Someone to know: Who doesn’t love Patsy Cline?

Magic happens when Mary Pfeifer takes to the stage for her “Simply Patsy” show, singing the best-known songs of Patsy Cline. There was the time a teary-eyed daughter of an elderly woman came to Pfeifer after a show and said her mother never speaks anymore, but began mouthing words of the songs as she heard Pfeifer sing.

On another occasion, a 90-yearold birthday girl in the audience wept when hearing her favorite Cline song, then a few minutes later asked Mary to sing it again.

And there was the time after a show that a man told Pfeifer his father would pull the family car to a stop on the roadside whenever a Cline tune came on the radio. It seems Dad wanted to ensure the radio reception held until the end of the record.

“Patsy Cline’s music has definitely woven itself into people’s memories,” she says. “It never ceases to amaze me how Patsy Cline is loved by so many.”

Pfeifer has done her “Simply Patsy” show in Ohio, Indiana, Iowa and downstate Illinois, but primarily around the south and southwest suburbs of Chicago, since 2010. She also has sung with her own band, called “Mary and the Troublemakers,” at festivals and in halls since 2013. But it’s presenting the songs of Patsy Cline to rapturous audiences that’s a true labor of love for her.

“I learned I have to put the audience at ease,” she says. “I tell them I am not going to ‘impersonate’ Patsy, trying to act like I think she might act. And I am not going to sound exactly like Patsy Cline. I don’t think anyone can or does. There truly is only one Patsy Cline. I try hardest to keep her timings and give the passion Patsy gives to her songs. I tell the audience I’m giving tribute to this unique, amazing woman who died too young and worked harder than any woman I’ve ever known to fulfill her dreams.”

Pfeifer doesn’t limit herself to singing Cline’s songs. She also strives to help her audiences better understand the woman who was the first solo female artist elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame. She weaves in anecdotes about the singer’s life, taken from the seven books she’s read about Cline, as well as from visits to the singer’s teen home in Winchester, Virginia, The Patsy Cline Museum in Nashville, Tennessee, and the singer’s “dream home” in Goodlettsville, Tennessee. At some venues, she hands out sheets of Patsy Cline trivia to attendees. Stage props have included a replica poster from Cline’s last concert, a benefit show in Kansas City, Kansas.

She’s also created 10 different Western outfits to wear on the stage, some designed for hot sunny days, others for holiday shows.

Crazy town

It usually takes nothing more than the first few instrumental measures of “Crazy” to get her audiences clapping and cheering.

“People truly love that song,” she says. “I love different songs of Patsy’s for different reasons. I love the way she tells the story once, then she comes back in a way that is supposed to really get your attention, if you weren’t listening closely enough. I love the way her range fits my voice. Whenever I sing any of her songs, a video plays along in my head. Every song has a story to tell.”

Among her own favorite songs are the singer’s two number one hits, 1961’s “I Fall to Pieces,” and the following year’s “She’s Got You.” But she also has savored the discovery of Cline’s “In Care of the Blues” and her style of delivering “Bill Bailey.”

There’s no question about her favorite place to perform “Simply Patsy.” It is Starved Rock Lodge in Utica, Illinois, which hosted her first show in 2010 and where she’s performed every year since. When busloads of people arrive to see the show, she delights in walking to every table and greeting each audience member individually.

Cheaper by the dozen

Raised in a household of 12 children, Mary has always been about family. The retired high school science teacher brought up six children, all now married, and has 15 grandkids. Her life is lived on a rural family farm where she sews, maintains gardens, refinishes woodwork and supports local musical talent. Her husband of 43 years, Don, works at every Patsy show cuing the songs and “doing the heavy lifting,” she says.

“I have visited Nashville many, many times and it is standard to hear female singers requested to sing some Patsy Cline,” she concludes. “I know of no specific tribute to Patsy, such as I perform, in Nashville. The talent is there but artists are more focused on becoming known for their own individual talents and songwriting than giving tribute to one particular person.

“If ever an opportunity arose that someone did give singular tribute to Patsy Cline, I would get in line to give it a try. It would be a dream come true to daily give tribute to that amazing lady in the city of Nashville.”

“I try hardest to keep her timings and give the passion Patsy gives to her songs. I tell the audience I’m giving tribute to this unique, amazing woman who died too young and worked harder than any woman I’ve ever known to fulfill her dreams.” Mary Pfeifer