The Life and Times of Patsy Cline

By Margaret Jones

Possibly the most thorough Patsy Cline biography (I have three of them) came from Margaret Jones in 1994. I own the 1999 softcover edition of Patsy: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline. Faron Young was one of the interview sources, and I corresponded briefly with Jones while I was working on Faron’s biography. Jones interviewed many of Patsy’s contemporaries and draws heavily upon their memories, including Owen Bradley, Dottie West, Harlan Howard, Brenda Lee, Johnny Western, and Barbara Mandrell. The foreword was written by Loretta Lynn. There is a complete discography, along with an index and chapter source notes. 

This review is of the new version. The fifth out-of-print biography published in the cooperative effort between the Country Music Foundation Press and the University of Illinois Press is The Life and Times of Patsy Cline by Margaret Jones. It’s been long enough since I read the original Patsy: The Life and Times of Patsy Cline that it was like reading it for the first time. This version contains everything but the discography. As I said earlier, Jones did a more thorough job than the other Cline biographies I’ve read. I highly recommend this one.