The Tragedy of March 5 (Part 1)

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March 5 is an exceptionally sad anniversary date, in two different regards. On March 3, 1963, a group of country music stars gathered in Kansas City to raise money for the family of a country DJ who’d been killed in a car wreck in January of that year. After the show, the stars went their separate ways; however, three — Cowboy Copas, Patsy Cline, and Hawkshaw Hawkins — were grounded by bad weather. After waiting the storm out they decided to head for home in Nashville, but more bad weather hampered the way. After landing in Dyersburg, Tennessee on March 5, pilot Randy Hughes was advised against continuing the flight because of more weather issues. He never considered it: his three passengers wanted to get back to Nashville, and had already been delayed for well over a day. Shortly after 6 PM the four-passenger plane left Dyersburg. It crashed about thirty minutes later into the side of a hill outside of the town limits of Camden, Tennessee. There were no survivors. Everyone knows Patsy Cline’s name, and even a few of her songs. She was only 30 when she died; and, at the time, she was the “hottest” star. Sadly, in ways similar to the rock and roll version of the “day the music died” tragedy, history has relegated the other equally talented and popular acts to a footnote to “the big star’s” death. Cowboy Copas had a career that began in 1939, rising to national prominence in the 1940s with his long string of hits on Cincinnati’s King Records. After a “down” period in the 50s (when the “honky tonk” acts like Webb Pierce and rockabilly acts like Johnny Cash commanded the attention) Copas stormed back in 1960 with “Alabam.” The song was one of only four songs to hit #1 for the entire year in 1960, that’s how popular it was (and how long it stayed at #1). Hawkshaw Hawkins’ career wasn’t that popular; however, he also began on King Records in the 1940s. He’d scored a number of good-sized hits in his career; however, his only #1 song was the posthumous hit “Lonesome 7-7203.” The pilot, Randy Hughes, was Patsy Cline’s manager. He was also Cowboy Copas’ son-in-law. Two days later, the sadness repeated itself when Jack Anglin, half of Johnnie and Jack, was killed in a car wreck on the way to Patsy Cline’s memorial service. It’s one of the most tragic days in the history of country music. It wouldn’t be the only time March 5th and a famous death would be linked, however.......(to be continued) Here’s a rare clip indeed. Copas and Cline never recorded together; however, TV shows allowed for the occasional duet. Here’s two of the three plane crash victims doing a happy song on “Jubilee USA” in 1960: