Bill's Blog

BILL BLOG Friday March 29, 2024   Friday morning and the last weekend of March is here. 73 here today and getting warmer over the weekend.   YESTERDAY I had a great and fun writing appointment with Dad and son Barry & Will Hutchens from North Carolina who were in town for some studio time to record a couple of their songs. But they had enough time to get together and create a new tune…our third as a writing team.   Both of them sing AND play great. So I brought an idea that Barry immediately made better by tweaking the melody on his guitar and then Will sang the heck out of it. One to be proud of.   My friend Jerry Salley who runs our record label Billy Blue introduced me to Barry and Will last year and suggested we write together. His instincts were great as there’s really good musical chemistry in the room with those two. And after our write, Jerry joined the three of us for lunch and we had a great time talking about the business and catching

BILL BLOG Thursday March 28, 2024   Thursday morning and I’m happy because today Major League Baseball returns!   Play ball!   YESTERDAY Pretty laid back day yesterday on Wednesday so it was catch up on loose ends day here at the Whyte House. I pitched a few songs to artists yesterday, lined up a couple of studio days to record a couple new songs and worked on a song idea to use later this morning in my writing session. So even when there’s nothing on the calendar musically, there’s still music stuff going on.   BACK TO FRANK BROWN I got a note from the folks at the Frank Brown Songwriters Festival down in Gulf Shores locking in the dates of November 8, 9, 10 AND 12 this year. Some of these dates will be with our trio “Hits & Grins” but November 12 will be an extra date for a Freedom Sings USA event where like last year a few of the songwriters that participate with Freedom Sings will perform songs we’ve written with and about our veterans on the sta

BILL BLOG Wednesday March 27, 2024 Hello Hump Day Wednesday. All that rain the past day and a half is gone with sunny skies on tap but the high is only 60 today.   YESTERDAY It was a lazy, gloomy, and rainy Tuesday here in Nashville. And I had nothing big on my calendar. It was my birthday and we celebrated it the way I love to…very quietly. But thanks to family and friends who sent text messages…I appreciate it.   My wife did get me a great birthday gift though. This T-shirt.   Perfect for a baseball fan like yours truly. She doesn’t believe me but I’m pretty easy to buy for. Buy something related to baseball or music…and I’m more than good with that every time. My Cincinnati Reds opening game is tomorrow so I’ll be wearing that on the couch while I root on Cincy.  NEXT SHOW That would be Sunday April 7 as I head back to play 3 shows at Dollywood with "Hits & Grins" with my musical partners Victoria Venier & Steve Dean . Showtimes a

BILL BLOG Tuesday March 26, 2024   Tuesday morning be here. Some heavy rain and loud thunder last night…more rain in Nashville today with a high of 71 on tap.   YESTERDAY I had a great day writing with my friend Alex Miller at my publishing company yesterday morning. Alex was in town for a couple of days to write before going back out on the road. He had a cancellation yesterday morning as did I so we wound up in a writing room together. That turned out to be fruitful as Alex brought a great idea that came to him in a dream. He was smart enough to get out of bed and write a lot of what he was dreaming down, and that turned out to be a great song that fits very much into the “Country-Bluegrass & even Gospel” world. Might even be something he records one day…would not surprise me.   And then I had half an idea I brought in my hip pocket that we also wrote that was fun…and kind of rockin’ a bit. So two very different kinds of songs all in one writing sessi

BILL BLOG Monday March 25, 2024   Monday morning has rolled around. That eclipse thing has done come and gone and we have a high of 65 with sun here today in Music City.   THE WEEKEND Mine started Friday morning writing with my Aussie friend Angus Gill for the first time since he moved here to the United States. We celebrated that a bit and caught up before we wrote a fun up-tempo bluegrass barn-burning kind of a song. Angus is a producer as well as a singer and multi-instrument young man and he’s going to do really well here in the states. The two of us have had several of our co-writes recorded by Australian country artists, and now we hope we’ll add some American artists in the future.   Billy Blue Publishing was full of songwriters Friday morning including Mike Richards , Rick Lang , and Kristy Cox .…all of whom I’ve written songs with.      Kristy Cox has a great new album coming out on May 31 complete with a “live” performance by Kristy and her

BILL BLOG Friday March 22, 2024   Friday morning and a March weekend is upon us. Up to 72 with a little light rain here in Nashville today.   YESTERDAY I finished up a song with Jenny Tolman and Dave Brainard at their studio which is built inside their home. And their one year Bear joined us part of the time. Never hurts having a cute toddler thrown in his two cents on the lyrical content of a song. Jenny’s trying to be a Mom and an artist these days which is not easy to do but she’s pulling it off with grace. She’s been on the red carpet for a couple of movies recently doing that “glam” thing with industry folks AND…she has a brand new song out next Friday that she, Dave, and I wrote “ If You Can’t Stand The Heat ” (Get Out of My Kitchen)   Jenny’s a great cook (healthy recipes) and she’s doing clever videos like THIS ONE where she combines her cooking in the kitchen with our little kitchen song. Check it out. You get just a little tease of the new song