''The Last Sessions'' is a compilation album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist, Patsy Cline. The album was released in 1988 under

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

and was produced by

Owen Bradley William Owen Bradley (October 21, 1915 – January 7, 1998) was an American musician and record producer who, along with Chet Atkins, Bob Ferguson, Bill Porter, and Don Law, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 1960s Nashville sou ...

. The album was a collection material Cline had recorded during her last recording sessions for

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934 by Lewis, Jack Kapp, American Decca's first president, and Milton Rackmil, who later became American ...

in early 1963.

Background

The album contains ten of twelve total tracks of material Cline had recorded between February 4–7, 1963, shortly before her death in a plane crash a month later. The album contained the major hit, " Sweet Dreams", which would peak at #4 on the ''

Billboard Magazine ''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music ...

Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine in the United States. This 50-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly by collecting airplay data from Nielsen BDS along with digital sal ...

chart and #44 on the ''Billboard'' Pop Chart after her death March 5, 1963. "He Called Me Baby" would also be issued as a single, peaking at #23 on the ''Billboard'' Country Chart in 1964. ''The Last Sessions'' primarily included a series of

Pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

standards from the 1940s and 1950s. Songs such as Irving Berlin's "

Always Always may refer to: Film and television * ''Always'', a 1985 film directed by Henry Jaglom * ''Always'' (1989 film), a 1989 romantic comedy-drama directed by Steven Spielberg * ''Always'' (2011 film), a 2011 South Korean film, also known as '' ...

" and

Pat Boone Patrick Charles Eugene Boone (born June 1, 1934) is an American singer and actor. He was a successful pop singer in the United States during the 1950s and early 1960s. He sold more than 45 million records, had 38 Top 40 hits, and appeared in mo ...

's " Love Letters in the Sand" were recorded in February. Four country music standards are also featured, such as Bill Monroe's "

Blue Moon of Kentucky "Blue Moon of Kentucky" is a waltz written in 1945 by bluegrass musician Bill Monroe and recorded by his band, the Blue Grass Boys. The song has since been recorded by many artists, including Elvis Presley and Paul McCartney. "Blue Moon of Kentu ...

" and Ray Price's " Crazy Arms." The material was originally released along with B-sides and other previously-unreleased tracks across three posthumous studio albums '' The Patsy Cline Story'' (June, 1963), '' A Portrait of Patsy Cline'' (June, 1964) and '' That's How a Heartache Begins'' (Nov. 1964). The tracks on this release, save for ''

Faded Love "Faded Love" is a Western swing song written by Bob Wills, his father John Wills, and his brother, Billy Jack Wills. The tune is considered to be an exemplar of the Western swing fiddle component of American fiddle. The melody came from an 185 ...

'' and ''

I'll Sail My Ship Alone "I'll Sail My Ship Alone" is a 1950 song written by Moon Mullican (sometimes credited as "Morry Burns"), Henry Bernard (sometimes credited as "Henry Glover"), Lois Mann (sometimes credited as " Sydney Nathan") and Henry Thurston, and popularized b ...

'' which were omitted, are presented in their original production order, as the album was never programmed as a cohesive unit as originally planned. The album was remastered and was transferred digitally by Glenn Meadows, Milan Bogdan, Jim Loyd and Benny Quinn at Masterfonics. and is available on vinyl,

cassette Cassette may refer to: Technology * Cassette tape (or ''musicassette'', ''audio cassette'', ''cassette tape'', or ''tape''), a worldwide standard for analog audio recording and playback ** Cassette single (or "Cassingle"), a music single in the ...

and CD, The album was given three out of five stars by

allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

Track listing

Two tracks from the sessions - the first track recorded on February 4 (''Faded Love'') and the last track recorded on February 7 (''I'll Sail My Ship Alone'') do not appear in this compilation.

Personnel

Musical

Harold Bradley Harold Ray Bradley (January 2, 1926 – January 31, 2019) was an American guitarist and entrepreneur, who played on many country, rock and pop recordings and produced numerous TV variety shows and movie soundtracks. Having started as a session ...

— electric bass * Owen Bradley —

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

* Patsy Cline —

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

Floyd Cramer Floyd Cramer (October 27, 1933 – December 31, 1997) was an American pianist who became famous for his use of melodic "half step" attacks. He was inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His signature ...

—

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

Ray Edenton Ray Quarles Edenton (November 3, 1926 – September 21, 2022) was an American guitar player and country music session musician. Early life Ray Edenton was born into a musical family on November 3, 1926, and grew up near Mineral, Virginia. His f ...

—

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

* Buddy Harman —

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s *

Randy Hughes James Randell Hughes (born April 3, 1953) is a former American football safety who played six seasons in the National Football League for the Dallas Cowboys. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma and was drafted in the fourt ...

— rhythm guitar * Joe Jenkins — acoustic bass * The Jordanaires — background vocals * Grady Martin —

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gui ...

Bill Pursell William Whitney Pursell (June 9, 1926 – September 3, 2020) was an American composer and onetime session pianist. He had a brief but successful career as a pop musician before continuing on as a session player. Pursell is best known for the to ...

—

vibraphone The vibraphone is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone is called a ''vibraphonist,'' ''vibraharpist,' ...

Technical

* Milan Bogodan — remastering, tape preparation * Jerry Joyner — design * Simon Levy — art direction * Jim Lloyd — remastering * Michael Ochs — photography * Jay Orr — liner notes * Benny Quinn — remastering, tape preparation * Don Roy — liner notes * Virginia Team — art direction

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Last Sessions 1988 compilation albums Patsy Cline albums Albums produced by Owen Bradley MCA Records albums