Bill's Blog

BILL BLOG Friday March 17, 2023 Happy Friday and Happy St. Patty’s Day.   Makes me want a corned beef and a Guinness at McGuire’s in Pensacola! 55 for the high on St. Pat’s Day here in Music City.     YESTERDAY I had the pleasure of meeting, writing, and teaching Brian Smyth who lives in Regina, Canada in the province of Saskatchewan. Brian found me on Songwriter Pro, a great songwriter service that my friend Brent Baxter owns that’s full of help for songwriters and more importantly for those who want to learn more and get better at songwriting. So Brian signed up.   First of all I could not help but notice how cook it was that his last name “ Smith ” is spelled with a “Y” as in Smyth. And my last name of “White” is spelled with a “Y” as in Whyte . So we had something to laugh about right off before we dove into a song idea he wanted to write about someone taking a chance, leaving home, and moving to Nashville to chase that dream that so many dream about

BILL BLOG Thursday March 16, 2023   And Thursday morning has rolled around. Yo Yo weather going on in Nashville right now as it will warm up to 67 today, but by Sunday it’s just a 42-degree high.   YESTERDAY I wrote with Larry Frick over in North Carolina on our computers. Larry and his wife live about 40 minutes or so outside of Raleigh. They have 50 acres with rescue dogs and horses and some other animals. I did not know until he told me yesterday that he used to train horses.   That led to me telling him about my expensive disaster of being a partial racehorse owner for a short while when I lived in Cincinnati. The horse was named “ Flashing Magic “and by the time he was sold I was calling him “Flushing Magic” because of the money I was flushing down the equestrian toilet for training, and hay, entry fees etc. I sold him after the racing form said by his name one day…”one step ahead of the glue truck”. Yep. Time to sell.   Anyway, Larry had a great

BILL BLOG Wednesday March 15, 2023   Another Hump Day has rolled around. Wednesday all day. It’s only 27 degrees as I start the blog this morning…with a 55-degree high on tap.   YESTERDAY I got to spend time writing with my talented bluegrass friend Tim Stafford over in Knoxville and that’s always a fun hang. We got a new mournful bluegrass song written, and if you don’t know, “mournful” and “bluegrass” go together like peanut butter on a banana.   Tim’s busy as always. He and his award-winning bluegrass band “Blue Highway” are getting ready for a lot of festival dates and shows starting in May and he’s also been out promoting a new album he recorded withanother talented friend Thom Jutzz that’s out everywhere right now.   We had fun talking about New York experiences. He and his band played Rockefeller Center once and DROVE with a trailer full of equipment behind them. Imagine trying to find a parking place in the Big Apple with that rig!   And they couldn’t. So as th

BILL BLOG Tuesday March 14, 2023 Tuesday and it’s cool in Music City. Just 47 for a high today.   YESTERDAY My writing appointment with bluegrass artist Irene Kelley got cancelled because Irene drove up to my publishing company to write, and I drove to her house to write. She had forgotten that my publishing company is closed for remodeling and that we had agreed we’d write at her house yesterday. And we were too far apart to make the day work so we cancelled and rescheduled for another time. It happens.   So I stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts on the way back to the house and got some coffee and donut holes…so the day was not a complete waste.   VETERANS I will see Irene on March 20 & 21 in Murfreesboro for a Freedom Sings USA retreat where she and I and songwriters Steve Dean , Don Goodman , Bobby Tomberlin and Minnie Murphy will sit with veterans who served as nurses and write their stories into songs and then perform them at a free concert the next n

BILL BLOG Monday March 13, 2023   Monday morning…back home in Nashville. Did you move your clock forward? Hello Daylight Savings Time.   And hello cooler weather! Only 49 for a high today with a freeze warning tonight. 29 degrees for a low!   THE WEEKEND It was quite the weekend in Pigeon Forge making music at Dollywood with my friends Steve Dean & Victoria Venier . Friday was opening day at the park for those season ticket holders as well as VIP’s and guests. Our “Hits & Grins” trio played 3 shows Friday and 3 more on Saturday at the Showcase Palace Theater which is beautiful. Victoria is hosting a run of 5 or six weeks of shows with songwriters saluting the 50 th Anniversary of Dolly’s hit “I Will Always Love You”.        We had so much fun. Victoria and her husband Matt Davenport own and run Matt Davenport Productions and they put together theme park shows and more all over the country and the world. So they jumped in and designed this b

BILL BLOG Friday March 10, 2023   Friday morning…and good morning from Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. Umbrella day here. Rain with a high of 61 in the land of taffy and fudge and moonshine and putt putt golf.     I read this morning that it’s been the 5 th warmest winter ever for Nashville with the average temperature of 47 degrees between December and February. No complaints here.   YESTERDAY I picked up one of my “Hits & Grins” partners Steve Dean and we rolled I-40 east to Pigeon Forge, checked into our hotel room, and this morning we’ll head to Dollywood where the third member of our trio Victoria Venier will join us on stage at the Palace Theater inside Dollywood to kick off the 50 th Anniversary Celebration of “I Will Always Love You”. Several weeks of songwriters will follow us, but we’re kicking the entire thing off with 3 shows for VIPS at the park. Noon, 2 and 4 pm. Three more shows at the same time tomorrow free for all park visitors. Victoria is actually in charge