In addition to the difficulty he faced booking new shows for Cash, the dates Holiff had already managed to book were at risk. He received a telegram from Texas A&M University (above), for instance, cancelling a Cash appearance that November, citing "unfavorable publicity on Johnny Cash originating from El Paso." 

As Holiff would put it in a letter to Cash a few months later, there were "many times that surgical repairs had to be brought into play, public relations-wise" in his job, and this was one of them.

Amid this turmoil, Holiff offered to resign as Cash's manager, the second time in their association that the two were on the verge of splitting up:

"If you are concerned about the manner in which I represent you, I would be agreeable to withdrawing from this area and concentrating on dates only, plus the usual prodding of Columbia and Hill & Range, press releases and distributing publicity and records, which I have been doing at my own expense for several weeks now."

But in his response, Cash insisted that he wanted to retain Holiff in his current role:

Yes, again I say, I want you to represent me. Columbia...H&R....Sun. [. . .] By the way, what do you mean by 'withdraw from this area.' Lets [sic] work together and keep phrases like that out of our conversation. Black is black. Day is day.

This letter is signed "J.R.," with a postscript in Cash's handwriting: "Your roads downhill. Wind at your back." It is a shorthand version of a common saying of Cash's (as seen here in his note of congratulations to Holiff and Barbara when they were married) that suggests they were on friendly terms once more.