BILL BLOG
Thursday July 27, 2023
Thursday morning in hot ole’ Nashville. Up t0 96 today.
YESTERDAY
I had the pleasure of writing with one of the winner’s from “The Voice” Todd Tilghman at my publishing company. Todd was on Team Blake Shelton during the COVID year. If you watched then you remember the finale was done from everyone’s home…no studio stage for COVID reason. But that’s the year Todd won. Really nice guy, a former pastor for years and now he’s out traveling doing shows and a lot of those are in churches across the country. Great voice! And it was great getting know him and work with him and create a new song together. We’ll be doing that again as he has a funny song title he wants to write with me. That could end his career in a hurry!
Todd did Tell me that Blake is just as he seems on TV. And that every now and then he’ll still get a text from him checking up to see how he’s doing. A lot of artists just don’t do that so good on Blake. Really fun day of rhyming with Todd.
LAST NIGHT
I went to a Puckett's Grocery & Restaurant last night in Murfreesboro, Tennessee about an hour from the house. Puckett's is also a great music venue that I've played at many times. They have multiple location around town and they even have one Chattanooga. The person who books all of their venues invited me to come out and check out this talent contest they have that is uniquely different, and to consider filling in some for their main emcee for whenever he might need time off.
And it was a VERY cool idea they came up with. Now I've been to, hosted, or participated in a LOT of talent contests through the years. Usually the winner gets a trophy maybe, sometimes a cash prize etc. But in this contest the winners get a "live" recording of themselves that's transferred to a vinyl record on the spot. So, I watched 6 winning singers perform their original songs, and when they finished, they were handed a 45 RPM vinyl record of their performance.
I had no idea they had such a thing. But the young lady who owned that business was happy to show me the machine and how they were doing that. Fascinating to say the least. It was worth to trip to see that.
BLUEGRASS NEWS
Yesterday the International Bluegrass Music Association announced their top 5 nominees for this years “Momentum Artist of the Year”. Newcomers. What’s great for me personally is that two of the five recorded a song I’m a co-writer on over this past year.
Nick Dumas recorded “Details” that I wrote with Tim Stafford.
And Carley Arrowood (a new Mom) recorded “Deeper in Love” that I co-wrote with Josh Shilling.
So congrats to all, but in particular to these two. The award will be passed out at the big IBMA Awards Show end of September in Raleigh, North Carolina.
AND…THE SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR NOMINEES IN BLUEGRASS ARE…
I write songs regularly with Tim Stafford, Thomm Jutz and Becky Buller so congrats and good luck to these three friends as well.
Tim and I wrote “This Is Where You Kiss Me” for Kristy Cox that was on her last album.
Becky and I wrote “Mercy of a Train” for Lori King and Junction 63 that went to the number one spot on one bluegrass chart.
And Thomm and I have penned a couple of my favorite songs. All three so doggone talented.
HEALTH NOTES
A study says that heart attack risks can double during extreme heat…like we’re having right now.
Alarming is the fact that as many as 1 of every 3 Americans will be diagnosed with some kind of cancer in their lifetime. Thanks goodness survival rates are increasing more and more. I keep hoping we’ll find a cure.
Apparently if you drink through a straw your face might look older as that increases the wrinkles around your mouth.
FUNNY RODNEY
On my Facebook page I’ve seen a lot of Johnny Carson moments with comedian Rodney Dangerfield. Rapid fire jokes from Rodney with Johnny laughing and egging him on.
Last night I saw a clip where Rodney said, “I haven’t spoken to my wife in years. I didn’t want to interrupt her.”
WORST PLACES TO VISIT
An online publication listed the WORST PLACES TO VISIT. Odessa, Texas, West Memphis, Arkansas, Cairo, Egypt, and Tijuana were all listed.
I’ve overnighted in Odessa after doing a show there. Been through West Memphis many times. And I’ve been to Tijuana once. I might put Bismarck, North Dakota in the winter on it though.
Tijuana is different, and not really pretty. I was on vacation with my wife once in San Diego and we decided to walk over the border and go to a Jai Lai arena we had heard about. Had never seen that sport.
Coming back at night, it didn’t not feel very safe. In fact, I wouldn’t do that again…especially with my wife. The Jai Lai thing was cool, and upscale but the rest was a little shaky.
JUAREZ
I can say the same about Juarez, Mexico as well. While playing a two week gig in El Paso, I wanted to go over the border. I had never been in Mexico. I could not get anyone in the band to go, so I called a cab and went myself to a dog track. First time to a dog track. The driver was friendly and Mexican. As we crossed over it was not pretty. Lots of shacks, poverty, beggars. And then out of nowhere this multi-million dollar dog track popped up.
We get to the track and the driver asked if I had ever been to a dog track? I said “no”. He then asked, “do you know how to drink Mexican beer”? Again the answer was “no” as I had never drank a Mexico beer. He then said if I would pay him a flat rate he would go with me, show me how to bet the dogs and how to drink Mexican beer properly. Deal.
It turned out to be a very fun evening as we made a few bets on dogs that seemed intent on not winning and putting salt and lime on a can of Mexican beer. That made the entire trip, though dodgy looking at time worth it for the memory of that evening with my Mexican friend. Gotta be a song in that right?
GOOD IDEA
I saw someone suggest that it might be a good idea to put a pitch clock like they now use in baseball and put them on some church pulpits to time the preacher’s sermons and help keep them on time. It certainly would make some churches a lot more interesting.
MEGA
The Mega Millions drawing tomorrow night may be worth a BILLION dollars just like the Powerball drawing that made someone a billionaire. Turns out that Powerball drawing last week had 39 1 million dollar winners as well. Sigh. I’m going to have to line up once again in front of the clerk today as politely ask them to sell me a WINNING ticket.
AN AGE LIST
I scanned an article listing some things that we tend to “ditch” with age. A few that caught my attention here.
Doing anything past 9 pm.
Going places without a restroom nearby.
Sitting on the floor. (Getting down is one thing. Getting up another)
Long conversations.
Leaving the house.
Yep, at some point some folks just decide they are not leaving their comfortable home to go most anywhere. Plus they don’t want to miss Wheel of Fortune or replays of Ironsides. I’m guessing.
TODAY
No appointments today of any kind. So, I’m going to try and stay out of the heat and avoid trying to sit on the floor.
Have a great Thursday!
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