5 / 11
Ferlin demanded that Simon be treated like a
real person. When he traveled, he routinely
booked two hotel rooms, ordered two meals, and
even purchased two plane tickets – one for
himself, and one for Simon. Little Jimmy
Dickens reported that he was traveling on a
package tour with Husky and was unable to
secure a seat on a flight. He asked Ferlin if he
could purchase his extra ticket. Husky denied
the request, asking Dickens,
“Where would
Simon sit?”
“Simon was an entirely different person,”
insisted Jan Howard, who performed with
Husky on several occasions.
“He was real to
Ferlin, and he was real when you were talking
to him. Ferlin’s look would change. Not only
was his baseball cap sideways, but he was just
not anywhere near Ferlin when he was Simon.
Simon was kind of an ass. I didn’t like him. That
sounds so stupid to say about a character
somebody does, but he was truly an alter ego
and he was contrarian. He wasn’t mean, but he
was aggravating. But Ferlin had a sweet soul,
and I loved Ferlin.”
Simon Crum and Ferlin Husky weren’t the
only two personas competing for attention as a
recording artist.
“He even cut one record under
the name Kent Clark
,
”
laughed songwriter
Dallas Frazier, who worked closely with Ferlin
for many years.
“That one was based on Clark
Kent from Superman.
”
Keeping up with Husky’s various identities
as a performer is relatively straightforward when
compared to tracking his songwriting credits.
“I’ve used seventeen different writer names
,
”
Ferlin told Walter Trott in a 2004 interview. In
6
PREVIEW