Songwriter of No. 1 Chesney song is unmasked

Most of Music Row knows Holly Gleason as a former media relations and artist development specialist. Others recognize her as a talented writer and critic who once contributed to Rolling Stone. What almost no one realized —including Gleason for a while — was that she is also a budding songwriter.

So, when Kenny Chesney had a No. 1 hit earlier this year with "Better as a Memory" written by SESAC writer Travis Hill under his alias Scooter Carusoe and total newcomer Lady Goodman, no one even guessed that Gleason had anything to do with that song.

But Lady Goodman was a pen name Gleason created to keep her identity a secret. She borrowed it from a character in the Cameron Crowe flick Almost Famous. She said she wanted to keep her name out of it to sharpen the focus on the song and admitted that this way if it didn't work "there was no risk because Lady Goodman didn't exist."

"Anyone who knows me knows I love songs," Gleason said. "I wanted the song to be the story, good or bad, whatever that might be."

Song is one of firsts

And the song was the story. In fact, "Better as a Memory" was voted one of Nashville Songwriters Association International's "10 Songs I Wish I'd Written" earlier this fall, and Gleason used the banquet surrounding the honor as a sort of coming-out party as a songwriter. She continued racking up accolades this week when BMI honored her success with a No. 1 party for the song. "Better as a Memory" is not only Gleason's first No. 1 song and first cut, but it is also the first song she ever wrote.

"I grew up writing poetry in the margins of (school) books," Gleason said. "I hold songwriters in such high esteem that I didn't want to be one of those people whose ego was bigger than their talent. Songwriting was not my canvas."

Travis Hill disagreed. The songwriter, who also penned "Anything But Mine" for Chesney, saw something in Gleason that made him want to write songs with her. After declining repeated invitations from Hill, Gleason finally relented.

"I would get e-mails from Travis saying, 'You sure you don't want to write a song?'" she said. "I thought, 'I'm not a songwriter.' But after two really bad nights followed by two really bad mornings I called and said, 'Do you still want to write a song with me?' He said, 'Let me get my (schedule) book.' "

Gleason said the song came together quickly, the verses comprised of many of the same lines she scribbled in her schoolbooks. The hook is a variation of a statement she used in bars to drive people away.

"When I went in to write with Travis I had my ideas, but I was shaking I was so scared," she said. "I said, 'Better as a memory than as your girl.' It's an honest thing if you know me. I've been engaged six times and never been married. But Travis said, 'I don't look like a girl.' So it became, 'I'm better as a memory than as your man.' "

Gleason maintains the song wasn't written for Chesney and said that she initially had qualms about sharing it with him. And when she did, she didn't tell her longtime friend and client that she was one of its writers. Chesney didn't find out that Gleason was Lady Goodman until a couple of weeks before his Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates CD containing the song was released. She shared the news with him at a local restaurant and made him pinky-swear he wouldn't tell her secret.

"Kenny has this thing about (don't double-cross me) so I was afraid he was going to be really mad," Gleason said. "I really thought he was going to feel taken advantage of, but he was really happy. He said, 'Man, if I had written that song I would have taken a billboard.' "

Chesney attends party

Chesney was one of about 150 people at BMI's rather intimate party. He flew in from "the islands" to be there for his friend. Others in attendance included: Sony Nashville Chairman Joe Galante; Bryan Frasher, BNA Records' vice president of promotion; Chesney's producer Buddy Cannon; Tammy Genovese and Hank Adam Locklin from the Country Music Association; Ed Salamon, executive director at Country Radio Broadcasters; and Jody Williams, BMI's vice president, writer/publisher relations, Nashville.

"(Holly Gleason) has been a prime tastemaker in our industry for years," Williams said. "She appreciates songwriters as much as anyone I've ever met … And Kenny made an audio movie come to life."

Chesney gives credit for the song's success to Gleason.

"I gotta tell you, I am around a lot of people who love what they do, but I've never been around anyone who is as passionate as Holly is," he said. "Over the years, she has definitely raised my SAT score. This wasn't the most obvious choice (for a single) on this record. Holly, I'm so proud of you. You deserve it. I love ya, and I want another one."

As for Gleason, she's still in a small state of shock. She says that while she is still working as an artist development consultant, she's exploring her songwriting abilities more thoroughly.

"It's really surreal," Gleason said. "This is a dream I wouldn't have dared to dream … I'm not saying I'm beyond writing something stupid."

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