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Father & Son Writers..."Dear Hometown"...Great Johnny Cash Story

BILL BLOG

Tuesday October 10, 2023


And…it’s Tuesday. And it’s most surely cooler these days in middle Tennessee. Mid 70’s again today.

 

YESTERDAY

I wrote with the Father and Son duo Barry and Will Hutchens for the first time yesterday. They drove all the way in from Virginia to write songs in town for three days or so and asked if I would co-write something with them after my friend Jerry Salley suggested they reach out to me. Glad he did.

 

Barry was part of a trio called the “Hutchens Brothers” several years ago…three brothers and they had a major record label at the time…Atlantic Records. And after checking their videos and bios I remember playing their song “Knock Knock” that Jerry Salley helped write. The trio more or less retired, but Barry is writing songs again, and often times he’s writing with his talented song Will. Really enjoyed getting to know them better and we got out the door with not one but two very fun songs yesterday. And for the first time ever I managed to get the word “Swiftie” into a song. So I’ve got that going for me now.


 

 

It’s always great to work with new talented folks, and I’m sure it won’t be the last time we rhyme together.

 

HELLO MILWAUKEE

A friend of mine that worked with me at WMIL Radio posted a bunch of pictures of the old radio gang we had up there. Thank you Tamara Saviano for sharing those. Talk about fun day. 6 years doing the morning show there with these talented air personalities. I miss the brats, Summerfest, Lake Michigan, going to Brewer games and listening to Bob Uecker and I miss being around these folks. Time flies. Old friends remain. Nice to take a little trip down memory lane with this photo.


 

 

AUSTRALIA SONG

I also had a friend send me this video I had not seen of my friend and Australian now American resident Tamara Stewart singing our song “Dear Hometown” in Australia when she went back there a few weeks ago to do a few shows. Tamara had the idea of writing a song about the very small town she grew up in down under Mooroopna, Australia which is in the central part of Kangaroo country.


 

 And I could relate growing up in the small town of Montgomery City, Missouri. So when we wrote this song we tucked some of the things about her hometown into it as well as some of my thoughts and memories of my hometown. 


 

 And Tamara just sings the heck out of it. Click on the link above to check it out.

 

HEALTH NOTES

Word is that the new COVID booster shots are still hard to find for some Americans.

 

A study suggests that drinking Macha Tea can deactivate COVID and protect drinkers of it from infection.

 

Meanwhile WebMD is saying just a little over 1% got the updated COVID shots in September.

 

JOKE   

A wife said this. The house spider in my room is now named Cotton Eyed Joe because I want to know:

 

Where did it come from?

 

And where did it go?

 

NO SUGAR

There’s a sugar shortage going on and that may jump the price on Halloween candy this year. A comedian friend of mine came up with the answer to that years ago. Roger Naylor joked that he and his wife thought the Trick or Treaters should have something healthy so they started dropping potatoes in the kids bags and buckets. You get a lot of dirty looks but it’s cheaper and healthy.

 

SPEAKING OF HIGH PRICES

Some are dealing with inflation by figuring out what they can do without. From a survey some of those things are Netflix and streaming services, concerts, fast food, and health insurance. (And maybe Halloween candy) Think positive folks. But DON’T cut my concerts out in your budget!

 

OLYMPICS

The next one will be in Paris in July of next year. One of the sports they are seriously considering adding to the list of competitive sports is flag football. No joke. I predict Pickle Ball will be added one year as well…and who knows Cornhole?  NASCAR?


BEST COUNTRY SONGS

Yet another publication has just listed what they consider to be the Top 15 country songs of all time. Singersroom.com top 5 are:

 

5…9-5 by Dolly

4…Stand By Your Man by Tammy Wynette

3…Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash

2…Jolene by Dolly

 

And their favorite country song of all time is “Walk The Line” by Johnny Cash.

 

If you read 50 of these lists you’ll get 50 different opinions. One of the songs they left off the list completely is “He Stopped Loving Her Today” by George Jones which most lists consider to be the greatest country song of all time.

And it’s interesting that they chose 2 songs by Dolly and 2 by Cash to be in their top 5.

 

RING OF FIRE

My friend and partner in “Hits & Grins” Steve Dean tells one of the all-time greatest Johnny Cash stories sometimes in our “live” shows. And it’s about their #3 song on the above list “Ring of Fire”.

 

Steve and a friend of his years ago were playing inside the Nashville Airport. There’s several “live” music locations now here at BNA. So they’re playing their songs and someone walks up to them and says, “Hey…the Man in Black” is coming up the concourse right at you.”  So they started singing “Ring of Fire”.  Pretty soon they see Johnny walking up the concourse and never taking his eyes off the two of them. As he gets to the stage, he walks around behind and then UP onto the stage while Steve and his friend are playing “Ring of Fire”. Cash looks at them and say “C” boys. And they changed to the key of C and Johnny Cash sang that iconic song with them! Wow.


 

 

MY SHOW ME BROTHER!

Missourian Steve Kueny is already in the Halloween spirit. He just broke the Guinness record for longest journey in…wait for it. A pumpkin boat!  He paddled 38 miles in the carved out 1,208 pound pumpkin to seize the record.


 

 

And that means of course that one morning Steve rolled over in bed and said to his wife, “Honey…I’ve got a GREAT idea”.  And then she sought marriage counseling.

 

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

New Yorkers Are Ditching Therapists For Psychics. And I’m thinking if I were a Psychic and a New Yorker paid me? I’d look in my crystal ball and say, “I predict you will need a therapist after this.” 

 

TODAY

I have a songwriter cancel today for COVID reasons which I hate. So my day has opened up. I’m going to try and take advantage of that by doing something meaningful. Like buying another Powerball ticket as it’s worth 1.73 BILLION in the next drawing.

 

Have a great Tuesday!

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