Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline became good friends after Loretta first moved to Nashville in the ‘60s. Patsy was recovering from a tragic accident in 1961 when she heard Loretta’s tribute performance of “I Fall To Pieces” and asked to see her in the hospital where their relationship began.
They became so close that Loretta named one of her twin daughters after Pasty a year after she died in a plane crash in 1963. When Loretta got into the Grand Ole Opry, she experienced pushback from envious colleagues. That’s when Patsy stood up for her.
Patsy Cline gave Loretta Lynn the support she needed on the Grand Ole Opry pushback
Loretta faced underestimation at the Grand Ole Opry from fellow artists who would insinuate that she slept with a boss to “get on the Opry so fast.” She would often cry “day and night,” and worse still, there were plans in place to kick her off shows.
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Unknown to them, Patsy was on Loretta’s side, and inviting her to the meeting against Loretta was “their mistake.” To the surprise of the scheming performers, Patsy walked into the meeting with Loretta, who was wearing a new dress courtesy of her good friend. “Patsy put the stamp of approval on me, and I never had any problems with them again. In fact, they are all my friends now,” Loretta wrote in her 2020 autobiography, Me & Patsy Kickin’ Up Dust.
Loretta considered meeting Patsy a life-changing experience because she “found a real friend: a great singer, a proud momma, a woman who wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself.” Thanks to her friendship with the “She’s Got You” singer, Loretta learned how to drive, shave her legs, wear makeup, and adopt the bedazzled style she is famous for.
Patsy taught her to avoid the “dirty old men” in Music City at the time looking to take advantage of young ladies like them. “You gotta set them straight, little gal. Show them you don’t go for that kind of thing,” Patsy would say. Before her passing in 2022, Loretta paid Patsy’s kindness forward by helping other women work their way up in Nashville’s music scene. “When new girls come along, I wouldn’t treat nobody the way they treated me,” she said.