Bill's Blog

BILL BLOG Thursday September 18, 2025   And a good Thursday morning to you from Chattanooga, home of the IBMA Bluegrass Convention. 87 for a high here today.   YESTERDAY I made the two-hour trip from Nashville to the Convention Center here in Chattanooga, the home of this year’s IBMA (Bluegrass) Awards. Over the last few years, it’s been in Raleigh, and I couldn’t find a way to get there, plus it’s a pretty long drive. But now that it’s so close, I’m finally getting to participate.   The bluegrass convention feels much like the radio conventions I used to go to. Long hallways, lots of shaking hands, lots of exhibits, and, in this case, music in every room. Lots of musical instruments.   After spending a lot of time hugging friends, writers, artists, managers, etc, it was time for the Billy Blue Records Showcase.   Label head Jerry Salley and President Ed Leonard put together a heck of a show for all to see. Caroline O...

BILL BLOG Wednesday September 17, 2025   Wednesday morning, and I’m about to hit the road to Chattanooga. More on that at the end of today’s Blog. A high of 90 in Nashville today.   YESTERDAY I scratched a few things off the “honey-do” list yesterday and got packed for the trip south today. Yes, it was a very quiet Tuesday around the Whyte House.   I did chat with my friend Brent Burns down in Gulf Shores, who continues to rehab from back surgery, but is making progress. Brent was at work yesterday putting together songwriters for the showcase he does every year during the Parrot Head gathering called MOTM, which is coming up in a few weeks.   For 4 or 5 days, Brent will play host to some great Trop Rock artists and writers at Lulu’s, and it looks like I’ll be doing two appearances there with him this time around. We will also play at one of the “official” events at the festival this year. In all, I’ll be playing maybe five times, a...

BILL BLOG Tuesday September 16, 2025   Tuesday is here…and once again it’s a “pack a suitcase” kind of day with a trip to Chattanooga coming up. More on that at the end of today’s Blog. 89 for a high today in Nashville.   YESTERDAY Alex Miller and I wrote again yesterday at the publishing company in Hendersonville, where the two of us write for Billy Blue. We had a fun time writing a traditional country song from an idea Alex brought with him. And that’s who Alex is. The former American Idol is from Kentucky, and his love for country runs deep.   I know this as well as anyone, as I was blessed to have had Alex’s first single release years ago, “ Don’t Let The Barn Door Hit You ”, which is about as country as it gets.   What made yesterday memorable, though, was the fact that Alex got locked in our writing room after I left for a bathroom break. Locked solid. Two sets of keys, 4 or 5 grown people, a lot of jiggling on the handle bef...