One of the Greatest Recordings of All Time

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One of the greatest "all star" recordings in music history took place on this day, August 21. When we use the term "all star", we mean that almost all the major participants associated with the recording would go on to become legends in music, including the singer, the songwriter, the producer, the musicians and even the back-up singers.
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On August 21, 1961, Patsy Cline recorded "Crazy" in one take. The song would go on to hit #2 on the country charts, #9 on the pop charts and was ranked by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the 500 Greatest Songs in Rock and Roll.
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By 1961, Patsy Cline had already been recording for a number of years, and racked up an impressive number of hits, but earlier that year, she scored one of her biggest with "I Fall to Pieces". Her producer, Owen Bradley, was looking for a follow-up song to "Pieces". A young and far from famous Willie Nelson had been playing as a regular as Tootsie's Orchid Lounge in Nashville, when he met Cline's husband, Charlie Dick, in the bar. Nelson gave Dick a demo he had recorded of his new song, "Crazy", which he had written for singer Billy Walker, but Walker had turned it down. Dick took the demo home and played it, and although Patsy hated it, Owen Bradley recognized the song's potential and scheduled a recording session for early August.
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(owen bradley).
Meanwhile, in June 1961, Patsy was the passenger in a horrific car crash which threw her head into the windshield, almost killing her. When she arrived for her recording session in August, she was still on crutches and her body still bruised. Patsy struggled with the recording, especially on the high notes, which were hard for her to hit because of her bruised ribs. She grew more and more frustrated, until she finally blew up at Owen Bradley and left the recording session before the song was completed. Bradley rearranged the song to better suit Cline's style, and Cline returned to the studio on August 21, 1961, recording the song in one take.

(willie nelson in the 1960's)

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. Now for the "all stars". The song itself, "Crazy", is one of the best-loved and most well-known songs in the history of popular music. In addition to its many accolades, dozens of pop, country and rock artists have recorded the song over the years. "Crazy" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1992, and in 2003, The Library of Congress added the recording to its National Historic Registry of Sound. Patsy Cline died at age 30 in a plane crash in 1963, but her records still continue to sell well to this day. Cline became the first female solo artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and although not yet a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it's just a matter of time before she'll be inducted there. In 1997, Patsy's "Crazy" was named as the #1 "Jukebox Single" of all time and her greatest hits album, according to the Guiness Book of World Records, is currently the greatest selling album by a female artist of any genre of music.
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Cline's producer, Owen Bradley, created a number of famous country stars over the years, but he was most famous for helping to create the "countrypolitan" sound of country music. "Countrypolitan" was a term which described country music recorded in the 1960's to appeal to a more cosmopolitan audience, or what we today call "cross-over" country music. Bradley and Cline's "Crazy" was one of the first "countrypolitan" hits to achieve widespread popularity.
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(floyd cramer)
But on "Crazy", it wasn't just the song, the singer, the producer and the writer who would go on to huge fame, the recording is also noted for its back-up artists. On the piano for "Crazy" was the legendary pop pianist, Floyd Cramer, who with his signature "slip note" style, scored a monster #2 pop hit in 1960 with "Last Date". Cramer was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003.
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(the jordanaires with elvis presley)

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And if that line-up wasn't enough for one recording, Patsy's back-up singers on "Crazy" were The Jordanaires, probably the most famous back-up singers of all time. In addition to working with Cline and Johnny Cash, among many others, The Jordanaires are best known for singing back-up on most of Elvis Presley's early hits. At one point, The Jordanaires were awarded a Grammy Award for having sung on more Top Ten recordings than any other group in history, and they are members of the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, the Rockabilly Hall of Fame, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame and the Christian Music Hall of Fame. Wow. And don't worry, they will one day be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
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You can look around in the annals of popular music, but we doubt you'll find another recording with more prestige, more honors and more of a collaboration in one room of iconic artists than Patsy Cline's "Crazy".