Bill's Blog

BILL BLOG Tuesday January 31, 2021 It’s the last day of January already. Hello Tuesday. Little rain and some freezing ice in parts of middle Tennessee and maybe a little more tonight. 800 flights were cancelled in the south yesterday because of ice. A high of only 36 today.   YESTERDAY I had a great first songwriting session with artist Clare Cunningham that included my longtime partner in rhymes and road gigs Steve Dean . Clare is from Ireland, has been here in the states for several years now and is starting to find some success. She’ll play the Grand Ole Opry for the first time over St. Patty’s weekend on March 18 th and that’s a big deal. Good for her.   She’s working on a couple of projects this year. A Celtic album, and a faith-based album. She talked about her faith openly with me and Steve and that led to a title Steve had in his book that we tweaked a little and turned it into what I think is a powerful message of faith. Clare sat down and played

BILL BLOG Monday January 30, 2023    Monday morning and it’s the next to last day of the month. Preparing for a crazy week as somehow I’m going to be in south Texas for a show Thursday night, and two shows in Boca Grande Florida on Friday night. Fingers crossed that all flights run on time.   49 for a high in Nashville today but dropping down to 30 tonight with a chance of freezing rain. Tomorrow could be fun.   THE WEEKEND Friday morning was spent writing with both Addie Levy , a young new “grassy” artist from Virginia originally but lives now near Knoxville and plays music a LOT at Dollywood. And when she’s not doing that, she’s making trips to Nashville to write songs. So she and I and Steve Dean sat down at my publishing company on Friday and wrote not one two 2 songs that day, that were targeted to fit 17-year-old Addie as she’s getting ready to go in studio and record and album. Addie is stacking up original material to choose from, and I think we gave

BILL BLOG Friday January 27, 2023   Friday morning in Nashville and the last weekend of January is already on us. 53 degree high to start the weekend here.   YESTERDAY I had an off day to catch up on stuff and took some time to pitch some songs to artists and producers, some folks in particular that I know are getting ready to go in studio and start recording songs.   I also got a call from an Australian cow-writer Katrina Burgoyne whom I’ve mentioned before. She was a contestant on the Bachelor TV in Australia several years ago…did not get picked. BUT…recently was married to a wonderful guy who films videos and is a producer as well. She was calling to tell me they are getting ready to record a very fun song we wrote called “ Wife Trial ” which was an idea she brought to me because at that time she was wondering if her now hubby was EVER going to propose. So we wrote this to the point funny song about that. She took it home and played it for him…he laughed

BILL BLOG Thursday January 26, 2023   And now it’s Thursday morning coming up here in Twang Town. With a high of just 38 today!   YESTERDAY It was a trio songwriting affair yesterday with Jerry Salley & Victoria Venier, the first time the three of us sat down together to rhyme. As per usual at a lot of songwriting sessions, there was a lot of conversation before we ever turned our attention to writing. And yesterday Jerry’s heart was on his sleeve as he lost a dear friend, his neighbor whom he did not know was as sick as he was. His friend kept it to himself and then was seemingly gone in an instant. And through that conversation, Jerry had no idea he was writing a song…in at least my mind. When I drew that to his attention he and Victoria both knew there was a powerful song to be written. And that’s exactly what we chased yesterday. There’s still a bit of work left on this one, but this is going to be a really powerful song that’s going to move a lot of

BILL BLOG Wednesday January 25, 2023   Another Hump Day to get over. 52 with light rain in Music City today. Rain fits the melancholy I feel as I got word that my daughter and son in law touched down in Germany where they will be stationed with the Army for the next three years. The positive news is that my wife and I will be making trips to Europe to seem them and the beautiful scenery that now surrounds them. I’m going to Google and see if Tom Bodet has a light on for us there.   YESTERDAY I wrote with David Morris at a recording studio my publishing company owns. David signed a deal several months ago with my publishing company as well so we’re sort in the same family. David lives out east but comes to town regularly and stays a week or so to co-write with other folks as he did with me yesterday. He brought with him a true story of a friend who passed away recently and said something that made quite the impact with David. It’s all about not fooling yourself

BILL BLOG Tuesday January 24, 2023   Hello Tuesday morning. Sunny and 52 here today.   YESTERDAY I wrote with my friend Troy Engle , a Kentuckian by birth, lived in Nashville but now makes his home in Pennsylvania with his wife and two kids. Troy can play anything with strings on it and sing and writes great as well. So well that Pine castle Records just signed him to a deal (which I did not know) and he’s recording his first project for them right now. Three songs we’ve co-written will land on this album and I’m happy for that news as well. And we added yet another bluegrass song to our catalogs yesterday so it was a productive online day for sure.     THE ROAD AHEAD Here’s a look at some upcoming shows on the calendar through March.   February 2…McAllen Texas with “Hits & Grins” ( Steve Dean & Victoria Venier )   February 3…Boca Grande, Florida with “Evening in the Round” ( Linda Davis & Lang Scott) 2 shows.   February 17 &

BILL BLOG Monday January 23, 2023 Monday morning in Music City with a high of 47 on tap to start the week.   THE WEEKEND My wife and I watched our daughter Heather and her husband Casey roll out early yesterday morning for a long trip to Baltimore where they will catch a plane to Germany where they will based for the next 3 years with the Army. Casey is a pilot and will be flying whoever needs to be flown to wherever they need to be flown. Officer, dignitaries and the like. We got to have them at our house for 5 days during the transition and enjoyed every bit of that. Even got to watch my daughter try to figure out how to hit a golf ball off the tee.   So while we already miss them, we are looking forward to going overseas ourselves to visit them and see some of Europe while they are stationed there. Quite the adventure they’re on now.   FOOTBALL After living many years in Cincinnati I’m on the “Who Dey” train right now with Joe Burrow and company.

BILL BLOG Friday January 20, 2023   Friday morning and the weekend is on us. Winds have calmed down after ramping up here in Nashville yesterday bringing cooler temperatures in. After being in the 60’s the past few days the high is just 48 today. Bring on the weekend.   YESTERDAY I had the pleasure of writing two songs with Tim Stafford over in Knoxville on our computers. Tim brought a really funny song idea for me to help him make even funnier, and I brought him a bluegrass tune for him to make even grassier. So that worked out well. Tim’s idea was about a lady who works at Family Dollar General Store who has a bit of an attitude and considers herself a Queen, when she’s anything but that. I think Tim may have had a personal experience with the Queen we wrote about. I had a start on a song that’s about those old country general stores like the one I grew up near in New Hope Missouri. We tried to capture some of the images from those kind of one pump gas stat