Sweet Dreams Forever (CD)

Release Date: 03/04/22

The tragic legacy of C&W - Randy Hugues, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Patsy Cline

The Four Stars of Country and Western music are vocalists; Randy Hugues, Cowboy Copas, Hawkshaw Hawkins, and Patsy Cline who perished in a plane crash on 05 March 1963. Their legend lives on through these TWENTY-NINE upbeat recordings which are; pre-rock 'n' roll country boogie beat, with a smattering of rockabilly as the 1950s musically changed. The exploration begins in 1948 and ends in 1962 before the music's identity was radically changed. Two song thrushes provide vocal support for two recordings, Rita Robbins sings with Hawkshaw Hawkins and Kathy Copas performs with her father Cowboy Copas, and they add lustre to the album.
From the post-war years of the late 1940s through to the early 1960s, a generation of Western singers and songwriters emerged with a style influenced by former traditional Western artists and developed the musical direction. Many adopted a frank, plainspoken lyrical approach, or used salacious lyrics that set them apart from the mainstream Country and pop music establishments. The albums recordings are the embodiment of this development, and the album curtails just before the saccharin musical arrangements became common place in Nashville Tennessee recording studios.
The album focuses on the artists upbeat recordings and presents rarely re-issued salacious hillbilly boogies from Randy Hughes. He was also Patsy Cline's manager, guitarist, and the pilot on the heart-breaking flight. The tenor vocal and flat-top guitar picking of Cowboy Copas, who additionally sings one flat-get-it rockabilly classic, and duets on one recording with his daughter Kathy, who was the wife of Randy Hughes. There is pioneering blues, boogie and honky-tonk from 6 ft 5 inches tall, Hawkshaw Hawkins, who made country song thrush Jean Shepard a widow. The lady on the pinnacle of stardom Patsy Cline breathed emotion into every song she sang and is probably the most well-known performer for the general public.