Final Encore (22 page)

“Too late, boys, my mind’s made up,” Ian said,

“and besides, the label knows what they have in Bily or

they wouldn’t have signed him so quickly. I think they

would prefer to have some control over his career,

beyond his contractual obligations. By alowing me to

manage him, they get the best of both worlds. Think

about it, Josh. If Bily hires an outside manager, his or

her loyalty would lie with Bily alone, not the label. And

you know from past experience that could get ugly. If

they alow me to do it under the Capitol umbrela, I, of

course, would do what’s best for Bily, but I would do

it with Capitol’s best interests in mind, as wel.”

Josh looked up, then in Bily’s direction, and

finaly at Ian. “Let me think about this for a day or two

and run it by a couple of people to get a sense of

general consensus,” he said. “Bily’s an unproven artist,

and that’s a pretty big risk for the label.”

“No problem,” Ian said, “but Capitol knows my

track record, and they know I can do this, so don’t

wait too long. I know we have something great with

Bily, and the label knows that too.”

“Okay,” was the last thing Josh said as he stood,

shook Bily’s hand, and affectionately smacked Ian on

the back of the head and left the table.

“Where in the hel did that come from?” Bily

asked as he cocked his head to one side and glared at

Ian.

“Don’t give me that look; just hear me out. I’ve

had this in the back of my mind since our first meeting at

Jean’s. I’ve seen new artists get signed just to have their

manager clash with the label and get released from their

contract in a flash. The best way I know how to

guarantee your success is to manage you myself. I

know enough people in Nashvile and have enough

contacts to make this happen. Besides, my reputation is

realy good, so I’m told. Right now, Josh has his

Capitol hat on and he’s playing the game, but he knows

it’s the best thing for everyone. He’s a smart man. He’l

make it happen.”

Bily and Ian downed their iced tea and left right

after Josh. Since Bily was performing at Jean’s later

that night and they had an early meeting at Capitol the

next morning, they drove in the direction of Bily’s

apartment.

“Hey, cowboy,” Ian said.

“Yes, handsome?”

“I don’t know if you know this, but the Country

Music Awards are next week.”

“Of course I know that. What about it?”

“I was wondering if you could help me find a

date.”

“Does this date have to be a woman?” Bily

asked sarcasticaly.

“I usualy take Jean, but this year I was thinking I

wanted to switch it up a bit.”

“How much of a switch?” Bily asked.

“Wel, let’s see, maybe someone with a penis. Do

you know anyone?”

“Yeah, I have one in mind,” Bily said.

“Do you think he might be interested in going with

me?”

Bily rose up in his seat and said “Hel, yes.” Then

he caught himself, leaned back in his seat, and said very

calmly, “Um, I mean, sure, he might be interested.”

“Oh, he might, huh? What wil it take to persuade

him, a new dress maybe?” Ian asked.

“Throw in shoes and a matching handbag and

you’ve got a deal,” Bily said, laughing.

“It’s a date, then?” Ian asked.

“It’s a date,” Bily responded.

THE next few days after the signing were mostly spent

in marketing meetings, planning the release of Bily’s

first album. They were trying to coordinate the timing of

the release so Bily could open for Trace Adkins on his

next scheduled tour. That gave them a little over six

months to execute the marketing plan. They had to

come up with a name for the album, select and record

al the songs, choose the first single, design artwork for

CD covers and posters, do photo shoots, write bios

and press releases, and book some smal gigs to get the

buzz out. After much deliberation, they decided to go

for it, and the plan was put in motion.

The next week was the CMAs. Ian and Bily

made their way down the red carpet with Ian saying

helo to everyone he knew and introducing Bily as

Capitol’s latest artist. When they heard the “five minutes

until live” warning, they headed for their seat. Because

of Ian’s position with Capitol and the fact that Bily was

a new recording artist, they were fifth row, center.

Bily and Ian found their seats, and right before

they sat, Bily placed his hand on Ian’s shoulder, smiled,

and squeezed three times. Ian smiled back.

Bily couldn’t believe it, but everywhere he

looked, he saw a celebrity. When he looked to the left,

he saw Reba McIntyre, Barbara Mandrel, George

Strait, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hil. He looked to the

right and saw Trace Adkins, George Jones and Kix

Brooks and Ronnie Dunn. On his same row, a few

seats down, were Josh and Suzie Randal, along with

Capitol’s younger recording artists, Ashley Ray, Emily

West, and Eric Church.

Bily couldn’t believe he was there. This was big

time, and he was eating it up. After the awards show,

they went to the Capitol Records party, and Ian

introduced Bily to as many celebrities as he could. He

was doing his job, and his job right now was getting

Bily’s name out there.

Ian was very impressed that Bily stayed cool,

calm, and colected on the surface, when al the while he

knew on the inside he was terribly star-struck. When

the night finaly ended, Bily was walking on air. He felt

like Cinderela at the bal, and Ian was there to share

this first big event with him.

Eventualy, Capitol came through and alowed Ian

to manage Bily’s career. Within days, the Capitol

Records Nashvile marketing machine was moving ful

speed ahead with no slowdown in sight. After the first

month, Bily realized that he’d realy had no clue what

Josh had meant when he’d said his life was about to

become very demanding.

The merry-go-round started to spin faster and

faster, and he held on for the ride. The first few weeks

had been spent selecting songs for the first album. “The

Love of a Man” was chosen as his first single, which

made Bily very happy, and since they had already

recorded it as a demo, they laid down an additional

instrumental track and it was ready to go. They planned

to release it in thirty days and let the momentum build

while he recorded the rest of the album. Next came the

photo shoots, interviews with Nashvile radio stations,

more shows at Jean’s—but this time as a

headliner—smal three-day tours in the surrounding

area, and lastly, wherever an event took place around

Nashvile, Ian had him there, smiling and singing.

The morning of the release, Ian and Bily woke at

five o’clock to the sound of George Strait singing “River

of Love” on Bily’s alarm clock. Bily had performed at

Jean’s the night before while Ian had stayed behind at

his apartment, tweaking the final press release. Bily

moaned as Ian broke free from his embrace, roled

over, and turned off the alarm clock.

Ian jumped out of bed and made a dash for his

laptop computer, then quickly slipped back into the bed

when Bily held up the covers as an invitation. He

snuggled back against Bily while the computer hummed

and clicked to life. Bily softly brushed his mouth against

Ian’s lips. Ian’s faint whimper was al the response Bily

needed. The kiss they exchanged was dreamy and

heated, filed with lust and desire. But when the

computer finished the booting process, Ian said, “Slow

down, cowboy. We’ve got work to do.”

“Damn,” Bily said, “I was just getting started.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” Ian retorted. “But

don’t worry, I’l make it up to you later.”

Ian opened his e-mail program and quickly

scanned his inbox. He found the e-mail he was looking

for from the PR department and double-clicked on it to

read the contents. Bily’s press release had crossed the

newswire at 4:35 a.m. Ian wanted the release out early

so the morning radio shows would get it before they

began to broadcast, which was usualy around five

thirty. He then logged onto the internet and went to

CMT’s website. He went directly to the “Press”

section, and within seconds he had Bily’s press release

in front of him. The heading read “Capitol Nashvile

Recording Artist Bily Eagan Releases First Single.”

Ian had already confirmed that hundreds of CDs

containing the song had been sent out the previous

week, as scheduled, to every country music radio

station in the United States and Canada with an

embargo date to coincide with the press release. The

embargo date guaranteed that the song wouldn’t get

any air play until the press release hit the wire. “Wel,

cowboy, if I’ve done my job right, and I think I have,

within a day or two, with some luck we should start

hearing you on the airwaves.”

Bily yawned and said, “I’m always so amazed at

how effortlessly you do your job. This al comes so

easily to you, like second nature.”

“Like any job, when you do it enough, it does

become second nature. I imagine like singing is second

nature to you,” Ian responded with a yawn of his own.

Bily took the laptop out of Ian’s hands, placed it

on the floor, reached over, turned the clock radio on

this time, and said, “Just in case. Now. Where were

we?”

“Just about to take a shower,” Ian said. “We

have the first of seven interviews in just about an hour at

97.9 WSIX, and they asked us to do a few sound bites

and promos before the interview, so we’ve got to get a

move on.”

“This new career is putting a serious crimp in my

love life,” Bily whined.

Ian got out of bed shaking his head, laughing as

he walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.

The day was as busy as they had al been over

the past few weeks, visiting one radio station after

another, doing interviews, recording sound bites, taking

pictures, and signing autographs. Then off to the next

station for more of the same. Bily didn’t mind the PR,

and in fact, he realy liked meeting people and signing

autographs, but by the day’s end, he thought he would

be saying “This is Bily Eagan, and you’re listening to

WSIX, 97.9, Big 98 Country” in his sleep.

LATER that night was the release party. Bily was to do

a short show and a dozen or so press interviews and

take as many photos as possible for the Capitol

website. The evening went off without a hitch, and when

the party ended at a little past midnight, they got into

Ian’s SUV and drove to Atlanta to repeat the radio

station tours and a one-nighter at Miss Kitty’s Saloon.

The band didn’t have to be in Atlanta until four o’clock

the next afternoon, so they were leaving in the morning,

but Bily and Ian had their first interview at seven

o’clock the next morning and one every hour, on the

hour, for the other three country stations in the Atlanta

area. To help them stay awake, they listened to every

country radio station from Nashvile to Atlanta, hoping

to hear Bily. When the reception started to fade on the

one radio station, Ian hit the scan button and stopped it

on the next country station. They heard, “This is Trisha

Yearwood and you’re listening to KICKS 101.5” and

Bily said, “I know how you feel, honey.” Ian chuckled.