Patsy Cline - 12 Greatest Hits

In the late 1950s and the '60s, country music was essentially a singles medium. This album, first released in 1967 and reissued on compact disc in 1988, collects Patsy Cline's biggest hits--all of them from the country singles market--including "Walkin' After Midnight," "Sweet Dreams (Of You)," "Crazy," and "I Fall to Pieces." Producer Owen Bradley surrounds Cline's full-throated, emotionally charged vocals with lush, sophisticated arrangements that set the standard for Nashville's "countrypolitan" sound.

Before Shania Twain found a new (though not necessarily improved) way to combine country and pop in the 1990s, this was the top-selling country album of all time by a female artist. --Rick Mitchell