I was transmitted for a happy few moments Tuesday afternoon to a time when American singers dominated the radio, before the arrival of the Beatles.
Brenda Lee's "I'm Sorry" and Patsy Cline's "I Fall to Pieces" played one after the other on satellite radio as I drove down Roswell Road through Sandy Springs during a raging rainstorm.
As their timeless voices touched my heart, I imagined myself in a fantasy movie in which I returned to my youth.
Telling similar stories of romance gone wrong, the Nashville Sound classics were both produced by Owen Bradley for Decca Records. Each features the soulful background voices of the Jordanaires and the same set of Nashville house musicians.
Lee was only 15 when she warbled her lament of longing and regret. The record company delayed its 1960 release of the song written by Dub Albritton and Ronnie Self, fearing reprisals from the era's morality police for having such a young child express adult themes.
Released at last, "I'm Sorry," with Lee's spell-binding vocal recitation, rose to No. 1 on the pop charts, although it appeared on the flip side of the more uptempo "That's All You Gotta Do," which reached No. 6 on the Hot 100.
Cline was 28 and a rising Nashville star when she recorded "I Fall to Pieces," a belated crossover hit on the country and pop charts. The song written by Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard was at first ignored after its release in 1961, but began receiving airplay and slowly rose on the charts thanks to a successful sales campaign by the record label to country and pop DJs.
While the 30-year-old Cline was killed in a 1963 plane crash, Lee's still going strong at age 79. She recently starred in a video of her classic "Rocking Around the Christmas Tree," a You Tube holiday hit last year.
Cline and Lee's operatic voices transform ordinary love songs into dramatic stories of passion and desire.
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