Cactus Music
But what I find is the minute I add automation to a track it becomes stubborn and cannot be highlighted or edited.
Yeah that's totally Edit Filter behavior. I still bump my head on that regularly, partly because the Smart tool is so all-powerful that I expect it to be ready to do anything I want all the time.
Adding an automation envelope automatically changes the Edit Filter to that automation type so you can edit it without accidentally moving/editing other objects. The quick way to get back to editing the clip is to Shift+click it. Or you can explicitly change it using the picker in the track header or in the Tools HUD (T or Center/Wheel+click). Shift+click on the envelope (or another envelope), and you're editing the envelope again.