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Patriot Song...Shiloh, Illinois Return...Willie

BILL BLOG

Thursday May 1, 2025

 

Thursday morning, the very first day of May is here. Getting ready for a show later this evening in town. More on that later.

 

We’ll get some more rain today in Nashville. The high will be 76 after being in the 80’s the last several days.

 

YESTERDAY

I was supposed to write with Jaelee Roberts who was the Female Vocalist of the Year last year for Bluegrass singers for the very first time. But she called in sick and we have to reschedule.

 

But I was able to join my friends Alex Miller and Caroline Owens at the last second. And just about the time we sat down to writ,e the publisher of Daywind Music, Rick Shelton walked in and told us they were really looking for patriotic songs for a particular vocal group who was recording. So the three of us went after that and wrote a Red, White and Blue song. I call that “target” writing where you are trying to write a song for a particular artist, or in this case a group. The success rate of doing that is not particularly high so I’ve learned to just really try and write as great a song as you can, and then if the “target” artist doesn’t like it, it’s good enough to fit some other artist.

 All three of us are proud of the song. We’ll see what happens.

 

FREEDOM SINGS USA

I added one more Freedom Sings USA event to my calendar. Our group of songwriters will be returning to Shiloh, Illinois to write with veterans Friday and Saturday August 1 and 2 with a “live” concert under the pavilion at Klucker Hall in Shiloh where each songwriter will perform the song written with the veteran they wrote with on Friday. This event is open to the public. This will be our third time to visit with Shiloh, and it’s always a great event. Come help us celebrate these proud veterans if you can. 



 

SONG OF THE DAY

I’m choosing the song “Less to Break” that my friend Scott Southworth recorded after we wrote his idea together. It’s a classic country song for sure. Scott is just wrapping up a big tour in England where this song was on his set list every night so folks in Ireland and France got to hear it which is kind of cool.



 

HEALTH NOTES

A new study reveals that Vitamin D plays a critical role in the prevention and treatment of colorectal cancer.

 

COVID vaccine boosters are being questioned now by the FDA chief who claims it’s ‘void of data’.

 

A health study says just sitting or being sedentary for 1 hour will lead to neck pain. Mobile phone use, being on the computer are some of the culprits.

 

HERE’S YOUR SIGN



 I can’t argue with that.

 

RESTFUL CITIES

The folks who put together the list of “Most Restful Cities” selected these cities as their Top 5.

 

5 Fremont, California

 

4 Naperville, Illinois

 

3 Alexandria, Virginia

 

2 San Francisco

 

And their choice for “Most Restful City” is Sunnyvale, California.


 

 

So if you need a good night’s sleep, you know where to move now.  

 

DOLLY HOTEL

Dolly Parton is set to build a new hotel in downtown Nashville. While other country stars are opening honkytonk after honkytonk on Lower Broadway, Dolly is building a hotel. Here’s a rendering.



 

Dolly already has a couple of great hotels over in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, including the Dream More Resort that I would highly recommend after staying and playing there once.



 

Dolly always seems to be one step ahead of folks and everything she touches seemingly turns to gold.

 

SPEAKING OF COUNTRY STARS

Willie Nelson just turned 92. He’s still performing. And he just released a new album. In his amazing career Willie has released 102 albums. Wow.


I’m sure some of you are thinking, “I’ll have what he’s having”. And we all know what Willie is having.

 

And that makes me think about this Willie song, “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die”.

 

WEIRD CONTESTS

They just wrapped up the Seahawk Screeching Contest this year in Belgium. Watch THIS and hold your ears.



 

While that seems to be a really weird contest, keep in mind the Mullet Tossing Event just wrapped up at the Flora-Bama down in Perdido Key.



 Proof that there’s a contest for everyone.


HEADLINE OF THE DAY

This one was actually printed in the Daily Star.

 

Britain’s Fattest Woman Ate Fridge & Died. (Wonder what the heck she washed it down with.)

 

TODAY

This evening I have a 6 pm show at the Listening Room Café with “Hits & Grins” featuring Steve Dean, Victoria Venier and myself.



They have great food and cold drinks so grab a table, order something off the menu and enjoy the original songs.

 

Have a great Thursday!


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