All Episodes

April 23, 2025 • 12 mins

Send us a text

Ready to journey through the golden eras of country music with a true legend? In this episode, we are thrilled to welcome the incomparable Crystal Gayle to the New York State Fair! Hear firsthand from the dazzling artist about her remarkable career, from winning back-to-back CMA Female Vocalist awards in the late '70s to receiving the prestigious American Eagle Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2017. Crystal reminisces about her early days in Kentucky, her breakout hit "Don't Make My Brown Eyes Blue," and the unforgettable moment her sister, Loretta Lynn, inducted her into the Grand Ole Opry. Discover the personal stories and influences that shaped her unique sound and helped her carve a niche in the music industry.

But that's just the beginning! Crystal also shares exciting details about her current tour, which includes stops in Glens Falls, New York, and Rhode Island, before heading back home and then out west. Reflect on the profound impact her music has had over the decades, touching generations of country music fans with her heartfelt performances and genuine artistry. We celebrate her enduring legacy and express our gratitude for her contributions to the industry. Tune in to experience a heartfelt conversation filled with admiration, inspiration, and lots of applause for the timeless Crystal Gayle.

Support the show

Thanks for listening! Follow us at youtube.com/c/skiphappens

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey and welcome to the great New York State Fair.
My name is Skip Clark, 92.1,the Wolf in the Inner Harbor
Media Group, and if you take aclose look at your screen, she's
my right, your left, the oneand only Crystal Gale is here.
Thank you, thank you.
So it's so awesome to see you.
I do a lot of these interviewsand I very seldom get starstruck

(00:22):
, but I am right now like in awe.
You are absolutely stunning.
You're beautiful the hair overthe.
I mean you still have all that.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
I still have some hair.
I'll tell you I don't know howit gets caught on everything.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
This is cool to have you actually come over.
You are a legend in a lot ofdifferent ways.
You were the CMA FemaleVocalist winner in 1977 and 78,
just a couple of years ago, youhad the American Eagle Award for
Lifetime Achievement in 2017.
Does it seem like it was thatlong ago?

Speaker 2 (00:55):
It really just feels like you turn around and time is
gone.
Yeah, because I can rememberthinking when I was younger oh,
30 is old, because I hadn'tgotten to 30 yet.
And then, when I got there, itwas younger, oh, 30 is old,
because I hadn't gotten to 30yet.
And then when I got there, itwas like, oh, it's not that bad.
No, it's not.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
We don't worry about age anyway.
No, we don't worry.

Speaker 2 (01:13):
I mean, it's, hey, the alternative.
So you know we're honored thatpeople have listened to my music
through the years and stilllistening and come out.

Speaker 1 (01:25):
And I love it when I hear some of those old songs.
You know the one that youpretty much wrapped up with
earlier Don't Make my Brown EyesBlue.
And I told you before we wentout with the lights and the
cameras and all that that Iplayed that I'm going to show my
age here a little bit.
When that was given to radio toplay and it went flying up the
charts, I played that as it wasclimbing the charts and I had

(01:47):
the biggest crush on you.
I'm just saying look at, lookat this woman.
She's absolutely beautiful.

Speaker 2 (01:51):
Well, when that song came out for me, I was out on
the road and I was working onSydney, iowa at a rodeo for a
whole week and they would pullus out in the middle of the rink
, you know, and we do our showand then it pulls back out, but
people started.
It was just a differentatmosphere.
When that song came I was likewow, I realized they must be

(02:15):
playing this song.
I didn't know what it was doingbecause you know you're out in
the road and just busy andnobody tells you no, no one
tells you.
I know I was honored, though.

Speaker 1 (02:24):
You kept an eye on it .
Yeah, excellent, that went allthe way up to the top and then
it stayed there for quite awhile, which was pretty, pretty
cool.
Tell us about your inductioninto the Grand Ole Opry.
Your sister helped you out withthat right.

Speaker 2 (02:37):
Yes, In October.
It might've been.
I think it was October orNovember of the year before 16,
2016.
Carrie Underwood came up theRyman and I was performing and
she wanted to sing Brown Eyeswith me, so we sang that
together and then at the end sheasked me if I wanted to be a
member of the Opry and then Iwas so honored when my sister

(02:59):
inducted me into the family.
I mean that was really specialand that was at the Ryman also,
and you know that was the firstum first place I performed.
I I actually was about 17 whenum Loretta, she had gotten sick
and Mooney talked him intoletting me sing in her place and
I'll never forget that.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Oh, I just just talking about.
As a matter of fact, you weretelling a story up on stage
about your sister and all thatand we had some people stop by
the booth and they said I got towalk the other way, they had
tears coming down.
I mean, you and your sisterjust meant so much to so many
people, the hearts of so many.

(03:40):
It's country, the way countrywas meant to be, and the coal
miner's daughter, I mean let'sjust you know, Well, we had some
special parents and they weregood.

Speaker 2 (03:53):
We have four brothers and three sisters, eight in our
family, and my mother wouldhave had 20 if she could have.

Speaker 1 (04:00):
Busy lady.

Speaker 2 (04:01):
Yeah, she was, she kept us together.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
How did all this start for you, though?
Was it your sister?
How did all this start forCrystal Gale?

Speaker 2 (04:10):
Well, I grew up singing.
My mother said I could singbefore I could walk, so music
was part of my life.
And you know music was part ofmy life.
And you know, in Kentucky musicwas a part of everybody's life.
You know they'd sit on theporch play the guitar, sing and
you could hear them at the nextholler.
But it was something that Ijust loved and I know I would
have been singing somewheresomehow, maybe just in church.

(04:34):
But my sister got my recordingcontract with Decca Records,
owen Bradley.
He produced my first session.
And then it didn't take long forme to realize, for me to make
it on my own, I had to find alabel that believed in me and I
was there because of me and notjust being a sister of, and not
that anything was wrong withthat, but you know, you have to

(04:57):
have the people behind you.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
You do you do?
Do you ever pull out the oldmasters and just listen?
Or maybe you and your husbandget together on a night where
you got nothing going and youjust kind of say, you know, what
Do you remember?
When Do you ever do that?

Speaker 2 (05:11):
I have listened to, pulled out some demos that I had
done actually for the WilburBrothers publishing company.
Oh, yeah, okay, and they helpedme.
You know, go in the studio,learn how to work the mic in the
studio, and, and, and.
Then that just gave me an extrapart of my life of being in the

(05:31):
business.
You know, being around thegreats.
I mean the Wilbur brothers areso wonderful, I mean their
harmonies was so special.

Speaker 1 (05:39):
Oh, yes, oh yes, oh yes, yes.
I want to go back to Donut,Make my Brown Eyes Blue a little
bit, because I wrote.
I have some notes here.
It was recognized by ASCAP asone of the 10 most performed
country songs of the 20thcentury.
One the the 10 most performed.
How's that make you feel?

Speaker 2 (05:59):
oh, I'll take anything.
I love it, all I love it, Ilove it.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
And what about your uh duet with eddie rabbit?
You and I just that was wowjust you and I.

Speaker 2 (06:13):
eddie called and said , hey, will you do some harmony
on one of my records?
And he sent it to me and I said, well, I called him.
I said, ed, will you do someharmony on one of my records?
And he sent it to me and I said, well, I called him.
I said, eddie, I'll do a littlebit more than that if you don't
mind the answering and theverses, and it just all fell
together.
Eddie had already recorded thesong Normally you would work
together, but he had recorded itand then he asked me to be a
part of it.

Speaker 1 (06:33):
But you didn't do it together.
No, so you did your part.
One location, eddie did hispart, I went to the same studio
that.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
Eddie recorded, but you did it separately and then
they mixed it together and theywell, you know, they played
Eddie's, and then I sang, andactually I only that was really
a first take I only redid acouple lines.
I had to match them a littlebit better.
So that only redid a couplelines.
They wanted me, I had to matchhim a little bit better.
So that was it, and it was justand those were the days, you

(07:01):
know, when you can do that- whatdo you think of today's country
?

Speaker 1 (07:05):
because I mean, you're from this time, you know
a place in time.
That country was really likecountry, if I could say that.
I know it changes.
Everything evolves.
We, you know, I mean even withthe wolf.
We, we play everything.
I mean we go back to alabama,we go back to burke's and dunn,
of course, and we're stilltouring, uh, but, and here you
are, but still there's a lot ofnewer artists.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
There's a lot of new artists.
To me, country music is sopopular.
That's why it's so manydifferent sounds, that you're
hearing so many different.
Everybody wants to be a part ofcountry music.
I'm from LA to New York.
I mean they're all just comingto Nashville recording a song to
be country, which is greatbecause they love it and it just

(07:49):
makes it a bigger audience,bigger audience.
But that means you also havenot the straight ahead country
as we had before.
But as long as they do notforget that Exactly and still
play it and be a part of countrymusic, then it's okay.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
I like that you know when Beyonce did what she did,
here not all that long ago.
There were a lot of differentopinions on that, but the way I
looked at it, I'll tell you howI felt.
Maybe you will agree ordisagree, but I looked at it as
somebody coming from a differentgenre of music bringing their
fans into the country formatwhich could only make our format
bigger definitely and, and Ilook at that, uh, it was like

(08:27):
brown eyes.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
Yeah, if they had not accepted me, my song was brown
eyes was number one in the cashbox charts, number two, I think,
in billboard, and it was likeif they had not accepted me, it
wouldn't have gone over, and soit's both ways, and so I feel
lucky with that.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
I talked a lot about music, but the name Crystal.
I want to hear the story abouthow you got the name Crystal,
and I also know that I meanafter the fact.
When you got the name Crystal,you had a crystal shop.
Yes, Can you tell us a littlebit about that.

Speaker 2 (09:03):
Well then, crystal came from being on the same
label as Brenda Lee.
My real name's Brenda, so I hadto change it Right.
And Loretta saw the nameCrystal on a Crystal hamburger
chain.
She said I love that name.
But she also said later in lifeshe said it was a chandelier.

(09:27):
It was named after a chandelier.
But the Crystal hamburgersthey're pretty good hamburgers
Really I've never heard of it.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Maybe it was from back when, wherever, whenever,
Well, they might not be hereRight right, everything's kind
of, but you had a Crystal shop,correct?

Speaker 2 (09:45):
I had.
We closed it, I'm not sure howmany years ago, but we'd had it
for 20-some years and I have somuch respect for retail people.
I mean, that's not easy.
It's hard work and it wasn'thard work on me, but it was hard
work on everybody else, myhusband especially.
I just went and shopped, youknow.

Speaker 1 (10:06):
He's not even listening.
By the way, I know he's doingwhat all of us guys do on that
phone.
He's checking his scores,checking his fantasy football
maybe, and all that.
Yeah See, he's not listening atall.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
I know he's busy, bill Bill, there he goes.

Speaker 1 (10:25):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (10:27):
Was that business, so anyway, so where?

Speaker 1 (10:31):
do you live now real quick before I let you go
crystal, where do you?

Speaker 2 (10:34):
live.
Now we live in nashville,tennessee.
You live in nashville and we'velived there.
Both my children were born innashville and you know it's.
It's a place to go to and be ifyou wanted to get into the
business, and of course you knowI have.
My sister, peggy was here inNashville.
My brother, jay Lee, and so wehad family down there.
So it was just the next step inmy.

(10:54):
We were in Bloomington, indiana, where my husband graduated
from IU, and then he went toVanderbilt University.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
And where'd you guys meet, Like in Nashville?

Speaker 2 (11:04):
No in Wabash, indiana , really Very nice.
So in high school it's beenlove ever since God bless you.

Speaker 1 (11:16):
Thank you, crystal Gale.
Thank you for taking time outof your you know busy schedule.
I know you've got a lot to do,a lot of places to go.
Where are you heading from here?
Do you get to go home or do you?

Speaker 2 (11:21):
No, we're going to Glen Falls.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
Glens Falls, glen Falls, new York, oh wow.

Speaker 2 (11:30):
You don't know you got, and then rhode island, and
then you're home and then headout west.

Speaker 1 (11:33):
There you go well.
Crystal gale, you're a legend,you're a lifesaver, you are just
remarkable woman.
I appreciate everything you'vedone no, no, because it's people
like crystal and you go throughall the different generations
of country music.
It's people like her thatreally put us in the right
direction, and you go throughall the different generations of
country music, it's people likeher that really put us in the
right direction.
And you know, with the songsthat she does, as you saw her do

(11:55):
this today on stage and just soheartfelt and just it's the
real I'm getting.
Look, I got the chicken noodles.
Look at chicken noodles girlright there.
Anyways, everybody give it upfor Crystal Gale, Thank you.
Well, you asked aboutgenerations because
Advertise With Us

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com

24/7 News: The Latest

24/7 News: The Latest

The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.

Therapy Gecko

Therapy Gecko

An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.

Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.