BILL BLOG
Tuesday January 14, 2024
Tuesday morning arising. Lot of sun here in Nashville today with a high of 47. Not a flake of snow left.
YESTERDAY
I had a very fun writing session with Alex Miller and Wil Nance at Wil’s little songwriting cabin. We tweaked a western swing song that we had written the first time this trio got together and needed to change a line in that song…and we did. It’s a really fun song…kind of stuff George Strait records amongst some others. Wil has had 4 songs recorded by the great Strait…wouldn’t break my heart if this was a fifth one. Here’s one of those songs “It Takes All Kinds” which will give you an indication of the kind of tune we worked on yesterday.
And we got a start on a new idea as well. So a very productive fun Monday it was.
SONG OF THE DAY
Today’s song is “In Memphis” that I wrote one day on a road trip to Arkansas with my “Hits & Grins” partners in rhyme Steve Dean & Victoria Venier. We were traveling for a show in Little Rock when we got stuck in traffic in Memphis. Out the left side window we could see downtown Memphis…out the right side…the world’s largest Bass Pro Store-Hotel and whatever…the Memphis Pyramid.
Victoria gets bored and said, “lets write something!”. In the backseat, Steve got out his mandolin and I said let’s write something about the blues and Memphis since we were stuck in Memphis trying to cross over the Mississippi river there. So we did. Victoria wanted to sing it THAT night…I said basically “are ya crazy” because who does that. She won…we sang it for the first time and the response was unreal. So we would up recording the song on one of our CD’s, Jeannie Kendall of “The Kendall’s” fame recorded it on an album of hers…and the version I linked above is from the TnT Duo featuring Victoria Venier and her amazing singing partner Tabitha Fair…complete with a horn section. And it do rock.
So three cuts on one song…all from being stuck in traffic in Memphis. I hope we get stuck there again one day.
RIP
Buck White passed away at the age of 94…father of Sharon and Cheryl and the patriarch of “The Whites” family trio. My thoughts and prayers to Sharon and Cheryl and the family and friends of Buck.
Great family harmony…great folks. Longtime Grand Ole Opry members. Grammy winners after singing “Keep on the Sunny Side" that landed on the “O Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack. And they sang the song on camera in the movie as well.
I’m friends with Cheryl and her husband Billy Paul. Several years ago our “Evening in the Round” show had a show to do in Wisconsin and something came up that required Linda Davis to have to miss this show. So what to do? Lang Scott convinced Cheryl to take Linda’s place on that trip and she did. Lang and I worked up the harmony parts to sing with Cheryl on some of those great “Whites” songs that we all love including “Pins and Needles.” What fun that was.
Again…my heart goes out to Cheryl and Sharon and Sharon’s husband Ricky Skaggs and all those who loved “Mr. Buck”. RIP. And thank you for so many wonderful musical memories Mr. Buck.
GHOST TOWN
My friend out in Boston…Rob Bellamy who I write with just released this cool “year-end” VIDEO using a song that we wrote a couple of years ago called “Ghost Town”. Rob got a great “gritty” voice that’s perfect for this song and others. Check the former hockey player doing his thing on our song.
HEALTH NOTES
Egg inflation surges 8.5% in December as bird flu, and high demand strain supply. And there have been record chicken deaths tied to the bird flu.
Experts say the winter virus is raging…flu in particular. And we have several more weeks ahead of it unfortunately. So many folks I know who are down with it right now.
Concerning research is claiming that the number of people with dementia will double by 2060 as Americans live longer.
HERE’S YOUR QUOTE
Exactly!
PAY FOR YOUR BATHROOM VISIT
New Starbucks policy will require that you buy something before you are allowed to use the bathroom. Many of their doors are already locked and you need to ask for a code to get in.
Still beats those old gas stations where you had to ask for a key that was tied to know telling what to open a bathroom door outside. I think.
JOBS
LinkedIn just listed the fastest-growing jobs in the country. Here’s the Top 5.
5…Travel Adviser
4…Workforce development manager
3…Physical therapist
2…Artificial intelligence consultant
And the fastest growing job right now is Artificial Intelligence engineer.
Songwriter? Uh…nowhere on the list.
SPEAKING OF AI
Check out this AI shape-shifting transformer HOME. Back it up…hit a button I
guess…and an entire home starts unfolding. Then fold it up again and move it
somewhere else if you want. And it’s available in motor home form as well. Wow.
THIS HAD TO HAPPEN
By now if you follow football you’re award that Philadelphia Eagle Antonio Brown was caught on camera reading a self-help book during the Eagles playoff game against the Green Bay Packers that the Eagles won. The book “Inner Excellence: Train Your Mind for Extraordinary Performance and the Best Possible Life” is the number one book seller on Amazon.
I’m going to see if I can get Antonio on camera during his next game listening to one of my CD’s!
HEADLINE OF THE DAY
Wild Coyote Yanked From Refrigerated Section Of Aldi Supermarket in Chicago. (Just your normal wildlife experience at the grocery store.)
TODAY
The rest of my week is pretty open as I’m getting set for a road trip that starts this Friday. A Saturday night show in North Carolina, and a Sunday show in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with Linda Davis and Lang Scott. And the Sunday night show we'll open for our friends Darin & Brooke Aldridge. Looking forward to both shows.
Have a great Tuesday!
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