The sheepskin king of Pa. performed with a young Taylor Swift, sold coats for ‘Yellowstone,’ and played for Sarah Palin

STRAUSSTOWN, Pa. — Customers trickle into an old mechanic’s garage, just off the interstate on the western edge of Berks County, looking for a hot cup of coffee, sheepskin jackets, and butt pads for their motorcycle seats. Some come just to see the cowboy on the billboards — he’s square-jawed and handsome in the fading photos pinned to the wall.

There’s Pat Garrett with a smile as wide as a marquee, posing with the likes of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash, even Muhammad Ali, who trained just north of here in the 1970s. In one picture from 2001, Garrett’s got a cowboy hat on, his Fender Telecaster strapped over his shoulders, sharing a stage with Berks County’s most famous musician, Taylor Swift.

“People don’t think of Pennsylvania and country music, but it’s big here. Real big,” Garrett said in his shop on a recent October afternoon. “I’ve had thousands of people come here to listen to country music, to see country’s biggest stars, right across the street.”

People also don’t think of Pennsylvania as a destination for sheepskin jackets. They have more of a Montana vibe, which explains why Garrett sold some to the cast of Yellowstone. Maybe Pennsylvanians don’t think about sheepskins at all until they ride Interstate 78. Garrett has billboards for his business, Sickafus Sheepskins, up and down the road, urging motorists to exit for jackets, rugs, hats, even earmuffs. Inside the shop, it’s sheepskin and music memories from floor to ceiling; and back in the “catacombs,” there’s even more posters and pictures and jackets by the hundreds.

Some cost more than $1,000.

Garrett’s pitch is simple.

“There’s no warmer coat,” he said, trying on a tan “Marlboro man” coat. “These are comfortable to wear, and when you put this thing on and button that top button you can go out in below-zero weather and you’re warm.”

Garrett, who said he’s “ageless,″ bought a few sheepskins off a local supplier decades ago and sold them all at the family gas station during a blizzard. He bought more, of course, and the business blossomed from there. He now purchases skins from all over the country and from as far away as Spain and Australia. The unlikely business, he said, has helped him stay in music, his first love.

“I had a flashbulb moment that day,” he said. “I made $4.50 selling three sheets of sheepskin compared to $1.25 changing a flat tire out in the snow. I liked that math.”

Garrett’s musical flashbulb moment happened one day at Bethel High School, in the 1960s. He was in 10th grade and noticed how girls swooned over a friend lip-synching Elvis Presley’s “Hound Dog” with a guitar.

“The moms were going crazy too,” he recalled.

He dropped the tenor sax for guitar and practiced until his fingers were raw, picking up some bandmates and playing local shows. At Kutztown University, he earned an art degree and kept playing shows in a slew of bands as he went on to teach high school. One day, at the family gas station, he met Shorty Long, another legendary Berks County musician who performed with Elvis, and agreed to play in his band.

Garrett has recorded seven albums since, some in Nashville, and one of his songs, “Bad Woman,” was covered by the British rock group Arctic Monkeys.

“I like to say I retired from teaching high school after one year,” he said.

Swapping his distinctly Pennsylvanian surname, Sickafus, Garrett looked to the infamous Wild West lawman who shot Billy the Kid for a stage name. He’s performed at country music halls nationwide and even built his own concert venue, the Pat Garrett Amphitheater, across the street from the gas station and sheepskin store. Willie and Johnny played there, along with Loretta Lynn and Charlie Daniels.

“Pat is really the last of a generation,” said David Kline, a longtime friend of Garrett’s who’s also a musician and retired journalist. “He’s not just a singer-songwriter. He’s an entertainer.”

While Garrett didn’t discover Taylor Swift, she did compete in karaoke contests at his now-shuttered roadhouse across the parking lot from the sheepskin shop. Swift grew up 20 miles south, in Wyomissing.

“She was just a kid but she always came in dressed real nice and had a nice stage presence,” Garrett recalled. “She’s really become a much better singer over time.”

Garrett, who is married with two sons, later wrote a tongue-in-cheek song, “Just Taylor,” urging the Berks County karaoke superstar to remember her “early days” and call him if she needs an opening act or bus driver.

“Old Pat Garrett was right by your side, helping you make it through,” he sings on the song.

Garrett’s own love songs haven’t hit the stratosphere like Swift’s “Love Story” or “Lover” but his baritone and slide guitar get the job down in ”Let’s Set the Night on Fire” and “Sexy Ole Lady,” with lyrics like “I don’t want to babysit, I want a woman who just won’t quit.”

Garrett said he truly made his mark gauging the pulse of the nation with novelty songs. They include the patriotic, the politically conservative, and odes to a thinner waistline.

“You know it’s a sin-sky, loving Monica Lewinsky,” he sang on “Monica Lewinsky Polka.”

Garrett performed “Moose Shootin’ Mama” at a John McCain/Sarah Palin rally, in honor of the former Alaska governor, and his song “I’m Gonna Stand,” about NFL players kneeling during the national anthem, landed him on Fox News.

Garrett imagines he’d have more time to write and record songs in the studio attached to his house if he weren’t elbow deep in sheepskins. Still, he says, it beats changing oil and teaching high school.

“I stay busy all the time,” he said, “and I don’t have a ton of bills hanging over my head.”

Kline, who grew up in nearby Sinking Spring, said Garrett took his destiny into his own hands with billboards, sheepskins, and a voice that’s “smooth as silk.”

“Smooth as butter too,” Kline added. “I mean this sincerely, in the best possible way: He’s a genuine hustler.”