BILL BLOG
Thursday August 7, 2025
Thursday is here…and there’s no stopping it. It’s getting warmer again in middle Tennessee. Today’s high will be 92.
YESTERDAY
It was a busy Tuesday that started with a writing session with my friend Jerry Salley, who just happens to be the head guy at Billy Blue Records. So, when you’re a hit songwriter, singer, AND the head of a recording studio…you’ve got a really busy schedule…all the time.
Despite that, we’ve decided to make time on our calendars to try and write twice monthly, and yesterday we sat down and worked some more on a song we had started a couple of weeks ago, in hopes of making this song better. I’m pretty sure we did that.
RECORDING STUDIO
As soon as Jerry and I finished, I headed to the Cowboy Arms recording studio, the first house recording studio ever built in Nashville.
Uh...I did not see a Spa anywhere.
Jack Clement was the guy who built it, a famous record producer who brought John Prine, Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and many more iconic stars into his home to make infamous recordings throughout the year.
I was in that studio yesterday to listen to a song being recorded that I wrote with the producer of this session, Angus Gill.
This was the first time in a big recording studio for 15-year-old Kylee Paige, who is recording a 5-song EP to be released soon, with a song titled “I Don’t Miss You Much” that Kylee wrote with me and Angus.
All of the musicians were top-notch, many of whom I know who have played on other songs of mine through the years. Man, I always love hearing the magic going down in a recording studio…especially on a song I’m involved with.
My thanks to Angus for inviting me to sit on the session yesterday.
I WANNA DO
That’s the name of a “catchy” song that I wrote with my friend Adam Pope. He and his wife, Amy, recorded the song recently, and it will be on their next album which will be released soon. Adam posted this VIDEO of them singing part of that song, and apparently it will be one they perform all the time. Good news to a songwriter’s ears. Click the link to hear how fun this song is.
SONG OF THE DAY
Since I wrote with Jerry Salley yesterday, I thought I’d share this song the two of us wrote that was recorded by Australian country artist Roo Arcus, “If That’s What Love Was”, which went all the way to number 2 on the Australian Country Chart at the time. This was one of the first songs that Jerry and I wrote together.
HEALTH NOTES
Experts are warning against drinking bottled water after it’s been left in a hot car. Why? Because high temperatures and prolonged sun exposure can create conditions that lead to chemical leaching from plastic bottles and bacterial growth, especially if the bottle has been opened.
A 30-year-old woman is claiming that her Oura ring detected stage 4 cancer 8 months before Doctors did.
According to the CDC, Americans consume more than half of their calories from ultra-processed foods.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
Thank you!
YARD SALE!
The world’s largest yard sale starts today and runs through August 10. It stretches all the way from Michigan down to Alabama. 690 miles worth of card tables filled with someone else’s junk, that can become your junk.
I don’t think I’ve ever bought anything at a yard sale for whatever reason. I once offered a guy $ 5 for the card table his mountain of junk was sitting on. He did not find that very amusing.
MORE AI
On a recent road trip with my friends Linda Davis and Lang Scott, we had a lengthy discussion about AI and the future of jobs. So many jobs are going away, white collar jobs in particular. We talked about what kind of jobs would be available in the future and jokingly mentioned that a “plumbing” career might be an option.
This morning, Lang sent me an interview with Geoffrey Hinton, who many consider to be the Godfather of AI. He was asked that very question by the interviewer about what kind of jobs we should be looking. His immediate response was guess what? Uh huh. Plumber. I told Lang I’m going to Home Depot and buy a plunger later today. Here’s that INTERVIEW.
STAND UP COMEDY
I tried my hand at that a few times. Just to see if I could do it. The first time was nerve-racking, until I got a laugh. And I learned a lot working with other comedians. I learned that every great comedian has a few lines to deal with hecklers in the audience.
A couple of comedy tips.
Don’t sit in the front row unless you like being picked on and becoming part of the show.
And don’t heckle. You’ll lose every time.
Steve Martin once responded to a heckler by saying, “Ah, I remember my first beer too”. And that’s a mild retort.
I worked several times with the very funny Heywood Banks, who plays funny songs in his set to add to his stand-up routine. Like the one he wrote about taking a trip across the state of Iowa, titled Interstate 80 Iowa, where you find out there's a LOT of corn.
I was working with Heywood one night and was out front watching his set. In front of him on the front row was a table of 5 or 6 guys who were all laughing their butts off. All but ONE. This guy never laughed, never once smiled, even at Heywood’s funniest jokes. And how Heywood handled that was brilliant. He went to the back of the stage and grabbed a catcher’s mitt that he had brought with him. He tossed it to that guy on the front row and said, “Let me know if you catch the next one”. The place fell apart in laughter.
BACK TO SCHOOL
That would be today here in Nashville. Yellow buses are rolling, and 15 mph speed limit lights are blinking near schools. There might be a few moms popping the cork on a bottle of wine today.
TODAY’S HEADLINE
Man Robs Bank Branch Dressed As A Tree. (Tree…branch = robbery)
TODAY
I’ve got an online songwriting appointment this morning with bluegrass teacher Tim Stafford in Knoxville. Class is back in session at ETSU, where indeed, kids can major in bluegrass! And Tim is the head instructor. So I guess I’m in class with Tim today. I'm bringing an apple.
Have a great Thursday!
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