Customer Reviews

Patsy: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've read most of the books out about Patsy Cline and came to the conclusion that this one is the absolute best. It tells everything you'd want to know about her and more. How she decided to make singing her career and how she paid her dues by singing at every country fair and carnival that would have her. Before long her golden voice drew alot of attention, and she was invited to try out on Arthur Godfrey's tv show. Needless to say, Patsy was so well-liked she topped any other competition and won first prize-a recording contract. True music lovers will enjoy reading about how the great Owen Bradley produced and guided her as well as what went on in the studio with Patsy, Owen & her backup band. Patsy was definitely ahead of her time and feared no one. What a tragedy that she only lived to be 31 years old. Her music lives on forever. Highly recommended.

"...Patsy is a masterful study of an American master. It's the most meticulously researched and insightful of the three Cline biographies published thus far. Jones captures Cline in all of her vitality and passion, while showing how Cline rose from poverty to stardom."
Steve Neal, Philadelphia Inquirer

"Author Margaret Jones is a virtual unknown, but her book, Patsy, deserves to be the definitive work on the subject. Jones has dug deeper, done more interviews, uncovered more facts, and gotten more history correctly than nearly any book on the market today. Richly detailed, it succeeds both as biography and as a research work on country music of the '50s and early '60s."
Rich Kienzle, Country Music Magazine

"...[Patsy] Cline has never before been the subject of an unflinching, unbiased and, most important, Nashville-apolitical biography. Author Margaret Jones' Patsy: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline is the first portrait of the hillbilly torch singer with real fur on it--the book offers a depth, breadth and height of reality that is both fascinating and repellent." Jonny Whiteside, L.A. Weekly

PATSY had me spellbound -- a page-turner from start to finish. Not only does this book reveal more about the woman and the myth that was Patsy Cline, but it is also the best documentation of the birth of modern country music that you can find anywhere. I loved the photos.

Patsy Cline was one helluva woman. Never afraid of anyone or anything;she was way ahead of her time and unfortunately didn't have enough time in this world. Margaret Jones' book is probably the best source of information about the wife, the mother, the singing star and a good index of her music.

In the description of this book it states that Patsy died in a car accident but that isn't true. She died in a plane crash on March 5, 1963 in Camden, TN. Makes me wonder what else in this book isn't accurate.

This is an excellent biography of Patsy Cline, the crossover sensation who would blaze a trail of hits across the country and pop charts of her time. This hard living, hard loving, country diva would become known as one of the most emotive voices in the history of popular music. This book chronicles her life, grounding it in the context out of which she emerged. Well-researched and lovingly written, it paints a portrait of both the artist and the woman.

There is little doubt that Ms. Cline had a hard scrabble childhood. Yet, despite her struggle to gain musical recognition in an era in which female country singers were really no more than backdrops for the men and ripe for exploitation by record industry professionals, Patsy Cline's belief in her talent would help her overcome the odds. She would go on to become one of most popular singers of all time, country or pop.

The author manages to paint a portrait of Ms. Cline that will resonate with the reader. A honky tonk angel who would brook nothing and no one in her way, Patsy Cline was a generous, outspoken, and tough country gal who knew she could sing and would not allow the sexist attitudes of the time to paint her into a corner. She eventually sang her way to stardom, turning the music industry on its ear with her popularity, only to be cut down in the prime of her life by a tragic plane crash.

This is, indeed, a book about the life and times of Patsy Cline: her men, her money, her music. With a touching and personal foreword by Loretta Lynn and sixteen pages of black and white photographs, it is a book that all Patsy Cline fans will enjoy, as will those who enjoy a well-written and well-researched biography.

This biography of Patsy Cline is a good read, but certainly not a great one. After reading every word on every page of the first few chapters I found myself skipping alot of paragraphs that were too detailed about the genre of country-western music during the 1950's and 1960's. I skipped these portions of the book and didn't feel like I had missed anything important about Patsy Cline's personal life and career. Also, there is alot of repetition such as how plain spoken she was and how she told things like she saw them whether people liked it or not. This is said over and over and over again. While the background info on her family was interesting and did help me understand why Patsy was like she was, alot of the detailed info about the recording industry was unnecessary. This book could have been a lot better by simply leaving out some of the material and making it shorter. It can be a tedious read at times, but it is worth reading.

If you want a biography of Patsy Cline, save your money and do not buy this book. You will be much happier with Patsy Cline: Honky Tonk Angel by Ellis Nassour. This author adds nothing to Patsy's story but a lot of boring dribble.

I had high hopes for this book- especially considering the forward was penned by Loretta Lynn. However, I'm not a big fan of this work whatsoever. It's not an easy read and I certainly never felt that 'I just can't put this book down' feeling. The author veers off too often onto long side-tracks about the recording industry...tangents that I found boring. Obviously some info is necessary- considering Patsy was a recording artist, after all. I just found myself skipping a lot of pages in an attempt to get back the main story line.

I purchased this book at the same time as Ellis Nassour's 'Honky Tonk Angel: The Intimate Story of Patsy Cline.' I've started reading it- and I can say it's already a lot more interesting and captivating. It seems that Jones' borrows a LOT from Nassour's work.

On the fair side- there was information in Jones' book that was interesting- particularly in the last half. You just had to wade through a lot to get to it.

I really enjoyed reading this book. If you are a true Patsy Cline fan you would like this book. People who knew Patsy shared some stories and the way Patsy really was. It also shares some of Patsy's ancestors history and the way things were back then and so on. I thought this was a very good book.