Take a musical journey back in time on Thursday, June 18, as Good Clean Fun Productions brings its traveling show, “The Music of Patsy Cline,” to Detroit Lakes’ Historic Holmes Theatre for a 7:30 p.m. show.
Sometimes, the group has even been known to take requests.
“We do know more (of Cline’s ) songs than we do in the show,” said Tony Ray, who serves as the drummer for The Bobs as well as the publicist for the show.
“It’s amazing how many songs she did — she was very busy for having such a short career,” Wiese added. “It was just two years of her life that she was a star — the rest of the time she was struggling (as a musician).”
So determined was Cline to be a country music star that she went on stage just a month after suffering a major car accident in 1960. “She had to be wheeled out on stage in a wheelchair,” Wiese marveled. “She stood on crutches for the whole show. I love that (live) recording — it’s amazing how much energy she had.
“That’s ambition — she knew what she wanted.”
For having such a short career, Cline has stood the test of time, as the popularity of songs like “Crazy” and “Walkin’ After Midnight” has continued unabated more than 50 years after her tragic death in a plane crash on March 3, 1963, just as she was beginning to reach the heights of stardom.
One reason for Cline’s enduring popularity, of course, is her truly unique voice — and “I have never heard anyone sound as close to the real Patsy Cline as Cassie does,” said Ray.
Cassie & The Bobs had their beginnings in a community theater production of “Always… Patsy Cline” by the Prairie Wind Players in Barrett, Minn.
Wiese was cast as Patsy, and the seven musicians who currently accompany her in the touring show — Jay on drums, guitarist Terry Kennedy, steel guitar player Randy Barnes, lead guitarist Steve Ahles, 15-year-old fiddle sensation Sami Steidl, guitarist/musical director Bruce Kelly and piano/accordion player Anne O’Flynn — were the pit orchestra for the production.
“After a string of sold out performances at Roosevelt Hall, we started getting requests to do concerts,” said Ray.
Though most of the requests were local at first, the group has since branched out to other parts of Minnesota and South Dakota, Wiese added.
Find the whole article online at http://www.dl-online.com/event/article/id/44922/
Published June 5, 2009 on D-L Online
By Vicki Gerdes
