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Orange Beach...Freedom Sings...Lonely In The Lonestar

BILL BLOG

Thursday October 3, 2024

 

And a good Thursday morning from Gulf Shores-Orange Beach, Alabama. Always great waking up with a view of the beach and ocean. 87 for a high here today with light rain, cooler with more rain on the way tomorrow. And all eyes down here are looking at the next tropical storm “Kirk” that seems to be on the way. 


 

 

YESTERDAY

I made the maybe 7 hour trip down here from Nashville and checked into beautiful condo that sits on Perdido Bay.



 

Three other songwriters also made the trip. Steve Dean, Mutt Cooper and Bill Diluigi for Freedom Sings USA. We thought about jumping in the lazy river pool that you see here but our call time made us have to skip jumping in and doing a cannonball. The world was saved.


 

 

Instead we made our way over the beautiful Coastal Arts Center in Orange Beach to meet and play for our veterans.



 

The Arts Center also sits on the Bay and is home to local artwork that is displayed and sold. I’ve actually played there a couple of time during the Frank Brown Songwriters Festival which is coming up in November again.



 

We had a light dinner, then met our 4 veterans…Army Rangers. Mine lives in nearby Pensacola and I know that he was part of “Blackhawk Down” in Mogadishu. So the story the tells me later this morning should be pretty unbelievable. How THOSE guys do and did what he did is beyond bravery.


 

 

So I’m settled in and ready to go.


 

 

STILL ON THE CHART

Blessed that “Blue Collar Gospel” by Jerry Salley & The Oak Ridge Boys and "God Never Made A Mountain"  by Kristy Cox are still on this gospel bluegrass chart, and they have been for several weeks now. Again, thank you David Pugh for loving these songs so much and playing these songs that I wrote with Jerry Salley, Rick Lang, Andrea Pearson and Josh Shilling.



 

SONG OF THE DAY

Since I’m writing with veterans today I thought it might appropriate to share “Lonely In The Lonestar” by my friend Jenny Tolman that we wrote with her husband Dave Brainard. This song has a very special story.


 

 

I knew Jenny loved Texas. We’ve written and she’s recorded a couple of Texas-cowboy songs that she and I and Dave have written together.

 

So I had that title…”Lonely In The Lonestar” the day of our writing appointment thinking she would love that. And she did. And I thought the song might be about a  Texas girl missing her husband while he’s out truck driving or playing music or traveling for his job. But Dave had a much better idea. We wound up writing it about a soldier’s wife who lost her husband at war.



 

Jenny liked it so much she put up a little You Tube of herself singing the song acoustically. And then something truly amazing happened.

 

The wife of Marine Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum who lost her son in the Kabul bombings found the video. The family somehow reached Jenny and Dave and asked if they would fly to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to sing the song at his memorial service. She said the song described exactly how she felt.



 

And then Fox News found out about it and was there to cover the story and interview Jenny. Jenny and Dave had gone into a church and made this MOVING VIDEO of the song that Fox also played.


And then the next day our song became the most downloaded song in America for a while. Wow. The three of us decided to give any monies that were made off the song to all those Gold Star moms, 12 or so that lost their kids in that same Kabul bombing.

 

I’m happy to be part of this wonderful song we were blessed to write.

 

Lonely in the Lone Star”
(Dave Brainard, Jenny Tolman, Bill Whyte)

 

There’s no shooting stars over San Antone
At least none that are worth wishing on
Got a stack of letters and the full moon as a reading light
Sure is lonely in the lone star tonight

 

There’s a picture on our wall, they took of you at Lackland
And my old phone number you wrote on a Rosario’s napkin
This ole quarter karat’s still shining bright
Sure is lonely in the lone star tonight


This heavy heart, I’m on my knees with it
There’s no prayer I know to make peace with it

 

All the somedays, the dreams, yeah the life we planned
Wasn’t meant to include Afghanistan
Now That yellow ribbon is nearly faded white
Sure is lonely in the lone star tonight

 

What I swore, that day, was you, knocking at the door
Was just three men in uniform
Saying something about honor and sacrifice
Sure is lonely in the lone star tonight

 

This heavy heart, I’m on my knees with it
There’s no prayer I know to make peace with it

 

There’s no shooting stars over San Antone
At least none that are worth wishing on
Just a folded flag in the full moon light
Sure is lonely in the lone star tonight

 

HEALTH NOTES

Kindergartener vaccination rates continue to drop as exemptions continue to rise in the US.

 

The media is reporting that 47 tigers, 2 lions and a panther in Vietnam zoos were killed by bird flu.

 

A health expert says that travel isn’t just fun. It might also help fight the signs of aging.

 

HERE’S YOUR SIGN



 

Or at least put a saddle on before you go giddy up.

 

UPDATE

Hurricane Helene’s death toll has now reached 189, the most storm casualties since Katerina and unfortunately the number are expected to grow.

 

REST EASY AMERICA

The port strike that’s going on could impact fresh foods first according to the experts. However, a shortage of toilet paper is unlikely. Good to go then…literally.

 

SHE SAID IT

This from the late comedienne Joan Rivers.

 

“I got a waterbed, but my husband stocked it with trout”. (And the problem with that is…?)

 

TODAY

I’ll write with my veteran this morning and try to capture is story into a song. He also plays guitar, so this write should be a little different and fun.

 

Then this evening there is a free concert with those veterans at the Coastal Arts Center. And I was given this Ranger slogan this morning from my friend Mutt Cooper who is an occupational therapist at Fort Benning, Georgia and is a former vet himself.



 

I’m the killer man son I’ll do the killing until the killer man comes.

 

And since I’m writing with a Ranger this morning…I’m glad he shared it with me.  

 

Have a great Thursday!



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