Bill's Blog

BILL BLOG Wednesday December 6, 2023   Here tis…first Hump Day in December. Wednesday and it’s a tad cool. High of just 49 today.   YESTERDAY I wrote with these two talented folks you see below… Lauren Mascitti and Kristen Bearfield .   Both so talented and both so very busy these days. Lauren is writing all the time, is a part time nurse, and plays a ton of shows. Kristen works for the International Bluegrass Music Association and that takes a lot of her time but she still writes and performs herself, most notably with a wonderful girl group called High Road . It was great to catch up with both young ladies and then write something very fun together. Kristen brought her mandolin yesterday so it was great to have that on the little recording we made before we left yesterday evening.   Fun day always with these two.   SPEAKING OF LAUREN Lauren Mascitti will be joining me and Steve Dean for a Christmas show at Reba’s old place at the “Grand Ole Barn” on

BILL BLOG Tuesday December 5, 2023   And here it is…Tuesday morning with sunshine on the way and a high of 59.   YESTERDAY I wrote with young and talented Caroline Owens at my publishing company. First co-write for the two of us. Caroline is a young bluegrass artist from a small town in North Carolina and she’s already signed to a record deal. My friend Darin Aldridge produced her first album which will be out early next year. She plays piano, guitar and a little fiddle to go with her singing talent which does have a bit of Alison Krauss quality to it.   She’s just now learning to write songs so I think I’m one of her first co-writers. So we had great fun getting to know each other and then create something together for the first time. It won’t be the last.   We did get a great laugh out of the day as well. When we finished her Mom was waiting for her in her car. I told Caroline that I wanted to say goodbye to her Mama and she said, “Okay…but she’s g

BILL BLOG Monday December 4, 2023   Monday…have you done any Christmas shopping yet?   Me neither. Pressure is on.   Beautiful day in Nashville. Sunny and a high of 56.   THE WEEKEND Mine started Friday afternoon co-writing with Thomm Jutz once again which is always a great experience. Thomm is a pretty fast writer as I am, so when I bring an idea already started it doesn’t normally take a lot of time before the song is finished. Friday’s song was a little artistic if that makes any sense so it took us a little longer than normal to get it to where we liked it enough to say “finished”. But it turned out great, as most things do with Thomm so that’s a good day in the office…or in this case Thomm’s studio.   One of the great bonuses I get writing with Thomm is getting to hear him play guitar. So good. He played with both John Prine and Nancy Griffith at one time so that gives you an idea. Here’s an example of his singing and playing alongside another

BILL BLOG Friday December 1, 2023   Friday morning and it’s first danged day of December!   Some rain in Twang Town today with a high of 62.   YESTERDAY My writing appointment was with Troy Engle yesterday morning. He was at his home in Pennsylvania, I was at mine here in Nashville. Say what you want but not all technology is bad. The ability to write with anyone anywhere is a great thing for creative folks. And during COVID it was a game changer for sure. Troy and I have yet to meet face to face but he feels like a very long time friend. And one of the great bonuses I get writing with Troy is the great Tom T. Hall stories I get to hear.       Troy played with Tom and hung a lot at Tom T’s house and knew the Storyteller and his wife Miss Dixie very well. So I love getting to hear some of those stories about one of my favorite songwriters.   Yesterday we talked about what a musical masterpiece Tom’s song “ Homecoming ” is where he never uses the title of t

BILL BLOG Thursday November 30, 2023 Thursday morning be here. And we’ll hit 62 for a high today. I’ll take that for the end of November.   YESTERDAY Another lazy day around the Whyte House. I’ve had a few of those since Thanksgiving. Feels a bit like I never quite got out of Thanksgiving mode. But it’s a calm before a storm of activity so I’m trying to take advantage of that. And yesterday was pretty much the last totally open day on my calendar until near Christmas.   And there are 4 shows in December. Three in or near Nashville…the 4 th will be another songwriter retreat weekend with Freedoms Sings USA.     So yep…calm before the storm.   REBA’S PLACE I just got this poster for the songwriter show I’ll be doing at Reba’s old place which is near me. She sold the estate and now it’s an event center and we’ll be playing in the Grand Ole Barn as you can see. I’ll be with my “Hits & Grins” buddy Steve Dean and my American Idol friend Lauren Masc

BILL BLOG Wednesday November 29, 2023   Here it is the last Hump Day of November…Wednesday. It’s just 25 degrees right now as I’m working on today’s blog…but up to 60 for high today.   YESTERDAY I had the pleasure of writing with hit writer Danny Wells for the first time at my publishing company. We’ve been threatening to get together for a long while and finally made that happen.   Danny has had multiple cuts by George Strait , Rascal Flatts and many others so it was fun to sit and get a start on an idea I brought to the table. He loved the “hook” or the title   and we took our time and pounded away at it for several ideas.   I’ve learned through a lot of years of writing now that each writer attacks the craft a little differently. In Danny’s case, and he told me this before we started that he was slow and methodical. He forgot to mention he was good at what he does. I’m the opposite…I’m a pretty fast writer but have no problem adapting to a co-writer wh