BILL BLOG
Tuesday November 5, 2024
Election Day Tuesday is on us. A little rain here in Nashville as folks go to vote with a high of 77.
YESTERDAY
I sat and wrote with Thomm Jutz at his studio home east of Nashville on a perfect Monday weather wise. It’s such a pleasure to write with Thomm…he tends to be a fast writer as am I…and yesterday was no exception.
On the way to his house I was listening to some music and a song came on I’d never heard that moved me. And a title came to me that I gave Thomm as I played him that song I had just listened to. He loved the thought…and pretty quickly we shaped a country, maybe bluegrass ballad song with feeling.
On top of his great writing skills Thomm is such a skilled guitar player. I could sit on his couch and just listen to him play guitar all day long. Heck he played out on the road with the late-great Nancy Griffith for a long while meaning he played guitars on classics like “From A Distance” and “Love at the Five and Dime”. And he produced some songs on the Chicago poet John Prine that he also played on.
So yep…yesterday was a very fun-good day.
SONG OF THE DAY
Today’s song is a parody of the hit by Lonestar “No News” that I turned into “Big News”. And this song has quite the story as well.
I was doing the morning show on WMIL in Milwaukee and the Packers were getting ready to play the Carolina Panthers one year at Lambeau Field for the NFC Championship and the right to go to the Super Bowl that year out in San Diego. I found out that a radio friend of mine Paul Johnson at WSOC in Charlotte, North Carolina had somehow convinced the group Lonestar to re-record their hit with his new lyrics of “Big News” which was all about how the Panthers were going to kick the Packers butt.
So I made a call to their record label at the time and talked to a friend who laughed when I asked him about it and asked if I would like to talk to the group about that? Would I? So the next day my radio partner at the time Scott Dolphin and I called into their studio as they were recording that song all the while recording the conversation that took place. Making that part of the story a bit shorter, they agreed that if the Packers won that game they would go BACK into the studio and record the lyrics that I sent them about the Packers winning and going to the Super Bowl.
Not only did they Packers win…they won the Super Bowl that year. And good to their word, the group re-recorded the song over the original tracks of their hit. It was phenomenal. We started playing it and it just blew up. Every station in Wisconsin wanted a copy and started playing it.
The end result was we put the song on a cassette and sold it for $5. It sold well over $50,000 worth of tapes at 5 dollars a pop and every bit of the money went to the Child Abuse Prevention Fund of Wisconsin. And then later the folks with the CAP Fund and the Radio Station gave me this little plaque that hangs in my office wall today.
With these words engraved.
“Give a little love to a child and you and you get a great deal back. Presented to Bill Whyte for all his love and dedication to the Child Abuse Prevention (CAP) Fund. Please know that the Cap Fund will be forever grateful.”
Kind of made me tear up a bit after reading this for the first time in a long time.
Someone loaded the song up on You Tube…so here it is for you to check out “Big News”.
A NEW CHART
Pretty cool to see “Blue Collar Gospel” from Jerry Salley and the Oak Ridge Boys show up at the #5 slot on the Cashbox Bluegrass Gospel Chart this week. That’s the song I wrote with Jerry and Rick Lang and it’s now been on this chart for 16 weeks. The song has been some kind of blessing for sure.
HEALTH NOTES
Drinking apple cider can be good for your health. According to health experts it helps lower your risk of certain types of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease.
Illnesses from food bacteria is on the rise.
The World Health Agency is now saying that universal health coverage is urgently needed.
FUNNY ROGER MILLER STORY
My favorite songwriter of all time is easily Roger Miller. His wordplay was incredible…and he could write funny “You Can’t Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd”…and he could tear your heart out with songs like “Husbands and Wives”. Funny stories about him are legendary. But I ran across this one yesterday that I had never heard before.
An obviously wealthy woman pulled into the station in her new Cadillac, got out, walked over to Miller and said, “Do you have a rest room?” The noise of all the air compressors and other machines that were running made it difficult for Miller to hear her very well. He thought she said, “Do you have a whisk broom?” His response was, “Just back it up over here, lady, and we’ll blow it out with the air hose.
HOUSES
Housing inventory hits it’s highest inventory since 2019 as lots of folks are putting their homes up for sale. You’d think that would mean lower prices…but they say no. But…it does give the buyer a feeling of not having to rush to make an offer right away with more houses being available to choose from.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
Well there you go.
TATTOO CITY
I’m not a tattoo guy. Just not my thing. But if I ever were to change my mind I’m pretty sure this one would not be my choice.
Nor
this one. What?
And if I were to get this one…I would certainly have all seven dwarfs represented.
Just saying.
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
Expect Bars To Be Open On Election Day-Nobody Can Vote For These Candidates Sober.
TODAY
My writing appointment cancelled for this morning…so I’m off to stand in line to vote…sober.
Have a great Tuesday!
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