Patsy's early stage equipment shares space with her impressive wall o' singles.

Patsy Cline Museum

Nashville, Tennessee

Patsy Cline, inspiring and tragic, has remained a music-fan favorite long after her plane crash demise in 1963. For decades, however, her followers could only visit the impact site or her childhood home, apparently because her still-living husband had control of her belongings. He finally died in late 2015, and on April 7, 2017, the Patsy Cline Museum opened in Nashville. Its dedication was attended by both Patsy's daughter and Nashville's mayor.

The Cline's knotty pine rec room, with original furniture and media gizmos.

Patsy was a popular star who (briefly) lived in a fancy house in a Nashville suburb, but the museum stresses her mostly modest life. Visitors can see her old porch glider, a booth from the drugstore where she worked as a waitress and soda jerk, and the sewing machine on which her early cowgirl stage costumes were sewn by her seamstress mom (who was only 16 years older than Patsy). Her husband saved a vast amount of Patsy's stuff, including her dining room (with her $25 vacuum cleaner and complete salt and pepper shaker collection) and her knotty pine rec room (with its black-and-white TV, console hi-fi, and still-working 1957 refrigerator).

Larger than life, Patsy smiles on those entering her museum.

The Superstar Patty of her final years can be glimpsed in the museum's "Home Sweet Home" showcase, which includes her gold lame pants and a custom-made cigarette lighter in a full-size cowboy boot.

Patsy died when she was only 30, and the museum tugs at heartstrings by allowing visitors to thumb through her wedding photo album and fan mail on computer tablets. They can also see her wristwatch of death, and read the telegram of sympathy sent to her family by Col. Tom Parker on behalf of Elvis. Patsy and Elvis were pals. She called herself "The Cline" and everyone else "Hoss" -- except Elvis. He was "Big Hoss."