I lay in the floor in a daze. Did she really say what I thought she did?
Freddie brought me back to reality by shaking me.
“Wiley, WILEY! Are you okay?”
“Huh? I mean yeah, I’m all right,”
“Well get up then, get squared away. Everybody is getting ready for the last number.”
I got up, swapping my bass for my Stratatone. This song had a good slide lead in it. I looked around but couldn’t see Moira anywhere, so I took my place.
The three drummers led us off. ‘Twisting The Night Away’ was an old Sam Cooke song. When I was about twelve, just when I was getting familiar with a guitar, my Mom and Dad dragged me to a Rod Stewart concert. They were big fans and had a lot of his work, including when he fronted the Faces.
They pretty much had everything except his disco stuff, Dad felt he sold out and stopped listening to him for years. When Rod came out and apologized for his disco era Dad forgave him.
Even to a twelve year old the music wasn’t half bad, He was younger and still had his voice.
His finisher was ‘Twisting The night Away’, and it blew the crowd away.
When we were trying to find a closer, I thought of it and pulled it up in the computer, finding a clip from the right era. Everyone saw the potential. Old time rock and roll, using every musician except the strings, and they could be back up singers.
I could do a fair Rod Stewart, so I sang the first verse before stepping back to turn my slide loose. Freddie sang the second, then Frank sang the third. We went into the long break, featuring the horns, particularly saxophone.
A new spotlight came on, and there was Moira and all the girls, clustered around two mikes, singing away. We did the last verse, and came to a thunderous finish. The lights went off, and there were call of thanks and goodnight.
We stood in the dark for a full two minutes. People started to leave, and then the drums started up and we redid the last verse. When the vocals were over we just jammed while Mel came on and introduced every musician that shared the stage. Freddie got the most applause, followed by Moira, and then me. Musically it was the best night of my life.
…………………….
Ever been physically exhausted while at the same time mentally exhilarated? That was us afterwards.
Freddie came to me.
“Man! What a show. Playing with you guys is never dull, but I’m beat. I’ll call you Monday, we’ve got things to talk about.”
I looked, but Moira was nowhere to be seen. Jimmy said she left right after the show, and promised to call Monday. Sammi left word she would like to talk to me also, if I had some free time Monday.
I better rest tomorrow, Monday was gonna be really busy.
I had lunch with Mom and Dad Sunday. As usual Mom talked and we listened. If Dad had something important to say he would, but if not he would let Dottie talk. She gently chewed me out over my failed love life. Then she said better days were ahead for me, she can feel it.
I hope so, and she was usually right.
……………………..
I met Freddie Monday morning at my studio. He was bubbling over, and had brought his manager and producer with him.
The manager just smiled while the producer raved about the show. He went on and on about chemistry and quality. I knew he was leading up to something so I let him ramble. He finally wound down.
Freddie took over.
“This isn’t a strictly social visit, Wiley. I’ll get right to the point. How committed is your band in the near future?”
Our agency handled the bookings, but I had final say. There are some places that for various reasons I refuse to play at. Some were dives, some were run by people who didn’t like to pay on time, and some I just didn’t like period.
“We’re three weeks out that I know of. I’m supposed to call this afternoon and confirm about another three weeks’ worth, bu that’s tentative right now.”
The manager stepped in.
“What we’d like to do is hire you to work on Freds’ new album, as well as be his backup band on his next tour. We’ve got eight dates we have to honor as a warmup act, but we’re anticipating doing a headline tour after that. We’ll go into details later, but we’ll pay well and it could be a tremendous opportunity for you and your band.”
Wow. Double wow.
Fred broke in to try and seal the deal.
“By your band, we don’t mean Half Irish. We want the Smilin’ Wiley Orchestra, at least most of it.
The crowd really seemed to like the western swing, and we’re thinking about doing a tribute to Bob Wills and some of the other pioneers. It won’t be just me singing, either. I’ve already got a few more artists interested in doing a song or at least a cameo. This could be big, Wiley, big.”
“And we don’t want you as just a musician, we want you to be musical director for the project, and I’m sure you’ll bring Moira in to help with the arranging. Think about it for a few days and get back to us. Now, we need to have a serious discussion.”
This wasn’t a serious discussion already? I didn’t know what to expect.
Apparently it was time for the producer to speak.
“I’ve been doing this for twenty five years. In that time, if you don’t have an ‘ear’, you’re not very successful. And if I didn’t have that ‘ear’ I would have been gone a long time ago.”
“I guarantee you ‘I Got A Plan’ will be Freddie’s breakout record. Platinum, minimum. And your song Saturday, ‘How Could You Love Me’, will probably perform just as well.”
“As a matter of fact, we want to record and release it as soon as possible before the tour.
I want it done just like you did it Saturday night, down to your partner playing.”
“And one more thing. Fred tells me you have a whole file cabinet full of songs. I want first choice at them. If it won’t fit Freddie, well, I produce a lot of acts. If I can’t find anyone in house to do a song you’ve given me, I have lots of friends that do what I do. One of them will have the right artist for the song. I’m willing to pay a very generous retainer. Think about all we’ve said and try to get back to us by Friday.”
He paused for just a second.
“While you’re thinking, let’s work on “How Could You Love Me’. I’d like to have the video out in two weeks.”
Two weeks? The music business never moves that fast.
I wouldn’t commit to anything until I talked to Moira and Jimmy. If they came on board we would recruit the rest later.
I called Jimmy and had him get Moira and come over. It was a lot for them to digest. Instead of bars we would be playing to thousands on a regular basis. True, we wouldn’t be the focus, but we would be up there none the less. I was single. Moira was now single, so we weren’t leaving anyone behind.
Jimmy had to sell it to Crystal. It was only eight dates to start with, but we had to record and rehearse, and we couldn’t do it in our hometown. They had four kids not counting the one on the way.
Mom, bless her heart, volunteered to help her. She said she would use his kids as practice for her own grandchildren. We would be back from tour two months before the due date. They really needed the money and it was a great opportunity, so she came on board.
After Jimmy left that Monday, Moira and I had our first serious talk.
I started it.
“You know why Sammi and I split up, but tell me what happened to your marriage.”
She collected herself, looking inward.
“We were desperately in love. He was smart, handsome, and on his way to being very successful.
We had a plan. Two kids at least. I was going to be a homemaker, at least until they got older.”
“Erin was a joy. A quiet, happy baby. We wanted to space them apart, and we decided to wait at least three years before we had another.”
“Then his business took off. He started traveling more and more.”
“When Erin got sick, my whole world collapsed. Because he was gone so often, I had to handle everything myself. When I finally asked him to cut back and help, he agreed. For about two months he stayed close to home. But, as Erin got worse he started traveling more. I think he couldn’t face the fact that she was dying.”
“At the same time, he was insisting we keep to the schedule we had agreed on and have another child.”
You could see the pain on her face.
“I couldn’t, Wiley, I just couldn’t. I was spending every hour with Erin, grieving her impending death, and I just wasn’t up to getting pregnant. I think I was afraid if I had another there was a chance that child would get sick too.”
“I think it was the beginning of the end for us. After Erin passed I just went through the motions for awhile. I refused to go off the pill. I was just too afraid.”
“After that we just started drifting apart. We stayed intimate for awhile, but when he saw I wasn’t going to get pregnant he pretty much lost interest. We’ve worked together for a little over a year and I hadn’t shared his bed for about six months prior.”
“Finally, three months ago, he flew home, asking him to meet him at the airport.”
“When we got home he said the infamous words-we need to talk. He had fallen out of love with me, and had met someone. In fact, she was three months pregnant. He wanted a divorce.”
“I wanted to feel angry, or betrayed, but all I felt was relief. I still loved him, but not like a wife should love her husband.”
“We were very amicable, and he was far more generous than he needed to be. I got the house and enough money to see me living comfortable for the rest of my life. He got to move on and marry his girlfriend. I didn’t know it, but he had changed his legal address to Reno. You can apply for a divorce after six weeks and get it almost immediately.”