BILL BLOG
Monday February 2, 2026
Monday morning, and we have run into February. It’s Groundhog Day, and a lot of folks are rooting that old “Phil” does not see his shadow today, considering the ice, snow, and storms that have swept through a wide swath of the country.
We are certainly looking forward to a high temperature of 45 today in Nashville.
THE WEEKEND
How many outages are still in Nashville? Too many. Our power went out a week ago Sunday morning, and did not return until 4:30 AM this past Thursday morning. For more information on our personal experience with this record-breaking storm, please refer to my previous blog.
But many are STILL without power. 34,000 without at the moment. I have multiple friends who have been told by NES (Nashville Electric Service) that they may not have power restored until February 9, which is two weeks without power. One co-writer of mine has been holed up in a hotel with her two young girls for days now, one of them sick with the flu, with no end in sight. My boss at my publishing company is in the same predicament.
A lot of food has been and will be tossed from freezers and refrigerators. And the cleanup of trees alone will be a massive effort once this is finally behind the city. Us included.
IGUANAS
At least we don’t have falling Iguanas like Florida has right now.
They are seemingly everywhere right now. Weirdest cold weather phenomenon ever. Here at our house, I still have not seen one squirrel drop out of a tree frozen. Keeping my eyes open just in case.
AND PLEASE DON’T TRY THIS
A man in Massachusetts just burned part of his house down trying to clear ice off his driveway with a BLOWTORCH. True.
DON’T LET THE BARN DOOR HIT YA
I went and saw a couple of my young co-writers, Alex Miller & Sonny French, perform a VERY entertaining set at a great Irish Pub here in town, McNamara’s, before the storm hit. Those two put on a heck of a show, and both just got back from a big Country Music Cruise in the Caribbean.
Here’s a little clip of the two of them singing the FIRST SINGLE Alex released as a Billy Jam recording artist after his appearance on American Idol. And I hear the two of them also performed the song together again on that cruise they just got home from. I wrote that song with Paul Bogart and Dan Wilson, and you can hear it anytime you catch an Alex Miller show. Thanks for playing the song, boys!
SPEAKING OF PAUL…
Last night I went and saw my Oklahoma buddy Paul Bogart play with his band at a venue called 3rd & Lindsley here in Nashville. Paul is in town for three shows, his first time playing in Nashville since he moved back to Oklahoma with his wife and three kids, who were there.
Dan Wilson, whom I mentioned above, was also there as he helped open the show with another musical friend of ours, Cassidy Lynn Crouch.
Paul has recorded several of our songs through the years, including three songs we wrote about his kids. And I got to meet all of them last night. In fact, the two boys, Ace and Jett, got up on stage and sang with Dad and his band. A couple of young chips off the ole “cowboy” block, if you will.
Paul sang two of those songs about his kids last night. “While She's Mine” that we wrote about his daughter Gentry, and the “Ballad of Exit 199” written about Ace, who was born on I-40 as Paul and his wife were TRYING to get to the hospital. Ace was born in the truck flying 100 miles per hour that night, and we captured that in his song, which is all true and also funny. Hit the link to listen.
It was great hearing my old friend and getting out to hear music for the first time since the ice storm.
SHOW THIS WEEK
I’m scheduled to play at the Bluebird Café with friends Lauren Mascitti, Victoria Venier, and Brady Seals. Always a pleasure to play in that iconic room in the round here in Music City USA. Only walk-up tickets remain.
Click HERE for more information on the Bluebird show.
NEW SHOW
I also found out that I’ll be playing at the prestigious songwriter festival “Tin Pan South” that takes place in Nashville over multiple nights in Music City. I’m waiting to hear which venue, but the show will be on Wednesday, March 25. I’ll know soon which venue and what time. I’ll be playing that night with friends Jerry Salley, Alex Miller, and Kristy Cox.
SUBTLE FREQUENCY
My wife Kathy has received notes from multiple folks telling her that they received a copy of her book “Subtle Frequency”. They pre-ordered their copies, and now they have them!
Get your copy too! Her book is distributed by Simon & Schuster, so you can find it worldwide. And you can easily find it online with a simple “search”.
The official release date is tomorrow, February 3, which means bookstores should have them on that date or a little after.
CHECK OUT THE JACKET
Just a little something my daughter Heather sewed together for her husband Casey. Me? I can’t even glue anything together.
SONG OF THE DAY
I’m choosing a song that I wrote with Lauren Mascitti, who will be part of my Bluebird show this Thursday night. This song is titled “LookWho’s Crying Now,” and it features Lauren’s incredible voice with just her guitar accompanying her. Her Nana, who is with Lauren everywhere she plays, including her American Idol journey, posted this video on her Facebook page over the weekend. Take a look, and listen to the link above, and you’ll hear why I think Lauren has one of the best young country voices in this town.
HEALTH NOTES
The Skin Cancer Foundation predicts that 234,680 cases of melanoma will be diagnosed this year, a 106% increase from last year. And they predict 8,510 people will die from it.
The Navy has issued apologies to service members discharged under the vaccine mandate.
Researchers in Spain have developed a new therapy protocol that could revolutionize the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer is rarely diagnosed in early stages, and this new therapy could help with that. And that would be a great thing, as in more than 60% of cases, by the time the diagnoses, pancreatic cancer has already advanced to Stage 4.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
Good advice. If they have a thumb out wearing orange? Keep driving.
VALENTINE GIFT?
Trying to decide how much my wife might love a pair of these for Valentine’s Day.
Yep, Lego clogs! Gosh, she’s going to look great in these.
OR…
Maybe this TheraICE headache cap costs less than 50 bucks. Considering what a
headache I can be for my wife? Might be the perfect choice.
WON’T MISS THIS!
The EPA is going to stop requiring cars to have a start-stop feature that almost everyone hates. The minute I get in my car, I turn it off. It came to be a thing because they wanted to trim emissions and fuel bills. That has not been the case. Something to celebrate if you are as annoyed with this feature as I am.
SPEAKING OF CARS
US and European car makers have now lost $114 BILLION dollars on EVs. And after being without electricity for 6 days? I don’t see myself rushing to buy an electric-driven vehicle in the near future myself.
GRAMMYS
I didn’t watch a bit of it this year as I was out last night. But when one of the highlights of the show is Justin Bieber singing in Anti-Ice Boxers and black socks? I don’t feel like I missed a lot.
I’m proud and happy to have a Grammy Certificate hanging on my wall for the song “Safe Haven” that was on the Grammy winning album “Love Remains” from Hillary Scott and The Scott Family.
And I’m happy that I got to meet with the guy who makes the Grammy trophies out in Ridgway, Colorado, with my buddy Steve Dean, while we were out there several years ago with Freedom Sings USA, writing songs with veterans.
His name is John Billings, and he makes the trophies in the basement-garage of his modest home out there. Nice man, and it was very cool seeing how they make those trophies.
All of that is much cooler than watching Justin Bieber sing at the Grammys in his underwear.
SUPERBOWL
With the Super Bowl on the way this Sunday, some of the Super Bowl ads are ready to go. A 30-second ad this year will set the advertiser back 8 million dollars a pop. Over the next few blogs, I’ll put up a sneak peek or two of some of those being touted as the best.
This ad features funny guy Kevin Hart in a Verizon commercial.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
From the late Mickey Rooney, who was married many times:
“I’m the only man in the world with a marriage license made out to whom it may concern”.
TODAY
Last week, because of the storm, every songwriting appointment was cancelled, and there will be some more of that this week, including today. We get a little warmer weather that may get rid of the last of the snow and ice that is lingering, which should help those great crews trying to restore power to the last 45,000 or so Nashville residents. Rooting for that.
Have a great Monday!
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