BILL BLOG
Monday July 17, 2023
Monday morning has rolled into town again.
THE WEEKEND
Mine started with a double header on Friday with a morning write with Thomm Jutz at his house studio about 30 minutes from where I live. Songwriters are all a bit different. Some write on one song for a month, some will write on one a couple of days, some take three or four hours. And then there’s Thomm who is the best-fastest songwriter I’ve ever been around. I think most of my co-writers will tell you that I’m a fast writer as well and I do think that Thomm is the ONLY co-writer I have who’s faster.
And it’s not just throw away stuff he’s spitting out. He can write a verse in nothing flat and more often than not you find yourself sitting there wondering how he did that.
In less than 2 hours we finished this tune that’s full of verses, no chorus as the late John Prine used to do. AND we recorded a demo of it that both of us sent off to our publishers. Thomm actually produced a record on Nancy Griffith and John Prine and they cut one of Thomm’s songs. He’s worked with those kind of folks. And just a couple of days ago Bill Anderson was in his studio recording with my friend Bobby Tomberlin. He knew the late Tom T. Hall very well. So besides getting to write with him and hear his wonderful guitar playing, I get to hear some funny and great stories about folks a lot of you are or were fans of. Talk about a really great way to start a Friday.
FRIDAY MATINEE SHOW
We finished writing so quickly on Friday that I changed my plans. I had a 3:30 afternoon show at the Listening Room Café hosted by Taylon Hope that featured Jamie O’neal’s daughter Aliyah Good (who sings so GOOD) and hit writer Lance Carpenter Smith Curry chiming in on dobro. So instead of going from my writing appointment to the venue, I had time to go back home for a couple of hours. Because of the heat I took my guitar out of my car and put it back in the house. And that’s where the fun begins.
I get to the venue at the same time Taylon and her Mom did. I get out of my car and tease her when I see she brought TWO guitars saying, “what in the world does a girl need 2 danged guitars for”. And then I opened the hatch on my SUV and saw that I had failed to re-load my guitar. I had no guitar to play. So I played the second one that Taylon brought. Talk about karma. Thank goodness she brought two!
The show was great fun. Lance sang his number one song he wrote for Kelsea Ballerini, and those two girls? Gosh. It was just a pleasure to hear both of them sing. Thank you Taylon for inviting me.
NEW IN TOWN SHOW
I did add a new “in-town” show with Steve Dean & Victoria Venier. Our “Hits & Grins” trio will play at Puckett’s in Franklin, Tennessee on Saturday night October. It’s been three years since we’ve played there. So we’re glad to be going back. Great food and listening atmosphere so think about joining us for the fun that evening.
NEW ROAD SHOW
October 25 I’ll be joining some really funny Trop Rock singers in Gulf Shores, Alabama for an event called “Fools on Stools”. I know…I fit don’t I? It’s the second time I’ll be doing this event alongside my buddy Brent Burns as part of MOTM the “Meeting of the Minds” which is the big gathering of Parrot Head fans and beach music lovers. My thanks to Donny Brewer for inviting for what will be an evening full of laughs. Some will be inappropriate I’m sure…but funny. The event/festival runs October 24-29. It’s been held in Key West since its beginning, but this year for the first time Gulf Shores-Orange Beach will play host. Closer to home so I don’t mind.
BRADY SHIRT
The song “Deeper Shade of Blue Collar” that I co-wrote with Brady Seals and my wife Kathy has spawned this cool looking t-shirt! Check out the song and video and go to Brady’s website to order one of the shirts if you like it.
HEALTH NOTES
Experts say that writing letters helps stave off dementia. All about staying active and keeping your brain engaged.
A new research study is suggesting that higher doses of vitamin D may save your heart.
Harvard researchers believe they have a pill that could reverse the aging process by using gene therapy to turn on embryonic genes. A fountain of youth in a pill. (NY POST article)
GERMANY VIDEO BLOG
So my daughter Heather and her husband Casey are in Germany…stationed there with the Army. My son in law is a fixed wing pilot there. But the two of them do these incredibly picturesque video-blogs and the latest one they just posted on their You Tube Channel is TV worthy in this Dad’s humble opinion. Check out this tour of Lake Obersee that they took. We got Casey a drone this last Christmas and you’ll see some amazing footage he shot with the drone in this colorful videos. You do feel like you’re there with the two of them. And my wife and I can’t wait to get over there and see some of what they’re seeing in person. This past weekend they were in France, so look for some video on that soon as well.
SPEAKING OF DRONES
It seems like shark sightings are in the news every day. It must be true as New York is now using drones to look for sharks on the beaches. I would bet Florida is doing the same or will be as well. Think I’ll just stay on the sand when I go to the beach from now on.
COMING TO TENNESSEE
Tennessee is a hot state these dates and it’s more than just the heat I’m talking about. A LOT of folks are choosing Tennessee as a state to move to. And yes…our state bird is most surely the crane. They’re everywhere.
The states they’re moving from? California, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Texas AND…the number one state they’re moving here from? Florida.
Fine. Just leave those pythons and gators in the sunshine state when you decide to join us.
HEAT
Man…Death Valley broke a heat record of like 135 or something. (But it’s a dry heat of course). Vegas is burning up. Texas is wearing out their power grid trying to keep up with it. And it’s not just here. Last year in Europe 62,000 folks died from record breaking heat.
And this weekend country superstar Jason Aldean had to run off stage from heat and never returned. Heat stroke.
I had that happen once several years ago at a concert I was singing at. Thought I might be having a heart attack. It was REALLY hot and my blood pressure had shot through the ceiling. Never did finish that show which I hated. The heat is real…take precautions if you’re out in it y’all.
HOW HOT IS IT IN TEXAS?
Check out this picture for the answer.
POWERBALL
It’s worth over 900 million now. 3rd largest jackpot ever. What in the world would you do if you won 900 million? I’m not sure, but my of friend comedian James Gregory has this FUNNY take on it.
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
UFO Hunter Says Spaceship Too Big To Move Is Being Stored Under A Major Landmark. (I’m guessing Mt. Rushmore but doggone aliens could be anywhere)
TODAY
Full Monday. I’ll be doing a “Zoom” radio interview in a bit with Rollin Trehearne out in Eureka, California who hosts the KRED morning show there along with Brady Seals. We’ll talk about Brady’s new song “Deeper Shade of Blue Collar” and whatever else Rollin wants to talk about. Several years back I did on air “live” from Nashville reports for Rollin sharing all the news about country music Monday through Friday on air. It will be fun catching up with him again.
And then my write today is with Jerry Salley & Victoria Venier at my publishing company.
Have a great Monday!
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