From today's Writer's Almanac:

Today is Constitution Day in the United States, because it was on this day in 1787 that the final draft of the Constitution was signed. There were 55 delegates working on the Constitution, and they had been showing up day after day for almost four months to the State House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Nashville Years II (Related Diary Entries II)

Here's a diary entry I ran across. It's not related to my experience with Ron or Earl, but I thought it worth posting. I'd forgotten this event, so I was surprised by the reminder and the remembering. The entry is from 6 December 1981:

As seems almost usual for me on Sunday morning, I woke up ill at the world. The Lord knows how hard it is for me to get up before 11 AM. I almost decided not to go to church, like every Sunday, thinking that I got nothing from the small, country service. Then I realized, as always, that they are my people and, even though I may get nothing from the service but seeing them and feeling their friendship, that is enough. Then I also came face to face with the fact that the singing I dread with such passion is for them and not for me, and that, being graciously given the gift from God, it is my duty to sing for them. It should also be my desire to do so.

Well, Allen met me at the door asking if what he heard about me signing with Capitol was true and he was followed closely by Butch asking the same. I quickly gave them my practiced explanation about Townhouse [Records] but they were still pleased.

When time came for me to sing came around, as I was getting my guitar, Raymond spoke up about my struggles with my music and my witness for the church and my hopefully impending record deal. Then totally unexpectedly he suggested a standing ovation for me and I was overwhelmed. If it is not the Lord's will that this all go through all right, He sure is planning to teach me a great lesson in disappointment. Evan at that, though, this morning was a great blessing and I am very thankful for all the people there. . . .

Oh, in church I sang "A Song for Carolina" and "Dear Mother."

Although I've mostly lost track of Butch, Allen and I are friends on Facebook. Raymond is dead now, as are most of the people who were there that December Sunday morning in 1981. In the end, I left that little church behind without much in the way of second thoughts or regrets. But the reminder of this moment fills my plate with a range of emotions—a pinch of nostalgic joy, a big helping of nostalgic heartache, a spoonful of anger at God (along with a double spoonful of confusion) regarding this "great lesson in disappointment." Such thoughts and memories raise questions, and their answers are not forthcoming.

Nashville Years II (Related Diary Entries I)

Not exactly as I remembered it in my last post but close, allowing 30 years or so for memory decay. According to my diary—"Captain's Log"—for this time period, Ron and I met Earl in November 1981. We returned to Nashville on 15 December to sign the contracts and receive $2,000 as an advance; I got $1,500, and Ron's 25% gave him $500.

From 2 December 1981

This musician's life can, at this point, be very boring. I sit around all day and night reading, listening to music and watching TV. I try to write but I'm so bored there is little inspiration and when the inspiration comes, I am so fidgety waiting for something to happen, inspired thoughts are lost before I can even sit down. This becomes very frustrating because I can get very cranky when I am not writing because it is now as much a part of my life as sleep or Mountain Dew or late night TV.

There are 3 songs I recorded in Nashville last month which, I'm afraid, are going to have to be on the album. I don't want them on the album but it seems I have little control over that. It's not that they aren't good songs, I just like mine better. I feel the real reason for this is at this point I view myself as a songwriter solely. Once the recording artist/performer actually comes into a reality, I may be more comfortable with the idea of having to do other people's songs, but as of now, viewing myself as a songwriter, it hurts my self-image and confidence. Once I hear my own songs fully recorded, my ideas may change but I doubt they will until I actually begin performing and/or one of those songs becomes a hit. I cannot say at this time what the album will consist of, but I do feel that it will be very good.

From 19 January 1982

Delays and more delays! Earl has had problems with collecting money so as a result both mine and Ron's checks have bounced. Then, in trying to right the whole thing, recording was postponed and now things look like it will be February before we start. I'm being patient enough I guess but we've had snows and ice storms so I've been cooped up here at the house for quite a while and now have a definite case of cabin fever; I'm stark raving stir crazy. I keep thinking about the album and what I'm gonna be able to get on it and what it's gonna come out sounding like . . . I'm about to explode! I've almost finished a rocker called "Some Kind of Magic" and I feel I'd like to record it; if need be in the place of "Fallin' For You Again." Also, there is a new slow ballad called "Just Can't Find the Words" and I'd like to put that on the album. So many to choose from now that I cannot allow, if at all possible, anything outside of my own to show up on the record.

Nashville Years II

In 1959, when I was working on being one year old, Earl Sinks (later a.k.a. Earl "Snake" Richards) took over for a brief stint as lead singer of The Crickets, after that group had split with its more famous lead singer and songwriter Buddy Holly. He wrote and recorded songs for the music industry in 1960s Nashville: "House of Blue Lights" (United Artists Records), "Corrine, Corrina" (United Artists Records), "Margie, Who's Watching the Baby?" (Ace of Hearts Records). He had contributed to the B-movie industry by starring or costarring in three films: That Tennessee Beat (1966), Girl from Tobacco Row (1966), White Lightnin' Road (1967).

http://www.myspace.com/earlrichards

http://www.rockabilly.nl/references/messages/earl_sinks.htm

When Ron Weathers and I walked into Earl's office in Goodlettesville, TN, we saw memorabilia and awards from a varied career that had already spanned more than 20 years. I was young, and Ron was ambitious. Our heads spun. Earl could probably tell. Once he heard something—probably, as with Ron, it was "Daisy"—that he thought he could do something with, we didn't really stand a chance. How many young songwriters walk into their first Nashville meeting and basically walk out with a publishing deal and what looks very like a recording contract? My memory might be bumping some things together and mixing them up, but that's more or less how it happened.

Not only did Earl spin our heads in his office, he took us to a recording studio on Music Row (the name of which I've forgotten but I remember that Waylon Jennings had recorded there), where we did three songs. Well, we didn't actually fully record three songs. Earl had an old project in the archives there. He had the engineer put the reels on, remove or mute the singer's voice, and then I sang to the tracks. There I was, singing in a bona fide Nashville recording studio right out of the gate. I was thrilled and flabbergasted!

After such sudden success, such a heady experience, Ron and I had no hesitation, paused for no negotiation, when offered both a publishing contract and a production deal (one step short of a recording contract). Each was for five years. At some point I had already signed a 10-year management contract with Ron, so obviously I had no problem signing Earl's deals. Ron, who as my manager was supposed to be protecting me, when the contracts were handed to him simply handed on to me and said, "Sign these." (It happened something like that.) The irony is that Ron, in allowing me to sign Earl's contracts, more or less cut himself out of the picture. He still had me for 10 years (and 25% of my earnings), but in all ways that mattered, I was taken right out of his hands. He never really had a say in anything related to me from that time onward. Before two years had passed, Ron and his contract were completely out of the picture, and Earl had me to himself.