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Opry Night...Linda Davis...Ruby Leigh

BILL BLOG

Friday  November 1, 2024

 

And here it is the first day of November. And it’s a Friday! Little cooler today in Nashville after getting some rain yesterday. It will be sunny with a high of just 65.

 

YESTERDAY

I wrote with the husband-wife team of Jenny Tolman and Dave Brainard…and their now almost 2 year boy Bear who was our percussionist. 


 

 

We spent some time finishing up a song we started a couple of months ago and spent some time catching up. They’re just back from an all-girl festival out in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that Jenny is host of that’s a very cool event. Ashley McBryde headlined and pretty much every show that they had was sold out.



 

Always a very fun hang with this talented couple.

 

LAST NIGHT

My wife Kathy and I had the pleasure of hanging out back stage at the Opry for Opry “Classic” night…a night where every star on stage sings those great classic country songs. And last night our friend Linda Davis was performing. And…the just slayed her performance!  So good. Especially here version of the great Mickey Newbury song “She Even Woke Me Up To Say Goodbye” with Larry Gatlin sitting next to her playing guitar. It was quite the moment. 

 

Years ago when I was doing mornings at WSM-FM in Nashville I was doing a "live" show on stage at the Gibson Cafe at Opry Mills. My guest that morning was the great Alison Krauss and her award winning band. At one point Alison sang "Ghost In This House" which is truly an incredible song. After the show finished Linda texted me this..."I thank God for giving me ears to hear that this morning". And last night as Linda killed that Mickey Newbury song? I felt the same way.



 

Also on the Opry last night was 17 year old Ruby Leigh from Foley, Missouri who was runner up on the “The Voice” last season. Foley is just right down the road from Elsberry, Missouri where I went to High School. And there were several folks from where I came from who were in the house to root Ruby on…some of whom I met backstage including her family. They confided that they had been wanting to meet me…and I was aware of Ruby and had wanted to meet her as well. So that all got done last night at the Grand Ole Opry.



 

My WSM Radio friend Bill Cody was hosting the Opry last night along with Larry Gatlin. I filled in a lot for Bill on his morning radio show for a while and it was nice to hug him and congratulate him as he just had his star added to the “Walk of Fame” in Nashville that’s located directly across from the Country Music Hall of Fame. Quite the deserved honor for my friend who’s been on WSM Radio for over 30 years.



 

Just a wonderful evening with Linda Davis and her husband Lang Scott who were kind enough to invite us to be part of such a great musical evening.



 

SONG OF THE DAY

Since I was just blogging about Jenny Tolman I’ll share another song that she, Dave Brainard and I wrote “If I Could Invent A T-Shirt”. Jenny recorded this fun song and made the great video with it that you can watch by hitting the link.  That’s her husband Dave playing guitar in the video.

 

HEALTH NOTES

Okra water, a drink made from soaking okra pods in water, has been gaining popularity. It’s health benefits includes reducing appetite, improving cholesterol levels, regulating blood glucose, and even supporting liver health.

 

The World Health Organization is saying that tuberculosis has overtaken COVID as the world’s deadliest disease.

 

Stem cell research is showing new possibilities for treating infant heart disease.

 

HERE’S YOUR SIGN



 

Yep…sort of kind of going on one of those as I’ll be on the beach next Thursday through Monday in Gulf Shores for the Frank Brown Songwriters Festival with 5 shows on my schedule.

 

I had an idea in regards to that “may not come back thought” titled “The Sand Is Getting Heavy In My Shoes” that Brent Burns recorded after the two of us sat down and wrote it several years back.

 

HOT HOUSING MARKETS

Zillow has listed the top housing markets in the United States. The hottest market? Buffalo, New York…despite the snow and cold.

 

Buffalo is #1 followed by Cincinnati, Columbus, Ohio, Indianapolis and Providence, Rhode Island at #5.

 

FOUR DAYS

That’s all that’s left of election season. A study claims that 1 of 3 Americans limit time with family, and friends because of election strain. It do get ugly every election season.

 

For someone like me, I’m grateful for politics for one reason. That reason is it provides SO much material for comedy. And both parties contribute mightily. Outside of that, I can’t wait until they start yanking yard signs.

 

Who will I vote for? Well, I keep that private…but this SONG kind of covers how I feel.

 

CHEAP

Chris Janson just released a new song titled “Cheap” today that my friends Wil Nance, Mitch Oglesby, Brian White and Keesy Timmer co-wrote that I think is one of the best songs to come down the pike in a while. I’ll put it this way. I’ve written songs with all four of them and I so WISH I had been part of this song. Wil played a demo version of it for me a couple of months ago and it not only floored me…but I knew someone was going to record this and probably have a big ole smash hit with it. I so happy for these four guys…and yep…jealous. Check out this great SONG


 

 

 

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

25 Year Old Dodger’s Fan Blows Up Hands With Firework While Celebrating World Series Win Over The Yankees. (Party responsibly…and sober folks…or you won’t have a finger to raise signifying your team is #1)

 

TODAY

I’ll be in a writing room with hit writer Byron Hill who’s written a string of big hits like “Fool Hearted Memory” for George Strait, and “Nothing On But The Radio” for Gary Alan just to name a couple. So I’ll be doing my best to try and hold my own today.


 

 

THE WEEKEND

Moving our clocks forward on Sunday…shorter days ahead. Sigh.

 

Have a great weekend!



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