Pen Name

I'm sure you know that old joke about what happens when you play a country music song backwards (get your wife back, get your dog back, get your truck back, etc.) but what happens when you co-edit a collection of stories by country music tunesmiths, but, along with co-editing, you also write a piece for the collection under someone else's name without the knowledge of said person that you had written the story and used her name as author of said story?  Well, it happened:

A Guitar and a Pen, a new collection of short stories and anecdotes written by Music Row tunesmiths, should have music and literary fans singing its praises right now.

Instead, the book has raised questions about its accuracy and authorship in a town where people pay close attention to writing credits.

At issue is one of the featured stories, "He Always Knew Who He Was," attributed to journalist and music business veteran Hazel Smith.

"I did not write that," said Smith, the woman who famously gave country music's "outlaw" movement its name in the early '70s.

Presented as a real-life, first-person narrative, the piece describes Smith accompanying bluegrass legend Bill Monroe on a trip to Washington, D.C., where he performed at the White House and received an honor from then-President Bill Clinton."The only person with Mr. Monroe was (his booking agent) Tony Conway," Smith said. "I was not there; I was nowhere in sight."

One of the book's co-editors, Robert Hicks, has acknowledged authoring the story. His desire was to include Smith as part of A Guitar and a Pen, which also features contributions by Kris Kristofferson, Tom T. Hall, Charlie Daniels and nearly two dozen other songwriters. Rather than having Smith write a story, however, he chose instead to ghostwrite the anecdote, and in the process he rendered at least one key element incorrect.

"I regret it and I take full responsibility for it," said Hicks, the Williamson County author of the bestselling 2005 novel The Widow of the South. "It turns out that the story's point of view isn't correct. It's a story I have told personally for many years, and I was wrong.

"The biggest problem, it seems, is a huge communication gap that occurred between Hazel and me. I thought she was aware which story (I was ghostwriting). Clearly, in hindsight, I find out she wasn't. I have conceded to her and to Tony Conway and to my publisher that I was misinformed. I don't know what else to tell you other than that."

Comments

[John]

What a strange story.

[Anonymous]

My understanding is that not only did she know quite well that he was writing down an old story that she had been telling for years, but that she wanted it in the anthology. She just didn't want to hassle with writing it down, so he wrote it down for her. This is not a story he made up or invented.

Hazel Smith was one of the long-time mistresses of Bill Monroe (she's nearing 80 now), and as such is part of the Nashville royalty. She's been telling that very story for many years. Hicks merely put down on paper the story she'd been telling, and that he had re-told to others in her presence as recently as last month, without her correcting him.

In summary, he was trying to do a favor for an old friend who wanted to be included in the anthology (and, incidentally, paid for contributing) but didn't want to write down her story. He did not invent that story, she did. If the facts were wrong, it's because she told the story that way. But now she's throwing him under the bus. With friends like that....

[hitwriters101]

I have to question your fact checking and agree with John after seeing Hazel Smith's Blog on CMT where she previously said she was honored to be in the book!

"Author Robert Hicks, who wrote The New York Times bestseller, Widow of the South, has compiled an anthology of short stories by Nashville songwriters. Among those featured are Charlie Daniels, Tom T. Hall, Hal Ketchum, Kris Kristofferson, Bob McDill and Hazel Smith. Hazel Smith? For the life of me, I cannot believe I am listed in the same sentence with these award-winning poets and writers."

http://www.cmt.com/news/hot-dish/1583468/hot-dish-alan-jackson-and-ashton-shepherd-excel-with-their-new-albums.jhtml

Maybe she was the one caught in a lie?!?!

[Jeff]

Anon, thanks for the comment. Interesting indeed.

Hitwriters, it's not my fact checking that needs to be questioned. I got the info from the Tennessean. See the link.

[hitwriters101]

i read the tennessean piece and i could be mistaken but nowhere in it did it say that the piece was written without hazel smiths knowledge....

[Jeff]

Ah, I meant that he wrote the piece in her name without telling her that he had written said piece. I'll change "or" to "and" if that makes more sense. Either way, it seems she knew about it but now is claiming that she didn't know that it was that story. All really, well, mysterious.