BILL BLOG
Wednesday May 3, 2023
It’s Wednesday and it’s the first Hump Day of May. And it’s packing day for a road trip to Virginia for two shows with “Hits & Grins”.
YESTERDAY
Speaking of “Hits & Grins”, I did an early morning radio interview Neal Steele on WXGM radio in West Point, Virginia to promote our “Hit’s and Grins” show there Saturday night with myself, Steve Dean & Victoria Venier. Neal had done his homework on me, and the trio so it was a very fun interview and hopefully some folks in West Point got inspired to buy a ticket or three for our show. Looking forward to being there.
A CATCHING UP WRITING SESSION
I wrote with my friend and fellow Billy Blue publishing songwriter Laura Leigh Jones for the first time in over a year. She became a Mom a year ago, she works in a fairly high position at the Grand Ole Opry and she still finds time to write and is almost finished recording a great new bluegrass album produced by the esteemed SierraHull and her equally talented musical husband Justin Moses.
I found out that there will be three songs we wrote together on this project…so that’s great news. I found out that the baby girl has completely captivated Mama’s heart (as it should) and I also found out that Laura’s career at the Opry is only going to get bigger. They keep increasing her job responsibilities and I see her becoming a MAJOR player backstage there is a few years. Life is good. She has been in charge of the Opry Backstage tours for years but has added some new responsibilities. No surprise to me.
And we wrote a new up-tempo bluegrass song before we left the building yesterday. On top of all of that her brother Will Jones is becoming a force as well. He’s a tremendous bluegrass musician-singer but now has his eye on commercial country. And if this song Laura shared with me of his “Sedona” is any indication? I like his chances in that arena.
So yesterday was a Tuesday of catching up and hearing some great news for my friend.
GORDON
Last night I decided to watch the documentary on the great songwriter Gordon Lightfoot for the second time. The Canadian musical poet passed away a couple of days ago so he was on my mind, and certainly his great songs were on my mind. Worthwhile viewing if you’re a music fan, and especially if you’re a Gordon Lightfoot fan. The documentary is an honest look at his life…warts and all. You can watch it on Prime if you’re interested.
The documentary is titled “If You Could Read My Mind” which was one of his biggest hits written about his first failed marriage. No telling how many other artists recorded that song in their lifetime but they include Johnny Cash, Glen Campbell, Neil Young, Barbara Streisand, and countless others. And yesterday the great Billy Joel sat down behind is piano and sang this song too.
RIP Mr. Lightfoot.
HEALTH NOTES
Scientist are saying they may have discovered a cure for hearing loss. At the Harvard Medical school they’ve found a way to regenerate hair cells within the ear.
The 5 beverages people drink that some say helps extend one’s life are:
Green tea, black tea, coffee black (I should live to be 1000 years old) water and red wine.
Some surgeons are now using soundwaves to help chemo reach deep inside the brain.
AI
At IBM they have paused all hiring because those jobs they were going to offer up could be replaced with AI technology. It’s going to change our world. Whether that’s good or bad depends upon who you talk to.
Ashton Kutcher the actor who’s also a business man says if business does not use AI technology they’ll be going out of business to their competitors.
AND…that technology is now capable of checking anything we post and could even suggest that we rewrite a post that’s unkind. Some folks could use that kind of help I would think.
JENNY TOLMAN
All that AI stuff reminds me of this song that Jenny Tolman recorded that I wrote with her and her talented husband Dave Brainard “TheWorld’s A Small Town” that addresses the posts we throw out there. Hit the link to check out the tune.
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
Man Drilled A Hole In His Own Head To Stay Constantly High. (I’m pretty sure that if I ever wanted to stay constantly high I’d just live on Willie Nelson’s bus. Much less painful.)
MARRIAGE
Socrates said this about marriage. “By all means, marry. If you get a good wife, you will be happy. If you get a bad one, you will be a philosopher.”
TODAY
I’m writing this morning with Irene Kelley who’s one of my favorite “pure” country-bluegrass singers in this town. Something always good or fun happens when we get to sit down and write together.
Then it’s time to pack for two shows in Virginia. The first is Thursday night in Culpepper, then the second on Saturday night is the one I mentioned at the top of this blog in West Point. I’ve got an early flight in the morning so there may not be a blog here tomorrow morning. If not, there will be one coming at you Friday morning from Culpepper.
Have a great Wednesday!
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