Crystal Gayle has been a country music favorite since her recording of “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” became Grammy Country Song of the Year and earned her a Grammy for Best Female County Vocal Performance.
Buoyed by the success of that single and her achievement as the first female county artist to be certified platinum for “We Must Believe in Magic,” the album in which that hit appeared, she began a career that has taken her worldwide. Along the way, she was the first person to tape a performance on the Great Wall of China.
This week, she joins her good friends Grammy Award winner Larry Gatlin and Irish-American singer Andy Cooney in “American Voices,” the Hylton Performing Arts Center opening show to celebrate this nation’s heritage, spirit and patriotism in its great music.
“We have fun touring with this show,” she said. “Larry had recorded an album with Andy and wanted to get together with him again to tell our stories across the country in music. Our individual backgrounds are represented by the songs we sing.”
Gayle was known initially as the youngest sister of Loretta Lynn, whose hit song “The Coal Miner’s Daughter” and biography by the same name captured their heritage, but she soon was making musical headlines on her own. By the time Gayle graduated from high school, she was following in Lynn’s footsteps. She even adopted the name her sister suggested, Crystal after the Krystal hamburger chain, and Gayle, a version of her middle name Gail.
Last season she began touring with Gatlin and Cooney in performing arts centers and concert halls. They opened this season’s series in Greeley, Colo., and are wending their way across the country with occasional breaks for individual concerts. In addition to some fairs and benefits, Gayle will appear in Las Vegas for several days in February.
“I love getting letters from people telling what my music has meant to them,” she said. “Sometimes they say it helps to put on my music when a mother is ill or they’re going through a breakup. I hear from parents of autistic children who have seen me on TV and send heartwarming stories about how it touched them. Music can be the kind word they need.”
