BILL BLOG
Friday June 27, 2025
It’s Friday morning. Are you ready for the weekend?
It will hit 91 for a high today in Nashville.
YESTERDAY
I had an open day pop-up after my writing session was cancelled at the last second. So I spent some time at my publishing company talking about songs that are being pitched of mine right now with my publisher. And we talked about a new song that I helped write that my publisher likes a lot, but thinks there are parts of it that could be stronger. And he was right.
Songwriting is a competitive business, and getting artists to record your songs is always a challenge. Changing a lyric and making it stronger increases the odds a little that a song may find a home. I’m all about trying to make something good…better.
Further down in this Blog today, you’ll read about a lyric change that led to a smash hit because the writers were willing to make a change.
MORE BLUEBIRD
I’m still basking in the glow of the great Bluebird Café show I was part of Wednesday night. My friend Lang Scott sent me this one of the group, including himself and his wife Linda Davis, who sat in and did a song with our group. Then to their left, it’s Wil Nance and his wife Holly, Jimmy Fortune, then me (with my eyes closed and my wife Kathy, and finally Brian White and his wife Karyn Williams.
It’s just an incredible honor to get to play music in that iconic venue, and when you’re amongst the talent that I was on Wednesday? It’s just hard to describe how special those moments are.
A NICE SURPRISE
I found out yesterday that the song “Blue Collar Gospel”, recorded by Jerry Salley and the Oak Ridge Boys is on the ballot for this year’s Dove Awards. How about that? This song is the title track of the album “Blue Collar Gospel…Songs of Rick Lang” and was written with Rick and Jerry. The Dove Awards are the highest honor for gospel songs of all types.
I didn’t see that coming. It’s especially nice to see this, as this song was the last song that Joe Bonsall, the long-time tenor singer for The Oaks, ever sang, as he passed away not long after this recording. He sent the nicest note about how much he loved this song after that recording session.
Thank you to Rick Lang, who invited me to write that idea about a down-to-earth blue-collar preacher.
The Dove Awards will be presented this October here in Nashville. Blessed to be nominated for one of these.
TV SHOW “THE ROAD”
I blogged about the upcoming TV “The Road” yesterday, and how hard I’ll be rooting for my friend Jenny Tolman who I write with a lot, and who has recorded several songs we’ve written together, along with her husband Dave Brainard.
“And Jenny Tolman’s 2022 album ‘Married In A Honky Tonk’ might be the best mix of contemporary and traditional country music in years”.
Very nice. That album has 4 songs on it that I helped write, including the TITLE TRACK. So thank you Saving Country Music for putting a spotlight on this album.
SONG OF THE DAY
Today, it’s “The American Dream” that was officially released today by Katrina Burgoyne, a native of Australia who is living that dream in the U.S. now with her husband and little girl. I’m happy to be her co-writer on this very fun song. Give it a listen and see what you think.
HEALTH NOTES
A new warning for the latest round of COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna has been issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The FDA has informed prospective patients that the latest vaccine may pose cardiovascular issues after finalizing the latest vaccine.
Word is that an alternative to GLP-1 drugs is on the horizon that may treat diabetes, weight loss without any muscle loss.
Meanwhile, in the UK, they are investigating weight loss jabs like Ozempic and Mounjaro after linking it to hundreds of severe illnesses and even a handful of deaths.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
I never thought about that before. They might be right.
SEINFELD BOBBLE HEAD
I love this. The New York Yankees will give away free George Costanza bobblehead dolls to the first 18,000 fans through the gates for a game on August 21 at Yankee Stadium.
Castanza, from the Seinfeld show, worked for Yankee owner George Steinbrenner in the TV show, once the owner of the Yanks.
George’s famous line in Seinfeld was, “I love a good nap. Sometimes it’s the only thing getting me out of bed in the morning.” And that led to this.
And if you're a baseball nut like me, and into baseball bobbleheads, take in a baseball game sometime in Miami. I flew down there several years ago when my daughter Heather lived there, and she took me to a Miami Marlins baseball game. I flew down and back the same day, had some Cuban coffee and Cuban food and took in a game with my daughter. Not a bad day.
And in the concourse at that stadium you'll find this.
THE largest collection of baseball bobbleheads. I know...kind of geeky huh?
SPEAKING OF SPORTS
How about some 3 on 3 Humanoid Robot soccer? Yep. There’s a league. The robots are controlled by AI, and a game is taking place in Beijing, China, this week. What does that look like? Check THIS VIDEO out.
I can’t wait for Humanoid Robot cornhole games.
TAKE ME HOME COUNTRY ROADS
Great song from John Denver, right? But did you know the songwriters had to change the second verse because radio was not going to play the original verse that came from the songwriters Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert?
The original second verse (and I’d never heard this) was:
In the foothills, hidin’ from the clouds
Pink and purple West Virginia farm house
Naked ladies, men who look like Christ
And a dog named Poncho nibbling on the rice
The rewrite of that verse is the one we now sing.
All my memories gather round her
Miner’s lady, stranger to blue water
Dark and dusty painted on the sky
Misty taste of moonshine, teardrop in my eye
Yea, I’d say it was a really good idea to rewrite that second verse into that SONG that turned into the state song for West Virginia.
TODAY’S HEADLINE
Homicide Victims Rarely Talk To Police. (Gosh, I can’t imagine why.)
TODAY
I’ll be online today writing with bluegrass great Tim Stafford over in Knoxville. Something always good comes out of these online hookups.
And then my weekend is open, before I make a run back to my home state of Missouri on July 5 and 6. More about those shows in next week’s Blog.
Have a great weekend!
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