and reported on the radio, friends and family had not given up hope. Endless repetitions of calls such as "Did you hear anything?" "No, did you?" tied up the local telephone exchanges to such a degree that other emergencies occurring over the same period had trouble getting through. The lights at the destination Cornelia Fort Airpark were kept on throughout the night as reports of the missing plane were broadcast on radio and TV.

Early the following morning, Roger Miller and his friend went searching for survivors: "As fast as I could, I ran through the woods screaming their names—through the brush and the trees, and I came up over this little rise, oh, my God, there they were. It was ghastly. The plane had crashed nose down" Shortly after the bodies were removed, looters scavenged the area. Some of the items which were recovered were eventually donated to The Country Music Hall of Fame. Included in those donations were Cline's wrist watch, Confederate flag cigarette lighter, studded belt and three pairs of gold lamé slippers. Cline's fee and attire from that last performance were never recovered. Read Less

The track was released on her 1964 album That's How a Heartache Begins. Her Greatest Hits album, released in 1967, continues to occasionally appear on the country music charts and was the longest album to stay on the country charts in country music history until Garth Brooks surpassed it in the 1990s. The album still holds the record for an album by a female artist.

In 1973 Cline was the first female solo artist to be elected into The Country Music Hall of Fame. Johnny Cash announced the honor for the live CMA Awards show, televised from Ryman Auditorium. Along with the standard induction bronze plaque, the hall houses a few of Cline's stage outfits, personal effects recovered from the crash site, including her "Dixie" cigarette lighter, donated by singer Carl Perkins and letters to her fan club president Louise Seger, about whom the musical Always, Patsy Cline was created. Read Less