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A Night Write...A Duet...A Little Baseball

BILL BLOG

Wednesday August 20, 2025 

 

Here comes that ole “Hump Day”. Wednesday y’all. Another hot one in Nashville today with a high of 93.

 

Meanwhile, Hurricane Erin has been downgraded to a Category 2 that will now hit parts of the East Coast. Still, it’s bringing massive waves with it that could lead to damage. And forecasters are watching two mover disturbances that are tucked behind Erin. Yep, it’s hurricane season for sure.

 

YESTERDAY

After being on the road a bunch, playing shows, I noticed that my “go-to” Martin D18 guitar needed a little work.



So, I made time to take it to my favorite guitar shop in town, where they fixed an issue I was having with it and restrung the guitar while it was there.



 

One of the great things about living in a music town is that there are so many talented singers and musicians here. AND…it also means we have some of the best guitar techs in the world that also reside in Music City. My thanks to Charley and Glaser Instruments for taking good care of me yesterday.

 

LAST NIGHT’S WRITE

I wrote a new gospel-bluegrass song with my friend Brooke Aldridge last night online. Her musical partner-husband, Darin, was teaching lessons and arrived about the time Brooke and I put the finishing touches on the tune about “one-room” churches that still exist today. It’s the kind of song that bluegrass singers and groups record a lot of, so we’ll see what happens with it.

 

The two of them had just been in Nashville for the Jeannie Seeley Memorial that I blogged about yesterday, but they also made time to go see the new Dolly Parton play “Dolly: An Original Music” that covers Dolly’s life. 3 actresses playing Dolly at different parts of her life make her story come alive on the stage. Darin and Brooke raved about how good it is. I’m pretty sure most Dolly fans are going to feel the same. It’s on a limited run at Belmont University’s Fisher Center for the Performing Arts.



GATLINBURG

Here’s a duet moment with me and my friend Victoria Venier of a song we performed at this year’s Gatlinburg Songwriters’ Festival that our friend Nana Mascitti caught on her “Nana” Cam. One we wrote together titled, “That’d Be Alright With Me”. It was the first time we’d ever performed the song. Pretty nice “live” moment.



 

SONG OF THE DAY

Since I wrote with them yesterday, let’s make the Darin and Brooke Aldridge song “Where You’ll Find Me” the “song of the day”. This song was written with friends Lauren Mascitti and Kristen Leigh Bearfield, and it’s on the current album from Darin and Brooke titled “Talk of the Town”. This song is about singing those old classic mountain songs out on a porch in North Carolina, where Darin & Brooke are from. 


 

 

HEALTH NOTES

Medical folks are claiming that cutting alcohol use and medicating sooner can prevent the “silent killer” that is high blood pressure.

 

The FDA has issued a warning after investigating radioactive shrimp bound for Walmart detected at US ports.

 

A new study is suggesting that red meat wreaks havoc on the gut and drives inflammatory bowel disease. (IBD)

 

HERE’S YOUR SIGN



Apply now! .Mom will appreciate it.

 

NO CHEATING

China is big on that. To such an extent that they shut down AI for the entire country during exam week, so that students wouldn’t use it to cheat.

 

So now they’ll try to cheat the old-fashioned way with ink notes on their wrists!  Old school.

 

BASEBALL FUNNY

John Kruk, a former great player for the Phillies, is now part of their broadcast team. And he can be funny, and he can ask questions that can’t be answered.

 

Last night, he said, “So, I was wondering. The person who invented the clock, the first clock ever. How did that person know what time it was”?

 

No answer for that one, John.


 

 

Speaking of John Kruck. This is still one of the FUNNIEST BASEBALL MOMENTS when John faced hard-throwing Randy Johnson in an All-Star Game. John wanted NO part of Randy. His reaction still makes me laugh.

 

THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW YOU NEEDED

Like this miniature hummingbird feeder ring that you can slip on your finger.



 

Or this miniature table-top fire pit. It’s been a bit since I roasted a marshmallow or a weenie on an open fire. I may have to get one.



Or, speaking of weenies.



 

If I can only have one?  I’m thinking toaster.

 

THE FAIR

This is why I love fairs. The events. This week at our Tennessee State Fair, for the price of a ticket, you can watch a Horseshoe Pitching Tournament. (Before cornhole…it was horseshoes.)

 

There is a Cornhole Tournament as well, AND a corn-eating contest. We love our corn here.

 

Or how about the “Crank It Up” Ice Cream Freezer Off?



I’ve cranked one of those bad boys a time or three when I was young

 

And if that’s not enough Fair excitement, then the Elvis Tribute show might be the event you don’t want to miss. Yes…there are still thousands of Elvis impersonators in the country.



Uh…not all of them are very good.

 

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

If Your Work Goes Up In Flames, Don’t Fetishize The Ashes. (Solid advice)

 

TODAY

I’m in a writing room with a couple of busy folks these days. Alex Miller, who's been all over the country touring, and Stuie French of the “French Family Band,” who just got off a run with the great Brothers of the Heart quartet.



 

It will be good to see both of them.

 

Then tonight, a friend gifted me a couple of baseball tickets so I’m going to go sit in the ballpark and root on the Sounds.


 

 

 

Have a great Wednesday!

 

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