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Tornado Weekend...Huntsville Freedom Sings...Ireland

BILL BLOG

Monday March 17, 2025

 

Monday morning arises on St. Patty’s Day!

 

I managed to avoid all the tornadoes this weekend. Not everyone was as lucky I know. I hate those things. 40 tornadoes in the South and Midwest claiming as many as 40 lives.

 

The storms and rain that rolled through Nashville cooled things off. It’s just 34 degrees this morning with a high of just 57 today.

 

THE WEEKEND

Friday morning I wrote with my friend Jerry Salley, the head of the Billy Blue Record label and the company I write songs for. He brought with him Australian artist Jayne Deckham who’s a pretty well-known name down in Australia. She has a bit of a “rocker” edge in her music so it was fun to write something in that lane with her and Jerry from an idea I brought to the table. Jayne was easy to write with and has a fun personality. 


 

 

 I’m not always right, but I’ve got a pretty good feeling that the song will land on her new album that she’s over here in the States writing for. We’ll see.

 

FRIDAY AFTERNOON

I made the 2 hour or so trip down to Huntsville, Alabama with songwriters Steve Dean and Bill DiLuigi for Freedom Sings USA. Friday night we had dinner with several veterans and then all the songwriters played a few songs in concert for our guests. Bobby Tomberlin, myself, Steve and Bill.



 

I played a couple of funny songs, and when we finished, one veteran named Bill Cole came up to me and asked if I could be the one that he wrote with?

 

SATURDAY

I sat with retired Master Sgt Bill Cole on Saturday morning and listened to his story about serving 20 years in the Air Force. He was a Crypto-repair-maintenance kind of guy. He must have been stationed in 7 or 8 different places during those 20 years including Japan, Oklahoma, North Carolina, Vietnam, and Mississippi where he retired after 20 years. He even fixed a radio once for General Westmoreland in Viet Nam. This is Bill Cole who is about to turn 86 in a few days.



 

His song is called Air Force Blue and I performed it Saturday night in front of him and all the other veterans in the house. Part of his lyrics are:

 

One day my boss asked how about Korea for a year

And I said, “how’d you like to kiss my royal Air Force rear?



 

And he never had to go to Korea. He has a great sense of humor. He loves to talk, and he plays just enough guitar to write a few songs himself including one he shared with me about Smart Phones which is pretty funny.

 

Thank you to Bobbi Rogers and the volunteers for having our group of songwriters in Huntsville. And thank you to the Grace Lutheran Church for allowing us to use your facility to honor these proud veterans.



 

We will be back in Huntsville for a second round in October.



 

And we have trips scheduled for Shiloh, Heyworth, and Marion Illinois this year as well as stops in Pensacola, Florida, Ridgeway, Colorado to name a few.



 

Always a pleasure and an honor.


 

SONG OF THE DAY

My wife and I fell in love with Ireland when we married our daughter there several years ago.



 

Man, it is as beautiful as advertised.



 

It’s not just the landscape and the pubs and the north coast where we married our daughter Heather.



 

For me, it’s the Irish music. I love it. So,I was very happy when an Irish artist named Clare Cunningham invited me and Steve Dean to write an Irish tune with her that was all about the things her dear old Irish Dad used to say to her while growing up on the Emerald Isle. The song of the day then is “Irish Dad” which she included on her album “On My Way”.



 

SUNDAY

Songwriters Steve Dean, Bill DiLuigi and I jumped in the car Sunday morning and made the return home to Nashville. The city was lucky to have escaped any major damage from those storms that hit so much of the south over this past weekend. All three of us were grateful to see that.

 

UP NEXT

I’ll be in Americus, Georgia this Friday night at the historic Rylander Theatre with Linda Davis and Lang Scott. It’s an 8 pm show in that beautiful theatre.


 


 AWARD SHOW

The song “Country Faith” that I wrote with Kristen Bearfield and Bob Minner made the final ballot for the AGM Awards as “Best Bluegrass Single of the Year”.



 

Kristen recorded the song with help from gospel great Karen Peck. It’s been #1 on a couple of charts,and is now up for Single of the Year. That’s some pretty good news to come home to. The Awards Show is coming up in a couple of months. Fingers crossed.



 

HEALTH NOTES

A nutritionist claims the best time to drink coffee for peak energy levels is roughly 60-90 minutes after waking.

 

Gum chewing has been shown to boost blood flow to the brain, enhancing alertness, focus, and cognitive function according to South Korean researchers. And a new study concludes that chewing on wooden medical tongue depressors for 5 minutes is even more effective.

 

An article I read this morning claims that 85% of people who live to be 100 are women.

 

HERE’S YOUR SIGN



 

I bought a small window unit myself.

 

FLYING

A passenger at the DC airport over the weekend got so frustrated trying to board a United Airline flight that he punched out the gate agent sending that agent to the hospital. And that guy won’t be flying again anytime soon.

 

Yep…it’s just the weirdest time to be thinking about flying.

 

SPEAKING OF FLYING

It was so great to see this picture of astronauts hugging astronauts.



 

That Space X crew will FINALLY get to return home after being stuck up there for months and months.

 

THEM AND US

Michael Jordan dropped 3.5 million dollars on this bad boy.



 

It’s a hyper-speed car. It can go 300 mph.



 

Less than 100 of these exist. And I’m pretty sure no police car can catch up to pull it over.

 

MORE THEM AND US

Actor Will Ferrell turned down 29 million dollars to reprise his role in “Elf 2” because he didn’t think the script was good enough. 29 million. To those casting folks…know that I look pretty good in an elf suit. Call me.

 

MARCH MADNESS

I think my brackets are already busted…and they haven’t even played the first game yet for the college basketball tournament set to start this week. Auburn and Duke look tough to beat. But I’ll be rooting for several other teams. Tennessee and Vanderbilt are both in from the Rocky Top state. So is my home state with the Missouri Tigers. And I can root for Wisconsin as well.



 Good luck to all.

 

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

Woman Says She Could Divorce Her Husband After He Convinced Her to Bring Their 6-Month-Old Baby on a 10-Hour Flight. (Yep…that might do it.)

 

TODAY

I’m writing with Thomm Jutz and bluegrass artist Caroline Owens this morning. This will be the second time for this trio to write together.  Looking forward to it.

 

Have a great St. Patrick’s Day!

 

 

 

 


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