“The truth is, if you have a girlfriend on your side, somebody who knows the real you and believes in you no matter what, it can make all the difference in the world. It did for me. Patsy was that friend.” When Loretta Lynn first came to Nashville in 1960—a broke young mother trying to navigate the country music business—Patsy Cline was a star, soon to have her chart-topping hit “I Fall to Pieces.” Loretta’s decision to sing the song on the radio led to one of the most influential relationships of her life. In Me & Patsy Kickin’ Up Dust she tells the story of a remarkable friendship that ended in Patsy’s tragic and untimely death at the age of thirty. Patsy and Loretta were two trailblazers who’d be damned if they’d let men or convention tell them how to sing or perform. Together they stood up to venues shortchanging female singers and put their foot down with demanding managers. Instead of competing against each other, they forged a friendship. They leaned on each other while balancing touring and raising children, writing songs and making dinner. They were taking on the industry together, and they seemed to be winning when, on March 5, 1963, Patsy’s plane went down just outside Nashville. That day, Loretta’s life as she’d known it stopped, and she’s spent the rest of her career trying to honor her friend and what they started all those years ago. Tender and fierce, Me & Patsy Kickin’ Up Dust is an up-close-and-personal portrait of a friendship that defined a generation and changed country music indelibly—as well as a meditation on love, loss, and legacy. LORETTA LYNN is an American country music singer-songwriter whose groundbreaking career spans almost sixty years, with such famous hits as “You Ain’t Woman Enough (To Take My Man)” and “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” as well as a biographical film andNew York Times bestselling book of the same name. With more than forty-five million albums sold worldwide, multiple gold albums, and numerous awards and accolades, Loretta is the most awarded female country recording artist and the only female Academy of Country Music Artist of the Decade. PATSY LYNN RUSSELL, Loretta’s daughter and Patsy Cline’s namesake, is a singer-songwriter and music producer in her own right who has made it her mission to keep her mom’s story and legacy alive for future generations of empowered women. READ BY PATSY LYNN RUSSELL Running Time: Approx. 5 Hours • Unabridged © 2020 by Loretta Lynn and Patsy Lynn Russell. All rights reserved. Hachette Book Group supports the right to free expression and the value of copyright. The purpose of copyright is to encourage writers and artists to produce the creative works that enrich our culture. The duplicating, uploading, and distribution of this book without permission is a theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like permission to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), please contact [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights. 2020 by Hachette Audio. All rights reserved. © 2020 by Hachette Audio (packaging elements only). A division of Hachette Book Group, 1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104. www.HachetteAudio.com 40444 I SBN 978-1-5491-5901-5 Playaway pre-loaded audiobooks are the best way to listen, unplugged and uninterrupted. WWW.PLAYAWAY.COM © 2020 Playaway. Patented. All rights reserved. Designed in Ohio. Made in China. 9 781549 159015.