Chapter 8

Within minutes, Mr. Belancamp has two new girls talking with Bobbie, and she hurried over to tell me that Mr. Belancamp’s daughters, Melissa and Melanie, are taking her shopping for some new jeans, boots and t-shirts. I let her hug me again, and by now, I’m sorta looking forward to her hugs more and more.

They had just cleared the studio when Mr. C W and the Collins Sisters came into the sound studio where I am. I didn’t know until they told me, but Mr. C W is their agent too.

“Beau, Rily and Rita told me they met you and Bobbie on the sidewalk the other day when all of you sang and played for WSM Radio,” he told me, as I stood to shake hands with each of them.

Rily told me, “Beau, we heard your playback of Dixie just now and that was so damned awesome. You’re the best ever at playing that old flattop and harmonica at the same time.”

I was about to say something, when she reached for me with her arms up, and hugged me to her breasts. Before I could say a word, her sister had me in a bear-hug with her breasts mashed against my chest. Both of them are a lot bigger than Bobbie, and boy can I ever feel it, when they hug me like that.

“Rily and I have asked C W if he’ll let you play backup for all our demos, and recordings too, if and when, we get to start cutting records, that is,” she told me before letting her arms drop.

“Thanks. When I heard y’all singing on the sidewalk that day, I told Bobbie that y’all really sing good together. I like the way your voices harmonize when you hit the high soprano notes and not just contralto, as most girls do.”

“Wow, you do know your music. Not many boys know the difference in a girl’s voice range,” Rita told me.

“I learned that in school when I sang in the school choir for two years. But I never took music lessons, or even had any singing lessons back then. My voice was what the music teacher called a filler, back then.”

Rily pulled my arm against her breasts again, leaning so close I thought she was about to kiss me, when she said, “Beau, you play that harmonica, with your guitar so different from anyone we’ve ever heard...

“You may have just created a whole new sound in Country Music.”

The first song we did, it took us three times before we were able to complete the song without being stopped, or one of them stopping in the middle of a line.

Once we had the wrinkles ironed out, they were really into it as I play my guitar and harmonica.

On the last two songs we did, Mr. Belancamp came in and told us that he wants me to play the complete refrain, before they come in, to sing the last verse to end the song.

Listening to the playback, Rily and Rita are on either side of me as I sat on the stool, the three of us with our headsets on. When we heard that part, with just my instruments, I got a kiss on each cheek, and I felt my face heat up.

Bobbie came back just as we were wrapping up for the day.

Each of us have been given a set time to be here Monday. My time is the earliest, as Mr. Belancamp told me I was scheduled to play in his studio recording band...

... Beginning Monday.

Bobbie is smiling as she walks straight to me. I could hardly believe the difference in her, dressed in her new clothes. She’s wearing the same type of undershirt the Collins sisters wear underneath their long sleeve shirts.

Rita reached out toward Bobbie with her arms open and Bobbie surprised me when they hugged like best friends.

“Bobbie, we heard the recording of your first demo, and I’ve got to tell you, Girl, you nailed that song.”

“Thanks, Rita. I was just told that you and Rily have recorded five songs with Beau backing you up on the harmonica and guitar. I’m so happy for both of you and I hope we can all be friends, since Mr. C W is your agent too...

“He just told me that he has reservations for all of us at some fancy nightclub later, for dinner, he called it.”

“Yes, he told us just before we came in to record with Beau, that we’d all have dinner together, and that all of us we may even get to perform on stage, if the club manager calls him back.”

“He must have called, because he just told me that I’d get to do three songs and y’all will too. Of course, Beau will back all of us up and even play some solo instrumentals, according to what he said.”

I put my guitar in my case and Mr. Belancamp told me to keep the harmonica rig, that I’m going to need it, whenever folks began to recognize me.

I almost asked him to say that again, but Bobbie, Rita, and Rily were pulling on my arms, telling me to hurry.

I was about to walk out behind them, carrying my guitar case, when Mr. C W reached up to pull a big western hat off a hat rack near the exit door, and stuff it down tight on my head, at an angle. I looked to see him grinning, then with my left hand, I took the hat off to look it over.

It’s a Bull Hide - Desperado. I put it on and pulled it down at an angle, about like he had it, and smiled at him as we walked out together.

“We’re all going to the Wild Horse Saloon tonight Beau, and you’ll need an image. Mark my word, you’ll have your own fan club by the time this night is over, and my young friend, you better get ready for it...

“Those three girls up there have their own special image, since Charles’ daughters took Bobbie shopping and brought them back wearing camisoles with built-in bras, like those two Collins sisters wear.”

This was a real surprise for me, a man with all his money, at the top of the Country Music Business, talking guy-talk with me about girls’ clothes, and built-in bras.

On our way to take Rily and Rita by their condo, Mr. C W is sitting beside me, with the three girls sitting across from us, having their own hush-hush girl-gab session.

He told me that I need to seriously consider letting him set Bobbie and me up in a condo next to the Collins sisters.

Then, he absolutely floored me.

“Beau, Charles is going to advance you a hundred and seventy-five thousand, just to secure first rights for you at his recording studio, before others in the industry hear you play. You have a special gift Beau, and you do it so easily and so naturally, that it comes over as some of the most astounding sounds we’ve ever heard in this business...