Patsy Bruce

Patsy Bruce (c. 1939) is an American country songwriter and manager. She is best known for songs co-written with her ex-husband Ed Bruce, including "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys," which was covered by Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson and went to No. 1 on the country music charts in 1978.

Biography

Patsy Bruce was born Patsy Ann Smithson around 1939 in Mississippi.[1][2]

In 1964, she married 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.[1][3][4][5]

Patsy began serving as her husband's manager, and she also began writing songs with him.[1]

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."[5] 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, the Waylon Jennings/Willie Nelson cover hit No. 1 on the country music charts and spent four weeks there.[6] 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.[7]

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 Bobby Borchers. It made it to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.[6]

She served a stint as president of the Nashville Songwriters Association International in the late 1970s and early '80s.[8][9][10] She and Ed also ran the Ed Bruce Talent Agency in Nashville in this period.[11]

Ed and Patsy Bruce had three children together. The couple separated in 1986, and Ed formally filed for divorce the following year.[1]

After the split, Bruce focused on the event management company Events Unlimited.[3][12]

She also served on the Tennessee State Board of Probation and Parole for 10 years in the early 2000s.[12][13]

In 2017, she launched Songbird Tours, a songwriting-focused tour company in Nashville, with her son, the songwriter Trey Bruce.[14][9]

Selected discography
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 Tennesseean "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
  1. "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. "Bruce v. Bruce". Justia Law. 1990. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  4. "Timeline: Ed Bruce". RolandNote.com: The Ultimate Country Music Database. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  5. Escott, Colin. (2002). Roadkill on the three-chord highway : art and trash in American popular music. New York: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-93782-5. OCLC 50198471.
  6. 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.
  7. Western Writers of America (2010). "The Top 100 Western Songs". American Cowboy. Archived from the original on 10 August 2014.
  8. Bohler, Jennifer (1981-03-14). "Songwriters Honored By NSAI Following Annual Symposium" (PDF). Cashbox.
  9. Hollabaugh, Lorie (2017-05-11). "SongBird Tours Offers In-The-Round Songwriter Experience On Wheels". Music Row. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  10. "Nashville Then: March 1980". The Tennesseean. 2020-03-19. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  11. Hollabaugh, Lorie (2018-10-26). "Historic Nashville Announces 2018 Nine Most Endangered Historic Properties". Music Row. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  12. "Patsy Bruce Joins Board of Directors of You Have the Power". YHTP. 2016-03-17. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  13. "Nashville entrepreneur Patsy Bruce named to parole board". BizJournals. 2004-03-29. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
  14. Watts, Cindy (2017-09-17). "SongBird Tours: Nashville's new listening room on wheels". The Tennessean. Retrieved 2020-10-09.
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