"Miss Priss and the Outlaws" (dedicated to Poodie, Waco's prettiest baby of 1952)

Yesterday I said that I would be posting a story very soon...a tribute if you will, to a group of men and women who changed my life forever.I didn't think I would be posting it this soon, but this morning I was given the news that an old friend, who has been Willie Nelson's road manager for the past thirty five years died yesterday. His name is Randall "Poodie" Locke. And he was my friend. Poodie was an amazing guy...he lived this life for all it was worth and had a heart as big as all outdoors. The last time I saw him was just a couple of years ago in Birmingham, Alabama. He thought we should surprise Willie and have me over at the side of the stage and just walk out when he started the "Gospel Set". And that is just what we did. It was amazing...Will and I hugged and with a few tears, started into "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" like we always had, when we were all out there, on the road together with Waylon and Jessi .....and Poodie was standing there just grinning. I have a picture of us from that night together....and I'm glad I do. So this story is dedicated to you today Poodie Locke....and there is "a better home awaitin'...In the sky Lord in the sky...."

Once Upon A Time....(and it was a time!)
In a land around the corner...
In a country right upstairs...
Lived a girl who was a princess...
But she needed to do something with her hair!!! haha:)
Soooooo....
"Welcom to Patti-Veesha's House of Beauty!!"
Where our specialty is "mega curl" miracles...
And we can lift those layers up in prayer!!
Between the manicures and pedicures, and the latest styles, you will always find those girls
laughin, and dancin, and always having a big time up in there!

Patti walked over to one of the chairs and sat down...she spun around and stared blankly in the mirror. She said "Mirror mirror on the wall...who's the fairest of them all? and tell me...how in the world did I ever end up here?" Her mind drifted off...to another time and another place. She actually did get to go to the "Palace"... the Palace theatre that is. And that night she felt just like a princess standing on that stage. "What a glorious evening "she thought. but all of a sudden she heard the sound like a bubble pop...the hissing sound....and the fumes of hair spray brought reality back around....like air leaking out of her beautiful balloon. Across the room her friend Becky could see the clouds hovering...watching her tumble back down to the ground.
She knew what was happening and she knew what to do! "Patti!! Patti Veesha!! Straighten up now girl and pin that crown back on real tight! Girl don't you ever let it start slidin to the side!!"
She was a mighty life force that Becky...she could laugh at the devil right in his face, and dance up a storm!! "Becky I didn't say a thing did I?" You didn't have to girl....I know what you were thinking about!"

Sometimes after work the girls would head on down to "Fido's Coffee Bistro" and sip on a couple of "Pink Poodles". One night they sat there at one of the tables, talking, and "stirrin those clouds up in their coffees". Patti leaned back in her chair, and said "Becky! I want to tell you a story!" Patti always had these good stories. Becky said"O.K.....tell me a story!" Patti said "Becky ...Once Upon a Time...there were two ladies who knew, that God could put the heart of a king inside a flesh and blood man. They were women who could baton down the hatches, and ride out all the storms. They stood with their feet planted firmly on "the Rock of Ages" I would listen every night as Jesse sang...".storms never last do they baby? And bad times all pass with the wind..." One night we played at a beautiful old theatre in downtown St. Louis and I stood in the wings and listened as John and June Carter Cash sang "the taste of love is sweet...when hearts like ours meet. I fell for you like a child...Oh but the fire went wild!" These two ladies both had degrees from the "University of Tough Love." Jessi was the air that Waylon breathed... and the calm in all of the chaos. And sometimes when she needed to, she could talk him down from way up there on the" high wire" and bring him back to the arms of unconditional love. They walked it out on the bottom line...Waylon and Jessi, John and June....walkin that line come hell... or high water. Yes, and sometimes the waters got high....But they meant business!! I'll tell you Becky......... you know Miss June was always so kind, and did I ever tell you Becky that John Cash once gave me a red rose that I keep in my bible...and I'll never forget the afternoon that I spent with Will, and he played me all the songs from "Angel Eyes". And Becky I tell you true, I could always see the love of God in Willie Nelson's eyes.....I tell you Becky, these were close encounters of a whole other kind!!" Sometimes in the back of that" black coach" movin down the highway, Jessi and I would talk and laugh and sometimes pray...and there were times when Mac and Shooter would come along and there would be a lot of laughin and jokin along the way. Waylon and Jigger and Gary and Floyd and Dan, and Mr. Moon would sit up front playin cards. Jessi was my sister and Waylon was my brother, and when he walked me down the stairs of their house the day I got married...he was like a father...but always my friend...Waylon and John...Willie and Kris. Authentic and one of a kind.
Well anyhow Becky those men were like modern day "Shadrak Meeshak and Abednigo" kind of guys. They stood and would not bow to that "idol" of homogenizin and pasturizin" music they wanted them to play. "Do it our way!" the Nashville music exec's said" Or you can take the highway!!" And that is exactly what they did! The Highwaymen...keepin it real...to the highways and the byways they would go! They had the love of God in there hearts...and the people knew they were for real too! They were true to themselves.... They were true to their music...true to what they held sacred...they loved each other, and the people too....it was the only way they knew....they marched to the beat of a different drummer... and I did too....yeah Becky....and to this day ..I still do too.
In that fiery furnace you could hear them singin... "songs of love and freedom" Becky, ....they were the kind of men right out of a Louis Lamour western...each one just a wonder...rare ...real and true. They were tough but vulnerable...rugged, but sometimes I'll tell you girl they could be so smooth! And when you were invited for the ride they would take you to a mountaintop and show you the most magnificent view. What a time Becky.... What a time! They could really blow your mind.... I would see them pretty low sometimes, skimming the depths of hell itself, and then watch while the angels themselves walked them clean out to the other side. After wrestling with the devil...... one more time!! It was life on the high wire and a trip to the moon.....and it was over way too fast...and it ended much too soon. And I tell you true Becky...no one will ever play a steel guitar quite like Mr. Moon.

"And you know what Becky?" "If I had the chance to do it all over again...I would do it in a heartbeat....and feel the music take my breath again.......... with The Highwaymen and Jesse and June..... one more time....." I'm still hummin a song Becky....yes I am...down deep inside.


At "Patti-Veesha's" you can always be a princess...
Just bring your dreams inside.....
Cause if you want a happily ever after....
Like Becky says " You just can't let that crown slide to the side!!"
So hold on tight little girl....
Cause it's coming around again....
Destiny is waiting for you ....its coming around one more time!
I can still hear the song of the "Highwaymen".....
"Across the river deep and wide..."
"And with the Highwaymen, along the coach roads I did ride"
"And still....the song remains...
And always will.... again...
and again......and again.


Lyrics from the "Highwaymen" by Jimmy Webb