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Playin' Patsy

Country’s original leading lady has a fascinating story. It’s told in Branson by Lisa Layne at God & Country Theatre.

Photo by Edward Biamonte

As Patsy Cline, Lisa Layne’s talent lies more in method than in a stunning resemblance to the country superstar. Lisa Layne has a small stud of a nose-ring; Patsy Cline probably only ever saw a nose ring on a bull.

But make no mistake, Layne knows her Patsy. She’s been playing the country music gender-barrier-breaker for 17 years, first in Nashville (and on the road) in A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline, and for the last six years in Always... Patsy Cline in Branson. The two musicals are the only biographical stage shows approved by the Cline Foundation, Layne says.

But playing Patsy hasn’t been Lisa’s only meal ticket. Over the years she’s performed and recorded on her own, including, in 1989, singing one of the most-played Christmas songs of all time, “All I Want For Christmas is You” —which landed Lisa and the band she sang it with, Vince Vance and the Valiants, a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Always... is written as a back-and-forth between Patsy and a Houston, Texas pen pal, Louise. In it Layne sings, dresses and talks as Cline, who died tragically in a plane crash in 1963 at the age of 30. Layne says she studied for the role by watching old footage of Patsy, though there’s not a lot of it (Layne doesn’t do much dancing because, though Patsy did dance, most of the archive footage that exists has her standing stationary with her hands folded below her waist, so that’s how Layne generally performs).

She doesn’t go out in public as Patsy, unless it’s for a booked promotion, but she says the lines do occasionally blur for members of the audience fresh off a trip down Memory Lane. Men will come up to her and start talking to her in the second person, like she’s really Patsy Cline. “I just play along,” Layne says. “They’re all happy and they go home happy.”

How is Lisa Layne like Patsy Cline?
“My voice sounds a lot like her; it has a lot of the same tone. … It sets a tone in people’s heads, the key and the band, and brings back so many memories for people. That’s where they go, to the memory of when they first heard it.”

How is Lisa Layne not like Patsy Cline?
“I don’t think I’m as wild as she was, from what I hear. I’m kind of a stay-at-home goober most of the time.”

What do you like most about Patsy Cline?
“The fact that she didn’t want to sing pop music. There’s so much crossover, she stuck to her guns and when her producer, Owen Bradley, would say ‘we’re going to do this’ and she didn’t like it, she’d stand her ground for the most part.”

What’s your favorite Patsy song to perform?
“’Imagine That’ written by Justin Tubbs. It’s not a huge hit of hers, but an incredible song. It’s not part of my show, but I’ve recorded it and it was in [A Closer Walk].”

If Patsy were here, what would she say about Lisa Layne?
“Well, I don’t know, but a lot of people say she would be proud.”