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A Week Of Writing...Scenes From Italy...Pensacola This Weekend

BILL BLOG

Friday May 23, 2025

 

Friday morning with Memorial Day weekend ahead. Sunny with a high of 75 here in Nashville today. Great way to start the holiday weekend.

 

YESTERDAY

For the third day in a row, I wrote with Billy Blue recording artist Caroline Owens. And for this writing session, my longtime friend Steve Dean joined us.



 

I had an idea that I had started that the two of them liked, and we wrote that into a song. Both Caroline and Steve have great musical ears, and they can both take a song and make it better with just a simple change or two musically. And that’s exactly what happened. It was great fun hearing the song come together. I’ve got today off to get ready for a trip tomorrow morning (more on that later), but it was a very productive week of songwriting at the publishing company this week.

 

ITALY

In the middle of my session yesterday, my daughter Heather and son-in-law called from Italy on their 7th anniversary to say “hey” and share how much they were enjoying their little Italy trip. 


 

 

They were there for a friend’s wedding in the Tuscany region before they visited the coastal region in Italy that you see above.

My wife and I had the pleasure of being there once, and it is absolutely as advertised, beautiful!


 


One night we went to a winery, complete with lots of wine, pasta, and dancing later in the outdoor courtyard with a view of the Italian hills.

 

All I know is that everyone should have a chance to see Italy at some point in their life.



 

SONG OF THE DAY

I’m choosing this song, “Where You’ll Find Me,” that is going to be the next single from Darin and Brooke Aldridge, which I wrote with Lauren Mascitti and Kristen Leigh Bearfield. 


 

 

The song has a North Carolina theme to it, and that’s where Darin and Brooke are from. It’s on their latest album “Talk of the Town”.



 Darin and Brooke invited one of my co-writers, Lauren Mascitti to sing harmony with them on this record that went to the #1 spot on the Billboard Album Chart. Take a listen.

 

MEMORIAL DAY PETRO

For those traveling over the holiday weekend, some good news. Gas prices have dropped. It’s hit a 4-year low. We’ll take it!  Down 11% from a year ago. There’s enough savings there to help you buy a mattress. And apparently, it is the law that we have to buy a danged mattress every Memorial Day for some reason. Why? I have no idea.

 Wonder if they sell waterbeds anymore?  I had one once. I wanted to stock mine with fish, but my wife was very close-minded about that. 


 

 HEALTH NOTES

Scientists say they can detect junk food consumption in blood and urine tests. Who knew?

 New research suggests that coffee habits could be hereditary.  (I guess my Dad was to blame for my habit.)

 And then there’s this dietitian who says we should wait 2 hours after waking for coffee to avoid cortisol-caffeine crash. (I’m fairly certain that I would crash if I DON’T get coffee the second I wake up.)

 

 A LITTLE TOO DEDICATED

A pregnant New York news anchor had her water break while she was giving us the news on TV. She kept broadcasting for another 3 hours after her water broke. Wow. She’s going to have an interesting story to share with the baby when it grows up one day.

 

HURRICANE SEASON

That officially starts over the Memorial Day weekend. The forecasters are predicting the busiest hurricane season in years. Just what the folks on the coast don’t want to hear. I do know that the “Jim Cantore” song that I wrote with Brent Burns becomes very popular every hurricane season. I have a feeling that I may be performing this in Pensacola this weekend.



 

SPEAKING OF BEACHES

Realtor.com just released its list of the “most affordable” beach towns in America. Here’s their Top 5.

 

5…Port Lavaca, Texas

4…Port Richey, Florida

3…Atlantic City, New Jersey

2…Deerfield Beach, Florida

 

And the most affordable beach town is Pascagoula, Mississippi. Hometown of one Jimmy Buffett. Jimmy knew enough about hurricane season to write this great song, “Trying To Reason With Hurricane Season”. (And you can’t)

 

HERE’S YOUR SIGN



 I hate it when that happens.

 

HEADLINE OF THE DAY

Bugs Flying Around With Wings Are Flying Bugs. (Nice of them to inform us)

 

TODAY

I’m using today to get ready for a trip to Pensacola tomorrow morning for a great Freedom Sings USA event where songwriters Bobby Tomberlin, Steve Dean, Don Goodman, Mutt Cooper, and I will be writing songs with veterans. And then on Memorial Day we’ll be performing these new songs alongside our veterans in a patriotic outdoor concert. Proud to be part of such a great event.


 

 

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!


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