Remembering Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves

Background

The album contains popular hit singles by both artists on each side of the album. However the first Jim Reeves track, I Fall to Pieces was overdubbed with Patsy Cline's version to form a duet. This was possible only because in Nashville's early 60's music scene when both hits were recorded, both Chet Atkins at RCA and Owen Bradley at Decca had access to then-brand-new 3-track mastering recorders. In this format, the orchestra was recorded on one track, the backup singers on another track, and the lead vocal on the third. This recording setup was intended for mixdown to mono in the end.

Owen Bradley had been approached by Jim Reeves' widow, Mary Reeves Davis, with the idea of creating Jim Reeves and Patsy Cline duets. With the approval of the Cline estate, as well as both RCA Records and MCA Records, work on the project began. In early 1981, Owen simply played the original 3-track tapes and recorded both Patsy's and Jim's isolated vocals onto a 24-track tape. As the two performances were recorded a semitone apart in key, subsequently, at Music City Music Hall in Nashville (the former RCA Studio A), engineers matched the keys for the two vocals, edited it all down and recorded the final onto still another 24-track tape onto which they added new orchestration, new backing tracks and remixed for stereo. RCA's similar album, Greatest Hits of Jim Reeves & Patsy Cline

As the original Decca label with which Cline had been affiliated had since been merged with MCA, six Patsy Cline songs and five Jim Reeves songs are featured on that album, plus the duet. Jim Reeves had been affiliated with RCA, so the RCA album has the reverse — six Jim Reeves hits and five Patsy Cline hits, plus a duet of Have You Ever Been Lonely?, produced during the same sessions as the duet for I Fall to Pieces.

The songs were both released as a single from the albums in question. Have You Ever Been Lonely? charted at #5 in 1982 and I Fall to Pieces charted at #54 the same year. Each was the only song overdubbed on its respective album.

The tracks recorded by Cline (including the duet) were produced by Decca/MCA's Owen Bradley, Cline's original record producer. Reeves' recordings were produced by RCA's Chet Atkins and Bob Ferguson on Side One of the album, while the recordings on Side Two were produced by Chet alone. The album was digitally remastered and issued on CD in 1988.

In 1997 the album was certified Gold by the RIAA for a shipment of over 500,000 copies in the United States.

Track listing

Side 1:

1. "I Fall to Pieces" (duet) — (Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard) 2:48
2. Patsy Cline & Jim Reeves
3. "So Wrong" — (Danny Dill, Carl Perkins, Mel Tillis) 3:00
4. Patsy Cline
5. "Misty Moonlight" — (Cindy Walker) 2:01
6. Jim Reeves
7. "Back in Baby's Arms" — (Bobby Montgomery) 2:06
8. Patsy Cline
9. "Missing You" — (Dale Noe, Red Sovine) 2:39
10. Jim Reeves

Side 2:

1. "Walkin' After Midnight" — (Alan Block, Don Hecht) 1:57
2. Patsy Cline
3. "The Blizzard" — (Harlan Howard) 3:25
4. Jim Reeves
5. "Why Can't He Be You" — (Hank Cochran) 3:30
6. Patsy Cline
7. "Distant Drums" — (Cindy Walker) 2:55
8. Jim Reeves
9. "Leavin' on Your Mind" — (Webb Pierce, Wayne Walker) 2:27
10. Patsy Cline

Personnel

Background vocals

Chart positions

Album – Billboard (North America)

Singles - Billboard (North America)