Country Music's Day the Music Died

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Last month I wrote a discussion about the anniversary of "The Day the Music Died," the February 3, 1959 plane crash that killed Buddy Holly, JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson, and Ritchie Valens. Did you know country music had an almost identical tragedy four years later? Today, March 5, is the 55th anniversary of country music's "Day the Music Died." The backstory begins in January, 1963, when a Kansas City DJ, "Cactus Jack" Call, was killed in a car wreck. As country musicians were their own publicists and PR agents back then, many DJs knew nearly every touring country singer because the stars would stop by the radio stations to promote their single and their concert. Given this fact, it was no surprise that a benefit concert, set for Sunday, March 3, 1963, would attract a number of big-name stars to appear in a show to raise money for the DJ's widow and children. Along with the legendary Roy Acuff and long-established stars like Wilma Lee & Stony Cooper, Cowboy Copas, and Hawkshaw Hawkins, newer stars such as Billy Walker appeared. Also on the bill was one of the hottest names in country music at the time: 30-year-old Patsy Cline. The next day the musicians went their separate ways, save for Cline, Copas, and Hawkins. Billy Walker had originally planned on flying back to Nashville with them, but he had a family emergency and took a commercial flight. Hawkins, whose wife, Jean Shepard, was 8 1/2 months pregnant, had swapped seats with Walker. The plane was bogged down in foggy, rainy weather on March 4. The next day, the pilot, Randy Hughes (a session musician, Cowboy Copas' son-in-law, and Patsy Cline's manager), decided to get his cargo back to Nashville, regardless of the weather. As we all sadly know, he didn't make it. Advised by the airport in Dyersburg, Tennessee to wait out an approaching thunderstorm, Hughes ignored the warning and took off a little after 6 PM (central time) on March 5, 1963. The plane got as far as the outskirts of Camden, Tennessee before crashing. There were no survivors. There are a number of similarities between the 1959 crash and the 1963 crash: -- Both caused by inclement weather. -- Both took the lives of three performers. -- Both planes carried fathers-to-be (JP Richardson's wife was pregnant at the time [Buddy Holly's wife was as well, but she suffered a miscarriage in the aftermath of the news of Holly's death]; Hawkshaw Hawkins Jr. was born three weeks after his father's death). -- Both crashes were ruled to be the result of "pilot error." -- Both crashes have been in two movies (The Buddy Holly Story and La Bamba; and Coal Miner's Daughter and Sweet Dreams). -- Both crashes took a Hall of Famer (Buddy Holly in rock; Patsy Cline in country). Here's a toast in memory to the three country music greats lost in country music's version of "The Day the Music Died": Virginia Patterson Hensley Cline Dick (Patsy Cline) - born September 8, 1932 Lloyd Estel Copas (Cowboy Copas) - born July 15, 1913 Harold Franklin Hawkins (Hawkshaw Hawkins) - born December 22, 1921 Died near Camden, Tennessee, March 5, 1963 Everyone knows Patsy, so I'm linking a favorite Cowboy Copas song. He had the longest career of any star lost that fateful day, going back to the late 1930s.