“Sweet Dreams,” a tribute concert in honor of country music queen Patsy Cline, will take place at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 30, at Vashon Center for the Arts.
The show — produced annually in Seattle for the past decade by islander Debra Heesch at Seattle’s Triple Door — is back on the island by popular demand, after two successful prior presentations in VCA’s Katherine L White Hall.
This year’s cast of singers will include V. Contreras, Star Anna, Jennifer Hopper, Kate Voss, Alessandra Rose, Christine Patterson-Goering and Rebekah Kuzma, the full-throated front-woman of the local band St. Ophelia.
Seattle country steel guitar god Dave Harmonson will play in the band, along with other band members Rebecca Young, William Stover, Aaron O’Neil and Jason Goessi.
For Heesch, the show is the latest incarnation of a tradition born years ago, when she lived in West Seattle and often hosted hootenannies with Seattle musicians in the basement of her home. After hearing Cline’s songs repeatedly sung, Heesch had the idea to produce an entire show around the music, and present it in Seattle on the singer’s birthday. One thing led to another, and over the years, the show has become beloved, Heesch said, not only by audiences but also by its ever-evolving cast of singers.
“It’s always super fun to be backstage with the women, and they always can’t wait to do it again,” Heesch told The Beachcomber last year, in discussing her long history with the show.
Cline, who died in a plane crash in 1963, had a rich contralto voice and spent much of the late 1950s and 1960s touring with chart-topping hits that included “Sweet Dreams,” “Walking After Midnight,” “I Fall to Pieces” and “Crazy.”
The singer would have been 87 years old this year, Heesch noted, adding that she is eager to welcome islanders to hear some of her favorite singers interpret Cline’s songs and tell stories about how the singer influenced their careers.
“They all have beautiful voices, they all dress up, and they make sure they do it right,” she said.