Free Honky Tonk Angel by Ellis Nassour Page A

a booking he had arranged, Lisell washed his hands of the whole affair.
    McCall and Cohen were still in the picture. Cohen liked the band, and was prepared to offer them a year’s contract, but it meant they’d have to stay in New York. Because of jobs and families, the musicians didn’t pursue the deal.
    Finally, after eleven days, it was time to head home. Patsy overslept, and, as everyone was anxious to leave, she packed quickly.
    Patsy returned to Frederick and to Gerald and his early Christmas present—to himself—a sporty 1955 Buick Roadmaster. She took to wearing a flattering New York-style coiffure, pulling her hair up and over her head.
    Besides the cowgirl outfits Mrs. Hensley made, Patsy now sported her New York “originals,” the most glamorous being a “shocking” semi-strapless two-piece
black gown with silver highlights and a sequined bodice that she tied with a chiffon sash.

    The Saturday before Thanksgiving, as Patsy, Bill, and the band rehearsed, Mrs. Peer arrived and sat with Fay. Shortly after, a delivery arrived from the Dixie Hotel. It was a large box addressed to Mrs. Bill Peer. Jenny thought it was a surprise from Bill and hurried to open it.
    “Why on earth is the hotel in New York sending me Patsy’s coat?” she inquired.
    She read the attached note: “Dear Mrs. Peer, we are happy to inform you that the coat you left behind in your room was turned over to this office by your maid. We are returning it herewith. Sorry if your oversight caused you any inconvenience. It was our pleasure to serve you. We hope you had a nice trip.”
    As Patsy told Del Wood later: “I looked at Bill, he looked at me and Jenny looked at both of us. The music stopped and you could hear a pin drop. Bill said, ‘Oh, shit!’ and almost did. Then all hell broke loose!”
    Fay noted that thereafter the various goings-on in what she called the Brunswick Triangle slowed notably. Gerald suddenly started following Bill and Patsy everywhere they went. Jenny was always “dropping in” on rehearsals unexpectedly and staying all night at the dances. She never let them out of her sight. Yet Bill and Patsy found a way.
    McCall contacted Cohen, who reviewed the tapes and saw Patsy’s potential, not exclusively as a country singer. He felt that she had great pop potential. “Bill, I want to sign her,” he said to McCall. “How much?”
    “No,” McCall told him. “What I’m offering is a leasing deal. I retain all artist and publishing rights.”
    Cohen was suspicious of such an arrangement and felt the stipulation that Patsy only record Four-Star songs would limit selectivity. In the end, he bought it. But he had one reservation about Patsy: “She’s two handfuls. Can you control her?” McCall assured him, “Don’t worry about her. I’ll take care of her.”
    McCall advised Bill to whip Patsy and the band into shape. He sent new material, which, when sufficiently rehearsed, was tried out on the Saturday night Moose regulars. The first weekend in December a Fredericksburg, Virginia, radio station studio was booked for a demo session.
    “It was the only facility with decent equipment,” Roy Deyton explained. “Patsy, really primed for the occasion, recorded ‘Honky Tonk Merry-Go-Round,’ ‘Hidin’ Out,’ ‘A Church, a Courtroom and Then Goodbye’ and ‘Turn the Cards Slowly,’ which we did in New York. The band was paid, but we really all pitched in to help Bill. It seemed he wouldn’t rest until he made Patsy a star.”
    It was obvious that Bill’s goals were not the same as those of the band members. The following Saturday at rehearsal, Patsy stopped the music and yelled, “Goddamn it! Can’t you guys ever get the beat right? Bill, do something. They’re awful.”
    Grover Shroyer, the drummer, expressed the general consensus, “That’s right, Patsy, treat us like dirt. You got what you wanted. You don’t need us anymore.”
    Before the dance, Patsy apologized and smoothed Shroyer’s