A popular regional band, the Kountry Krackers, was contracted to perform at Friday-night dances sponsored by Post 41. This was a country music band whose lead singer was a local girl named Patsy Cline. The band with Patsy singing attracted large crowds to the dances, and the Post was making good money. Singer Jimmy Dean often attended the dances and performed with the band.
Country music singer Jimmy Dean was an unscheduled participant at the Legion dances. On several occasions, he just showed up at the dances and would sing a number or two with the Kountry Krackers.
For the first two years, the contract paid the Kountry Krackers $75.00 for each dance. However, at the end of this contract, the band demanded a new contract with a straight 60-40 split of the ticket sales--with the band getting the 60% share.
In discussing this proposal at a Legion meeting, Jack Russell, chairman of the Dance Committee, complained that the Post had “made the Kountry Krackers by giving them their start and now they were trying to take advantage of us”. Since it was too late to find another band as popular as the Kountry Krackers, it was decided to accept the band’s proposal. A new contract was signed for 1956 giving the Kountry Krackers 60% of the ticket sales after the costs for door prizes and police expenses were deducted.
This turned out to be the final year that the Kountry Krackers and Patsy Cline performed at the Legion dances. Of course, she went on to Nashville and became a country music legend. Patsy was killed at the age of thirty in an airplane crash on March 5, 1963. Post 41 placed a plaque at the front of the Legion Building commemorating Patsy Cline’s performances at the Legion dances.
So, the next time you visit the Dollar General Store, you may want to listen for some old echoes. You might hear Patsy Cline singing one of her trade-mark songs like “Crazy” or “I Fall to Pieces”.
