Bill's Blog

BILL BLOG Thursday, September 17, 2026   Thursday has rolled around, bringing more heat. The high in Nashville today will be 96.   And I’ve got a road trip to Kentucky in just a few hours. More on that at the end of today’s Blog.   YESTERDAY Wednesday was a day of tweaking a few songs and packing a guitar and a suitcase for the trip later this morning. After this trip, I’ll have a nice three weeks of no trips before loading up for a beach run starting with Blast on the Bay in Port St. Joe.     And when that wraps up, I’ll drive over to Gulf Shores for MOTM, the big Parrot Head Festival, where this year I’ll not only be playing a couple of Trop Rock shows, but I’ll also emcee the Trop Rock Music Awards .          SONG OF THE DAY Spencer Hatcher , a young traditional country artist, just released a lyric video for “ Hot Weather, Cold Beer ,” which I wrote with him, his brother Conner, and my friend Steve Dean. T...

BILL BLOG Wednesday, September 16, 2026   Hump Day. Wednesday. All Day.   Apparently, Nashville didn’t get word that Fall is right around the corner. Today’s high will be 96.   YESTERDAY I spent a great day in the writing room with Jerry Salley , working on a new song idea that has a “Mexico” flavor to it that we both love. We are taking our time with this one because the idea is worth the time, and Jerry is a very meticulous writer.      We broke for lunch, which I normally don’t do because I tend to be a faster writer than a lot of other folks. So that gave the two of us time to catch up on each other’s busy lives.   Jerry has produced a tribute album to the great Delmore Brothers for those old enough to remember them and their great harmony. That album release is next month, and our friend Alex Miller dropped by our writing session yesterday afternoon, and we talked about what a great job he did with the Delmore Brothers so...

BILL BLOG Tuesday, September 15, 2026   Hello, Tuesday morning. It’s going to be nice and “toasty” in Nashville today with a high of 97 on tap.   YESTERDAY I was on a Zoom call yesterday evening with my friend Tim Stafford and the class he teaches bluegrass music to at ETSU (Eastern Tennessee State University), where his kids major in bluegrass. Yes, you can get a diploma for bluegrass.   My friend Thom Jutz , a hit songwriter who also teaches some at Belmont University here in Nashville, joined in, as did Jon Weisberger, a hit writer who also runs a bluegrass music label, Mountain Home , and is a columnist as well.   I think we may have had as many as 15 students in the Zoom call. We talked about publishing, how songs get cut, how you find co-writers, what comes first, the music or the lyrics, AI and music, and more. Listening to Thom and Jon and Tim, I think I learned as much as the kids did last night. And the students asked some great questions...

BILL BLOG Monday, September 14, 2026   Monday morning, and I’m back home in Nashville, where it’s still hot. 93 will be the high today, and the rest of the week we will be hovering around 96 to 100-degree highs.   THE WEEKEND Friday afternoon, my friend Brent Burns and I made the 2-hour drive from Gulf Shores over to Biloxi, Mississippi to play the Biloxi Box Set Festival, organized by the Biloxi Parrot Head Club. And there were Parrot Head lovers from all over the country who came there to enjoy the fun, the beach, and the music.   We sat on a big stage under a pavilion, with an ocean view, which was cool and comfortable as opposed to playing on a stage right out on the beach that would have been very HOT and uncomfortable. This is the festival’s 8 th year, so they’ve learned some things from the past, and Brent and I were the beneficiaries of that.   Our mutual friend John Patti played the National Anthem before our show on the steel drums in ...