On March 7, 1963, Jack Anglin left his home in Madison, Tennessee, to attend a memorial service for Patsy Cline. He never arrived. Somewhere along the way, his car left the road, and one of the Grand Ole Opry’s best-loved duet singers was killed instantly.
It happened just two days after the plane crash that had already torn a hole in country music.
The week Nashville lost its stars
On the evening of March 5, 1963, a small plane carrying Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins crashed in a heavily wooded area near Camden, Tennessee, roughly 100 miles west of Nashville. The pilot was Randy Hughes, Patsy Cline’s manager. All four were killed.
They had been flying home from Kansas City, where they had performed at a benefit concert on March 3 for the family of a disc jockey named “Cactus” Jack Call, who had died in a car accident a few weeks earlier. It was the biggest loss of talent in the history of the Grand Ole Opry.
Over the next few days, Nashville’s country music family went from one service to the next.
Who Jack Anglin was
Jack Anglin was born on May 13, 1916. He was best known as half of Johnnie & Jack, the duo he formed with Johnnie Wright. They started singing together in 1938 and became Opry members in the 1940s, scoring hits like “Poison Love,” “Ashes of Love” and the No. 1 record “(Oh Baby Mine) I Get So Lonely.” Jack played rhythm guitar and sang tenor, and he sometimes used a gourd as a rhythm instrument on stage.
People often assumed Johnnie and Jack were brothers. They were not, though they were family. Jack had married Johnnie’s sister, Louise. Johnnie’s own wife was Kitty Wells, the future Queen of Country Music, who sang on many of the duo’s early shows. Strangely enough, Johnnie Wright and Jack Anglin shared a birthday. Both were born on May 13, two years apart.
Only two weeks before he died, Johnnie & Jack had released two new songs they were hoping to take out on the road.
March 7, 1963
On the morning of March 7, Jack Anglin reportedly attended the joint services for Cowboy Copas and Randy Hughes, and then the memorial for Hawkshaw Hawkins. Patsy Cline’s memorial service was still to come.
According to the account most often told, Jack Anglin stopped at a barbershop for a haircut to get ready for Patsy’s service. It made him late.
He and Johnnie Wright both set out from their homes in Madison that day. Jack was alone in his car. Running behind, he turned too fast onto Due West Avenue. The car veered off the road, plunged into a ditch about twelve feet deep and struck a tree.
Jack Anglin died on impact from a fractured skull. He was 46 years old.
A fifth loss in one week
Thousands of people came to pay their respects to Patsy Cline. Hours later, word spread that Jack Anglin had been killed on his way to join them. A community that was already mourning four people now had to mourn a fifth. The Opry put together a tribute show to honor all of those who had been lost.
Jack Anglin left behind his wife, Louise, and their young son, Terry.
The end of Johnnie & Jack
After 25 years, Johnnie & Jack was over. Johnnie Wright went on working with Kitty Wells, and the couple stayed together for the rest of their lives. Johnnie Wright died in 2011 at the age of 97, nearly half a century after the partner he had sung beside since 1938.
In 2025, Johnnie & Jack were inducted into the Volunteer State Music Hall of Fame.
Today, when people talk about the plane crash of March 1963, they often remember the names on that flight. Fewer remember Jack Anglin, the man who died two days later on his way to say goodbye. For years, longtime Opry broadcaster Eddie Stubbs made a point of including him every time he paid tribute to the victims of that week.
Do you remember Johnnie & Jack’s music, or hearing about that terrible week in 1963?