Bill's Blog

BILL BLOG Thursday October 15, 2026   And a good Thursday morning to you. Up to 89 degrees in Nashville today. I read that the weather experts are predicting a warm winter for Music City this year. I’ll take it, after being without power for a week last winter after that ice storm hit. I’m hoping their prediction is accurate.   YESTERDAY Thursday was all about tying up loose ends before packing for this trip I’m on right now to Port St. Joe. It’s about a 7-hour drive to get there, and I’m losing an hour as they are on Eastern time. I’m certainly happy to be returning to this great songwriter festival. Here's my schedule.     CONGRATS To my friends the French Family Band who just won the “Thumbpickers Award” for Best Album of the Year,” titled “ Huon to Hickory, ” that I have three songs on.    That Hall of Fame was established to honor great “thumbpicking” artists like Merle Travis, Chet Atkins and others.     Both S...

BILL BLOG Wednesday, October 14, 2026    Another “Hump Day” is on us. It’s Wednesday. It will be warm again today before the temperature drops into the 60’s this weekend. Today’s high in Nashville will be 91.   YESTERDAY What a fun writing session with Lee Black , and Lauren Mascitti . Lee walked in with an idea for a song about WD40 and Duct Tape. And that turned out to be the title of the tune we wrote.   The idea being that there’s not much that those two things can’t fix, except for a broken heart.   North Chapel Publishing was full of songwriters yesterday including Spencer and Connor Hatcher who I write with a lot.   Brent Baxter was in town from Arkansas, and he was in the building as well. Brent co-wrote the Joe Nichols song “ Crickets ” with me and Lisa Shaffer.   And I met the winner of “ The Road” TV show talent contest hosted by Gretchen Wilson with judges Blake Shelton, and Keith Urban . His name is Adam San...

BILL BLOG Tuesday, October 13, 2026   Tuesday has arrived.   We’ve hit (perhaps) the last warm surge for the year with today’s high in Nashville predicted to be 91 degrees. But this Saturday?   The high will be just 64.   It’s that time of year. Which is why I’m packing both shorts and long pants for my run to the beach starting Thursday.     YESTERDAY It was a lazy Monday at the Whyte House with no appointments, so I checked a couple of “do” things off the “honey-do” list. Never ending. I also spent some time rehearsing songs for those two festivals I’m headed to. 9 days in all, with six shows slated in Port St. Joe, and Gulf Shores.      FUN DUET It’s even more fun if you’re a big SEC football fan, but this new video from Riley Green that pairs him up with Peyton Manning is fun, as they musically sing about the rivalry between Tennessee, where Peyton played Quarterback, and Alabama, Riley’s home state. And this...

BILL BLOG Monday, October 12, 2026   Monday morning has arrived. We are warming back up in Nashville with a high of 89 expected today in Nashville on this Columbus Day.   I remember that Columbus discovered the new world, and something about the Nina , the Pinta, and the Santa Maria . Outside of that? It’s a good holiday with mattress sales.    THE WEEKEND Friday morning, I wrote a new song with Barry Hutchens , who lives in North Carolina and comes to Nashville about once a month or so to write songs for a week, often time with his son Will .     Barry plays piano, and guitar, sings great, and writes great songs. It’s always fun to rhyme with Barry.   I’ll be doing a songwriter show with Barry and his son Will, along with our mutual friend Jerry Salley this coming Friday at a place called Tap Roots in Port St. Joe, Florida for the “ Blast on the Bay ” songwriters festival.  That’s a noon time start on that show.   ...