I have decided to make this and next week's Carrie's Corner a tribute to the two men who were with Patsy Cline that ill-fated night in March of 1963. "Cowboy Copas" and "Hawkshaw Hawkins."

Lloyd Estel Copas whom the world would come to know as "Cowboy," was born July 15, 1923, near Muskogee Oklahoma. He was raised on a small ranch and taught himself at a young age to play the fiddle and guitar. His family moved to Ohio in 1929, and he teamed up with a fiddle playing American Indian, and they made the round of local clubs and played on the radio.

In 1940, the partnership broke up, and he performed solo until he replaced Eddy Arnold in Pee Wee King's "Golden West Cowboys." The following year was a good one for Cowboy. He became a regular on the Grand Old Opry, and formed his own band "The Cowboys." Cowboy's first hit was "Filipino Baby" in 1946. Some of his other hit songs were "Tennessee Waltz," "Candy Kisses," and "Signed, Sealed, Delivered." He also had a hit with "Alabam," which was on the charts for 34 weeks (12 weeks at #1). It's sad to say that his last hit came several weeks after his untimely death and was oddly enough named "Goodbye Kisses."