Patsy Montana, 81, a Pioneer In Country Music in the 1930's

Patsy Montana, whose yodeling-cowgirl songs made her a pioneer in country music, died on Friday at her home in San Jacinto, Calif., The Associated Press reported. She was 81.

Ms. Montana had her biggest hit, "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart," in 1935, the first million-selling hit for a female country singer. It brought an assertive female voice to country music, as she announced her readiness to "rope and ride" and sang whooping high notes. Ms. Montana remained active for a career that lasted six decades.

Ms. Montana, who original name was Rubye Blevins, was born in Hot Springs, Ark., in 1914, and grew up in Hope, Ark., hearing the music of Jimmie Rodgers, country's "blue yodeler." She moved to California in 1930 with an older brother, and began performing on radio there after winning a talent contest. She joined the revue of a well-known country singer, Stuart Hamblen, in 1931, working with a group called the Montana Cowgirls; Hamblen renamed her Patsy. She made her first recordings as Patsy Montana in 1932, and in 1933 she moved to Chicago to perform on WLS radio with the Prairie Ramblers.

She appeared regularly on the "National Barn Dance" program and recorded for the American Record Corporation, usually accompanied by the Ramblers; she relocated with them to WOR radio in Manhattan in 1935. Along with "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart," which she wrote, her hits included "Shy Anne from Old Cheyenne," "The She Buckaroo," "Rodeo Sweetheart" and "I Wanna Be a Western Cowgirl." In 1939, she appeared with Gene Autry in the movie "Colorado Sunset."

During the 1940's, she recorded with the Sons of the Pioneers and the Light Crust Doughboys, and had a hit with "Goodnight, Soldier" during World War II. She returned to Arkansas in 1948, performing on radio there and at the Saturday-night "Louisiana Hayride" in Shreveport, La. When her husband, Paul Rose, was transferred to California, the family moved to the West Coast, and Ms. Montana went into temporary retirement during the 1950's.

But she returned to touring in the 1960's. In 1964, she made an album with a band that included Waylon Jennings, little known at the time, on lead guitar. In the 1970's and 80's, she made albums for folk and bluegrass labels like Birch, Old Homestead and Flying Fish.

She is survived by her husband; a daughter, Beverly Losey, both of San Jacinto, and two brothers, Ira Blevins of Mena, Ark., and Kenneth Blevins of Florida.