Bill's Blog

BILL BLOG Tuesday, June 30, 2026    It's the last day of June, and a hot Tuesday lies ahead. And it’s warming up for the 4 th of July. 95 today in Nashville, 97 tomorrow, and 98 on Wednesday.   It was so hot in Switzerland that they claimed a group of yodelers had to practice for a festival with their feet in a fountain. Water yodeling. You gotta love that.   YESTERDAY I wrote with my friend Troy Engle , who is now a member of Ricky’s Skagg’s great band, “ Kentucky Thunder .”   That’s Troy sitting behind the steel guitar. But he also plays guitar, fiddle, upright bass from time to time, and dobro for Ricky, and he can play banjo if they need it. Crazy.   Troy had a day off before catching the bus this morning with Ricky and the guys to head to Colorado for a show out there, so we wrote. Turned out to be something fun and catchy to add to our catalog.   Troy also showed me a video of him singing our song with Ricky and the ban...

BILL BLOG Monday, June 29, 2026   It’s Monday morning, y’all. And the heat wave has moved into Nashville. They’re calling it “dangerous heat.” A high of 93 is expected today, 97 tomorrow.   I’m surely glad someone invented AC. My top 3 inventions of all time might be AC, GPS, and indoor plumbing.   THE WEEKEND It sure was fun writing once again with Victoria Venier, who is the “girl” part of our “Hits & Grins” trio with Steve Dean and me.   It had been a while since I’d seen her, as we have both been busy doing our own things lately. On top of all of her other talents, Victoria is an “avid” horsewoman and owns, I think, three now? And she’s just now breaking in a young colt who is now fully grown. That’s always fun. She told me that the first official ride on a new horse is just getting up and sitting still in the saddle for a few seconds, and then dismounting. If the horse doesn’t buck? You’ve had a good ride. And she should know, as she’...

BILL BLOG Friday, June 26, 2026   Here comes the last weekend of June. It’s Friday, and we will hit a warm 87 degree high today in Nashville.   Hard to believe that next weekend will be the 4 th of July weekend. I’m stocking up with sparklers already.   YESTERDAY I had a great songwriting session at North Chapel Music with artist Spencer Hatcher , his younger brother Connor , and my friend Steve Dean. We spent a little time celebrating that Spencer’s new song “ Hot Weather and Cold Beer ” will be released July 3 rd as his new summertime single, which the 4 of us wrote together. And then we sat down and wrote a hardcore “country record that references the late great country artist Keith Whitley . Spencer is a big fan, so am I, so it was fun to chase that idea in the room yesterday. Spencer’s idea.   WHILE I WAS THERE My old publisher, Joe Cornett , who is now the publisher at North Chapel, where Spencer and Connor write, gifted me this. ...

BILL BLOG Thursday, June 25, 2026   Thursday morning has arrived, and it’s warming up. A high of 89 today, and next week they are calling for “excessive heat”, with temperatures in the 90’s.   YESTERDAY I had a very fun co-write with Kevin Williamson from the Williamson Branch Family Band . We wrote a “summer” time, to tapper of a song, one that might fit this great musical family. Kevin has become a proud grandpa recently, so we spent some time writing, catching up, and oh yeah, me listening to some Grandpa stories. A full day in the songwriting room with Kevin.   MUSIC NEWS It’s nice to see “ Here Comes The Sun ” getting some attention overseas on this broadcast that will feature the French Family Band , who recorded this song that I wrote with “ Sonny” from the group and Angus Gill.   And we found out that the song is in the #2 slot on the Australian Country Music Chart right now as well.     Little hard to see in that picture...