BILL BLOG
Wednesday April 30, 2025
Here it is the end of April already. How can that be? 83 will be our high today in Nashville.
YESTERDAY
I had the pleasure of sitting down and writing with Daryl Mosely for the second time to write. Daryl has been named the Bluegrass Songwriter of the Year 4 separate years! And at one point he was a member of the legendary Osborne Brothers. Surely by now, he must be sick of the song “Rocky Top”! No telling how many times he must have played that song with Sonny and Bobby while singing harmony on it. I forgot to ask him.
Daryl loves to write about real stuff. Country stuff. Down home stuff. I took that kind of idea to him yesterday, and it didn’t take us an hour to turn the idea into a catchy up-tempo bluegrass song. Fun day at the writing office.
FREEDOM SINGS PENSACOLA
This poster you see below just came in yesterday promoting a weekend I’ll be part of at the end of May writing with veterans once again and the organization Freedom Sings USA at the Warrior Beer Company down in Pensacola. I’ll be part of a Memorial Day concert with those veterans and the songwriters making the trip with me. It should be a very memorable Memorial Day weekend.
A NEW ALBUM?
It’s a possibility. I’ve not recorded a new album for a very long while but I’m in talks about doing a comedy-bluegrass project that could be really cool. I’ve been talking with a producer friend of mine about it for several years now, but it’s looking like those talks might lead to something that would be very fun. I’m going through a bunch of funny songs in my catalog to send to the producer to try to narrow the list down to 10 songs.
I’m cautiously optimistic this might happen, so stay tuned. I’ll keep you updated here.
SONG OF THE DAY
Speaking of Bluegrass. Today’s song "Once Again" landed on the Grammy nominated album from the legendary Del McCoury album “Almost Proud”. The song is one that I wrote with Josh Shilling who is out on the road playing piano for Wynonna. Josh knows Mr. McCoury and got him the song. Del loved it and then invited Josh to play piano on this song. You rarely hear piano on a bluegrass record, and some bluegrass traditionalists are offended when a non-bluegrass instrument is used.
Del is a groundbreaker even at his age. And he doesn’t care. So this song sounds more like Jerry Lee Lewis than it does Bill Monroe. Check it out by clicking the link above.
HEALTH NOTES
Statistics show that Alzheimer’s rates have reached a staggering number. 7 million are affected.
Nearly 150 cruise guests and crew were sick with gastrointestinal illness on 3 separate ships over the past few days.
Florida is set to become the second state to ban fluoride in public drinking water. Utah was the first state to do so.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
Probably shouldn’t park there.
E-MAIL DON’T
An expert says don’t say “just checking in” when you’re e-mailing someone. They claim it’s a vague non-statement.
I’m guessing that expert would not approve of “Hey Dipwad, how ya doing these days”? either. I really need to stop doing that.
BASEBALL
Even if you’re not a big baseball fan like I am, you’ll be amazed at this catch that Toronto Blue Jay centerfielder Dalton Varsho made last night. Falling…behind the back. Geez. Some think it might be the best catch ever. I don’t know about that…but it is pretty incredible. Check out his catch HERE.
GUITAR HEART ATTACK
A friend of mine posted this picture of his guitar that United Airlines made him check on a flight this past weekend.
That pretty much breaks the heart of any musician who has to travel to a show by flying. I’ve been fairly lucky but I have had a couple of interesting incidents with my guitar while flying.
The first time I was FORCED to check my guitar it was in a hard case. And I remember asking them to PLEASE handle it with care. When I claimed it after getting to my destination there the outside of that hard shell case was smashed in. Fortunately, that old Ovation guitar suffered no damage…just the case. How does that happen?
After that incident, I fight harder to get it on board. I get early boarding so I can be first on to help ensure there will be room in the overhead for my guitar.
But there was another flight that I got on with my guitar in a soft-shell case, and the flight attendant tried to make me check it. I tried to impress upon her how valuable the guitar was, and even told her my horror story of how I once had a guitar case smashed because of being forced to check it. Finally, a senior attendant joined the conversation and said, “Let me see what I can do”. They had a first-class seat that was open and she strapped my guitar into that seat. So, I flew coach, and my guitar flew first class that day.
EXPENSIVE THEME PARK
Universal just opened its newest theme park called Epic Universe in Orlando. It will cost you between $139 to $199 for a one-day pass. Wow.
I’m not sure how a family of four affords a trip to the Orlando theme parks anymore. I love them, but man, going to the Montgomery City, Missouri Fair where I grew up, that had a Tilt-a-Whirl, a Scrambler, a Ferris wheel, and a Merry Go Round was a lot cheaper. And you could get just as sick on one of the rides there if you ate enough cotton candy washed down with a Coke before you got on board the Scrambler. Just saying.
UPS
That company is going to cut 20,000 jobs amid the new or increased tariffs coming their way.
So the new company commercials will say, “What brown can’t do for you”. I guess.
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
Two-Headed Santa Eats His Reindeer. (Yep...an actual headline. I’m not sure which is more alarming. The fact that there’s a two-head Kris Kringle, or the fact that St. Nick would actually eat reindeer.)
TODAY
I’ll be writing with a rising star today named Jaelee Roberts for the first time. She comes from a musical family. Her Dad plays in the award-winning band “The Grascals”. She’s already appeared on the Grand Ole Opry, and she is an artist to keep your eyes on as her star is going to rise. Here’s an EXAMPLE of her music.
I’m looking forward to seeing what we can come up with today.
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