Singer Staci Griesbach cruises into the VMFA to perform a jazzy tribute to legendary country singer Patsy Cline. (Photo by Kim Thiel)
Staci Griesbach says that when she dropped the needle on “Patsy Cline’s Greatest Hits” one lazy day at home, it was like getting hit with a lightning bolt.
“It had been a cassette tape that we had in our family Bonneville when I was growing up in Wisconsin,” the jazz vocalist says, calling from Los Angeles, her home base. “I say, ‘Hey, I know these tunes like the back of my hand. This is what I was raised on.’ ”
So began a musical journey that gave birth to Griesbach’s debut album, a tribute to country music legend Patsy Cline that reimagines the Winchester native’s timeless tunes through smoky jazz arrangements. To celebrate what would have been the late singer’s 90th birthday in 2022, Griesbach will perform Patsy Cline classics on Sept. 2 in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts’ Sculpture Garden, as part of the VMFA’s free After 5 Fridays series.
Before anyone thinks that Cline done jazz-style is a wild notion, Griesbach says the singer’s most celebrated work was based on the so-called “countrypolitan” sound of producer Owen Bradley — classics such “I Fall to Pieces” and “Crazy” feature lush, often-orchestrated arrangements that are credited with expanding the sonic vocabulary of country music.
In other words, she says, these songs are ready-made for jazz.
“We lost Patsy in 1963, but if we had not, it’s not a stretch to think that she would’ve crossed over into an orchestral big-band sound. The biggest thing for me was to maintain the integrity of the songs, and honor the original lyrics and melodies and the accomplishments of Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, Webb Pierce, these songwriters that helped to mold this catalog that’s so treasured.”
After that initial inspiration, Griesbach says she went to her musical arranger at the time, Michele Weir. “I told her, ‘I’ve got this crazy idea,’ and she said, ‘OK, let’s work on it.’ ” Weir arranged the first two songs, “He’s Got You” and “Why Can’t He Be You?” but handed over arranging duties for much of what became “My Patsy Cline Songbook” to musical director Tamir Hendelman. “He’s become my guiding star and arranged maybe 75% of the album,” Griesbach says.
“My Patsy Cline Songbook,” released in 2019, garnered rave reviews from music critics at Rolling Stone, Downbeat and JazzWax. It is a disc that honors Cline while being steeped in the atmosphere of nightclub jazz. While the chameleonic Griesbach dials up the smoldering romanticism for Patsy’s big torch ballads — such as “Sweet Dreams” and Irving Berlin’s “Always” — the 16-cut disc is most successful when it takes some liberties, as with her brooding version of “Walkin’ After Midnight” and a shimmering bossanova recasting of “I Fall to Pieces.”
While a longtime fan, Griesbach says she continues to discover the richness of Cline’s life and work. “Her songs really resonate with me, but so does the way she approached her music. She was working in a very different time in our culture when female singers had a lot to fight against, and she was very vocal about not performing tunes she didn’t care for.” Her standards were high, Griesbach adds. “I really appreciate that.”
While she recorded “My Patsy Cline Songbook” with top LA session players, the singer will perform at the VMFA with a jazz trio culled from the U.S. Air Force Band — keyboardist Chris Ziemba, bassist Ben Thomas and drummer Kevin Cerovich. The next day, she’ll perform in Winchester in front of Cline’s childhood home as part of the annual Block Party celebration sponsored by the Patsy Cline Fan Club.
“I’ve always wanted to go to Winchester and see her piano,” says the singer, who spent her childhood in the small town of Hortonville, Wisconsin. “I grew up in a house with an upright Wellington piano, and it has always resonated with me that she was a small-town community gal, just like me. It inspired me that she could make her life what she wanted it to be.”
Staci Griesbach performs at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts as part of the museum’s free After 5 Fridays series on Sept. 2 at 6 p.m.
