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Patsy Bruce

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Patsy Bruce
Birth namePatsy Ann Smithson
BornMarch 8, 1940
Brownsville, Tennessee, United States
DiedMay 16, 2021(2021-05-16) (aged 81)
GenresCountry music
Occupation(s)Songwriter, music manager
Formerly of

Patsy Ann Bruce (née Smithson; March 8, 1940 – May 16, 2021) was an American country-western songwriter, music artist manager, and casting agent and businesswoman. She is best known for songs co-written with her then-husband, singer Ed Bruce, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, including the country-western standard "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," which was recorded by Waylon Jennings with Willie Nelson and went to No. 1 on the country chart in 1978.

Biography

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Early life

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Patsy Bruce was born Patsy Ann Smithson to Henry and Hazel Smithson on March 8, 1940,[citation needed] in Brownsville, Tennessee.[1][2][3]

Personal life and early career

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In October 1964, while she was employed as a secretary she married William Edwin Bruce Jr., subsequently known professional as Ed Bruce, who was working as a car salesman and trying to break into music at the time. They had met in Nashville but married in Memphis before moving back to Nashville in 1966. They had a daughter in 1965, and she suffered a miscarriage in 1967, before giving birth to another daughter in 1968 and adopting a son in 1970; her husband also had a son from a previous marriage.[1][4][5][6] Patsy began serving as her husband's manager, and she also began writing songs with him, and the couple established several publishing companies in Nashville.[1]

Professional music career

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In 1975, they collaborated on the song "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" — Patsy suggested swapping in "cowboys" for Ed's original line "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Guitar Players."[6][7] Ed Bruce's version made it to No. 15 on the Hot Country Singles charts in late 1975 and early 1976. Then, in March 1978, a Waylon Jennings/Willie Nelson cover hit No. 1 on the country music charts and spent four weeks there.[7][8] A cover by Gibson/Miller Band only reached number 49, however the song became a country standard and was named one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time by members of the Western Writers of America.[9]

The Bruces had another songwriting hit with Tanya Tucker's 1978 cover of Texas (When I Die), which Patsy co-wrote with her husband and singer Bobby Borchers. It made it to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.[7][8]

Management and other business interests

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She served a stint as president of the Nashville Songwriters Association International in the late 1970s and early 1980s.[7][10][11][12] She and Ed also ran the Ed Bruce Talent Agency in Nashville during this period, and she worked as a casting director for the TV show Maverick and the 1980 film Urban Cowboy.[3][7][13]

Patsy Bruce
Tennessee State Board of Probation and Parole[7]
In office
2004–2014

Ed and Patsy Bruce had separated in 1986, and Ed formally filed for divorce the following year.[1][7] After the split, Patsy focused on the event management company "Events Unlimited".[4][7][14] She also became involved in politics, campaigning for Phil Bredesen for governor. When he was elected, he appointed her to the Tennessee State Board of Probation and Parole in 2004, and she served on the board for 10 years.[3][7][14][15] During this time, cases she voted on included those of John A. Brown, convicted of the murder of singer, musician, and Grand Ole Opry member David "Stringbean" Akeman; the Green Hills rapist; and Gaile Owens.[7][16][17]

In 2017, she launched Songbird Tours, a songwriting-focused tour company in Nashville, with her son, the songwriter Trey Bruce.[18][11]

Death

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Bruce died on May 16, 2021, at age 81, of unspecified causes, just over four months after her ex-husband Ed Bruce's death on January 8, also age 81.[7]

Selected discography

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Year Artist Album Song Co-written with Notable covers
1975 Ed Bruce Ed Bruce "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys" Ed Bruce Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson (1978)
1978 Ed Bruce The Tennessean "Texas (When I Die)" Ed Bruce, Bobby Borchers Tanya Tucker (1978)
1980 Ed Bruce Ed Bruce "Girls, Women and Ladies" Ed Bruce, Ron Peterson
1981 Ed Bruce One to One "(When You Fall in Love) Everything's a Waltz" Ed Bruce, Ron Peterson
1982 Ed Bruce I Write It Down "Ever, Never Lovin' You" Ed Bruce, Glenn Ray
1983 Ed Bruce You're Not Leaving Here Tonight "After All" Ed Bruce

References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Timeline: Patsy Bruce". RolandNote.com: The Ultimate Country Music Database. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  2. ^ "Patsy Ann Smithson in the 1940 Census". Ancestry. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  3. ^ a b c Cantrell, LB (2021-05-17). "Country Music Industry Stalwart Patsy Bruce Passes". Music Row. Retrieved 2021-05-17.
  4. ^ a b "Bruce v. Bruce". Justia Law. 1990. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  5. ^ "Timeline: Ed Bruce". RolandNote.com: The Ultimate Country Music Database. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  6. ^ a b Colin Escott (2002). Roadkill on the three-chord highway: Art and trash in American popular music. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-93782-5. OCLC 50198471.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Meyer, Holly; Paulson, Dave (2021-05-17). "Patsy Bruce, 'Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys' songwriter, dies at 81". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2021-05-18.
  8. ^ a b Whitburn, Joel. (2008). Hot country songs : Billboard 1944 to 2008 ([7th] ed.). Menomonee Falls, Wis.: Record Research. ISBN 978-0-89820-177-2. OCLC 309145635.
  9. ^ Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on October 19, 2010.
  10. ^ Bohler, Jennifer (1981-03-14). "Songwriters Honored By NSAI Following Annual Symposium" (PDF). Cashbox.
  11. ^ a b Hollabaugh, Lorie (2017-05-11). "SongBird Tours Offers In-The-Round Songwriter Experience On Wheels". Music Row. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  12. ^ "Nashville Then: March 1980". The Tennessean. 2020-03-19. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  13. ^ Hollabaugh, Lorie (2018-10-26). "Historic Nashville Announces 2018 Nine Most Endangered Historic Properties". Music Row. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  14. ^ a b "Patsy Bruce Joins Board of Directors of You Have the Power". YHTP. 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  15. ^ "Nashville entrepreneur Patsy Bruce named to parole board". BizJournals. 2004-03-29. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  16. ^ Allers, Hannahlee (2014-04-24). "Opry Star's Killer Faces Parole Board". The Boot. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  17. ^ "Patsy Bruce through the years". The Tenneseean. 2021-05-17. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  18. ^ Watts, Cindy (2017-09-17). "SongBird Tours: Nashville's new listening room on wheels". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
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