More than 60 years after his tragic death, the legend of country music Patsy Cline still has more to share with the world after recordings were never discovered before the iconic star in a basement.
A set of two LP of limited edition, “Imagine that: The Lost Recordings (1954-1963)”, which includes 48 live concerts and radio and television appearances, was released on Saturday for the day of the record store for elementary music/deep excavations. A two CD set will also be available on April 18.
Two of the oldest recordings, discovered in a basement where they had been stored for 30 years, were found on their original acetate album recorded at the old Warl radio station in Arlington, NBC Washington reported. Many of the tracks were recorded in DC or Virginia.
Cline, originally from Winchester, Virginia, only recorded some studio albums before dying in a plane crash at 30 years.
“It’s as if you were alive again,” said his daughter, Julie Fudge, to NBC Washington. “It is really very personal. And I am so impressed with the work of these people and so happy that we trust them to do this.”
The compilation covers Cline’s career from the beginning of his professional work in the early 1950s to the top of his popularity before his death in 1963, according to elementary music.
Fudge said the recordings never before launched from his mother’s actions evoke a different auditory experience than his previous albums.
“He is just over 20 years old and is singing in front of people live,” Fudge told NBC Washington. “It really has a personal feeling when you listen to it. It’s like sitting in a room and talking to someone.”
Marc Zitelman found the Relic Warl album in a box of records sitting in his basement, although it is not clear immediately when the recordings were rediscovered.
“There is one side A and one side B,” Zitelman said while shown NBC Washington. “As you can see on the label, it was written in the main office while the engineer recorded this from a live presentation.”
Zitelman’s father kept the record box in his center’s restaurant, Bassin’s, which used to be a popular nightclub. Zitelman believes that the album had been stored in the restaurant since 1954, although he was not sure how he ended up in his father.
“I think the thing is that he has finally found his way to perpetuity,” Zitelman told NBC Washington. “So, I am really excited that this is now in a place where you can always hear, and it is something that I don’t think has been heard before.”
The listeners can listen to new interpretations of cline’s most iconic songs on the album, such as “Walkin ‘After Midnight”, “Crazy” and “I Fall to Piace”. The song of the traditional Gospel “Just A Closer Walk With Thee” also appears, recorded only weeks before Cline’s death. It is one of his latest known recordings.
