Winchester was visited by country music royalty today.
Crystal Gayle was in town for filming of the first episode of Faith & Family’s “Finding Kindness” TV series at Winchester Café, a Main Street diner set to open around the end of August.
The singer, best known for her No. 1 hit single “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue,” was easy to recognize in the crowd with those piercing blue eyes, radiant smile, and raven hair that nearly swept the floor as she walked through the restaurant greeting the film crew and guests.
She had been here for a couple of days and had found the community charming.
“We’ve seen some beautiful country. It makes me homesick. I don’t get to Butcher Holler as often as I’d like to,” she said, referring to her East Kentucky early childhood home.
Gayle said she was happy to be involved with the television show, which accentuates the positive at time when a good deal of what people see on TV is negative.
“I’m excited to be on the show” that aims to “bring some goodness into the world,” she said. “They mean a lot to me.”
Gayle said she has enjoyed meeting pleasant people in her travels.
“So many people are just special,” she said. “They’re just kind.”
A long career on stage
Gayle has a busy touring schedule this summer, with shows scheduled in Texas, California, Nevada, and other places. Asked what her most interesting or exciting venue ever was, she seemed surprised.
“Oh, there’s so many! From the White House to Red Rocks in Colorado,” she said. “Every place is special.”
“I’ve been all over the world, and they love music no matter what,” she said.
Gayle recalled her first big performance, when she was only 16 and filled in for Loretta at the Grand Olé Opry because her sister was ill.
Loretta’s husband, Mooney, talked her into going on stage.
“It was scary. It was Ernest Tubb’s band that backed me,” she remembered. “I sang ‘Ribbon of Darkness,’ which is Marty Robbins.”
“I loved Marty,” she said, and added, “I have been honored” to work with stars such as Robbins, Eddie Rabbitt, Jack Greene, Faron Young “and, of course, my sister, Loretta Lynn.”
‘Named after a hamburger’
It was Loretta who gave her the first part of her stage name.
Born Brenda Gail Webb in Paintsville, Kentucky, she grew up in Wabash, Indiana, and started singing in high school. She was told by the renowned producer, Owen Bradley, of Decca Records, that after she graduated, he could record her. But Bradley already had several hits with another teen singer, Brenda Lee, and so she needed another name.
She used her middle name, Gail, as her last name and changed the spelling.
As for Crystal: “Loretta saw the name on a Krystal hamburger place, which is popular in the South,” and told her “That’s it. That’s who you are.”
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“So, yes, I’m named after a hamburger,” she laughed.
Asked whether she had ever lived any other life besides that of an entertainer, she said, not really, other than some babysitting when she was young.
Asked what she’s working on now besides touring, Gayle said: “I am recording a new single, and I have been doing other projects as well.”
One of which is “Finding Kindness.” It will air on the Faith & Family channel and will stream on Apple and Amazon Prime.
Gayle and her husband, Bill Gatzimos, live in Nashville, and their children live there as well.
