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Labor Day...Belmont Professor Writing...Freedom Sings Trip

BILL BLOG

Monday September 1, 2025

 

Hello September. It’s Monday morning in a brand-new month. And today is Labor Day. 86 will be our high today.

 

THE WEEKEND

Friday morning, I wrote a new bluegrass song with Professor Thomm Jutz. Thomm teaches songwriting at Belmont University, so I’m going to call him Professor from now on. We got started a little late as Thomm had to fly home from downtown to Nashville to his home studio, where we quickly wrote a new up-tempo song about trains. There are LOTS of train songs in bluegrass…and now there’s one more.

 

Thomm, originally from Germany, has had a remarkable career in the States, building an impressive resume. This is his Belmont University BIO that will point out some of his accomplishments.



 

FOOTBALL

I took in a lot of football this weekend. College Game Day. This weekend, Lee Corso put on his last headgear. He chose Ohio State over Texas, and he was right.



 

And he picked Florida State to beat Alabama…and the old coach was right. What a way to ride off into the sunset. Thanks for all the laughs, coach.

 

ROAD TRIP THIS WEEK

I’m going back to Marion, Illinois, this week with Freedom Sings USA to write songs with veterans. Last year’s event was unforgettable, as our Saturday night concert had the biggest crowd we’ve ever played to.



 

And my veteran Art Fager shared quite a story of how he took 151 young men from southern Illinois to Baghdad and got home with every boy except one. Sgt. Brian Romines. Art wears a bracelet with Brian’s name on it. His song is titled “151” and when I performed that song last year, not only was Art on stage with me, but Brian’s Mom joined us as well. You can imagine how moving that was.



 

That soldier’s Mom reached out to me this week, and she’s going to join me for dinner one evening, which will be even more special.



 

SONG OF THE DAY

Today I’m choosing the song “Built That Way” that was recorded by Ayla Brown and Rob Bellamy. Since it’s Labor Day, this song that the three of us wrote together in Nashville before the two of them moved back home to the Boston area has some American values tucked into the song. The song is a regular part of their set list when they do shows. It’s kind cool what the song says, and how it always goes over big with the crowds they sing it to.



 

HEALTH NOTES

A study by Restaurant Furniture Plus lists the BEST and WORST fast food in America. Top 5 Worst:

 

5…Panda Express fortune cookies

4…KFC sandwiches

3…KFC chicken tenders

2…Chipotle Rice bowls

 

And the #1 worst?  McDonald’s chicken tenders.

 

The top 5 BEST fast foods:

 

5…Arby sandwiches

4… Chick-fil-A nuggets

3…Wendy’s salad

2…Chick-fil-A sandwiches

 

And the #1 best? Chick-fil-A salads.

 

Good news. Drug deaths in the country are at a 5-year low.

 

Several beaches across the country are closed today because of bacterial concerns from health officials.

 

HERE’S YOUR SIGN

Guilty as charged, your honor.

 

FARMER’S ALMANAC

I just saw where the old Almanac is predicting a mild, dry winter for Tennessee. No complaints from me. One of the great days in my life was when I gave away my snowblower after leaving Wisconsin. LOVE Wisconsin. The snow and cold? Not so much.

 

A NEW RECORD

An Idaho man broke a Guinness World Record by having 96 wet sponges hit his face. Uh huh. What does that look like? Take a look HERE.

 

That means that somewhere, someday, this guy woke up and thought, Ya know what would be a GREAT idea?!”



 

BEING A STAR

Cole Hauser, who plays Rip on the Yellowstone series, was asked what the downside is to being a big star on Yellowstone. His answer? “Old women grabbing his behind”. There ya go. I’m surprised has hasn’t hauled a couple of them off to the train station.



 

TODAY’S HEADLINE

Students Cook And Serve Grandparents. (Proof that some newspapers don’t have an editor)

 

TODAY

It’s Labor Day, but I won’t be laboring…hopefully. But there’s some baseball, a college football game, and the US Open. Okay, I won’t be watching tennis. Just can’t get into it.

 

My radio hall of fame buddy, Gary Burbank, who passed away last week, once aired a great bit on his radio show in Cincinnati. He pretended that he was airing some tennis coverage at Wimbledon and said, “Let’s go now to Wimbledon with Chris Collinsworth on the play-by-play”.

 

And then you heard this.

 

Doink

 

“He hit the ball”.

 

Doink

 

“He hit the ball back”.

 

Doink

 

“He hit the ball”.

 

Doink

 

“He hit the ball back”.

 

Nope, no tennis for me.

 

Have a great Monday!

 

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