BILL BLOG
Wednesday September 10, 2025
Another Hump Day coming at us…it’s Wednesday. We’ll reach an 86-degree high today, followed by several days up in the 90s. So Fall is not quite here yet.
YESTERDAY
I was with my New Hampshire friend, Rick Lang, yesterday, who is in town recording and writing songs all week. He told me how great our song sounded, that they laid the tracks down on Monday with Jerry Salley producing.
Some stellar musicians were used, and bluegrass great Greg Blake has been chosen to sing our song that will be on an album full of Rick Lang-written or co-written songs, just like Rick’s Blue Collar Gospel album that holds the title track I wrote with Rick and Jerry that’s up for this year’s Bluegrass Gospel Song of the Year.
This new album will be full of commercial bluegrass songs, as opposed to Rick’s first two albums, which were bluegrass-gospel albums.
So I got to hear all about that recording session, and we wrote a new song together from an idea I brought with me to the writing table. It was a fun and productive Monday.
TELLURIDE
This is another fun “tease” of the song “Telluride,” the new single out from Caroline Owens that I wrote with Andrea Pearson. Check out Caroline riding down the road in a convertible, singing our song right HERE.
NEW AND ON THE WAY
And I got this great promotional picture of my North Carolina friend Laura Leigh Jones, who is about to release a great new album that has 3 songs we wrote together on it, including the first single that will be released for this album. I’m excited for Laura, and for these songs. Wait til you hear.
SONG OF THE DAY
How about a cowboy song? This is “Buckaroo Lullabye” that my cowboy buddy Paul Bogart and I wrote about his firstborn baby boy several years ago. Jett is no longer a baby. He’ riding pretty tall in the saddle these days out on the family ranch in Oklahoma. (Jett is the boy hanging onto his Daddy on the back of Paul’s horse here in the picture)
This song has a little story to. Paul had gotten in from a road trip and was thinking he wanted to write a lullaby to sing to his newborn son at night. And he had the first verse written.
Go gather old Buckshot, and pour him some grain
And curry the burs from his hide
Throw on your best saddle, and tighten it up
And crawl in the middle and ride
He played me that, and asked if I’d be interested in helping him write it that day at Sony Music on Music Row. Did I ever. We thought it was pretty special after we had written it.
Paul’s album “Leather” had just been finished. But when he played it for his producer, Trent Wilmon, they decided to go back into the recording studio to record it. They then made room for it on that new album, “Leather”. Truly one of my favorite songs I’ve been a part of.
HEALTH NOTES
A new international study suggests that eating more potassium-rich foods could help lower the risk of dangerous heart problems. Eat a Chiquita folks.
UNICEF says that 1 in every 10 children in the world is obese.
A major new study claims that pregnant women who drink five or more diet drinks a week face up to 88% higher risk of gestational diabetes.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
For the truly motivated folks, I suppose.
VETERAN CALVIN SCOTT
I got this picture yesterday of me with veteran Calvin Scott, Vietnam Vet, whose story I wrote into the song “Back To Vietnam" this past weekend in Marion, Illinois, at our Freedom Sings USA retreat. You can see Calvin seated on the stage while I was playing his song.
This picture was sent to me by his son, and it’s me, Calvin, and some of his family, along with a little note telling me how much Calvin loves his song. And that means the world to me.
GIRL SCOUT COOKIES
The Girl Scouts have rolled out a new flavor. “Exploremores”.
It’s a Rocky Road Ice Cream-inspired sandwich cookie with flavors that include chocolate, marshmallow, and toasted almond-flavored crème. Look for Girl Scouts to be knocking on your door soon.
And that brings me to a radio story involving Girl Scout cookies.
I had just taken the morning radio show in Milwaukee years ago at FM*106…WMIL Radio. I was brand new to the city, replacing a guy who had been doing the show for years but was let go. Most people don’t like someone “new” showing up one morning on their radio, after listening to someone else for a long time. It’s not that they don’t dislike the new person, as they don’t even know the new person; they just hate change.
My daughter Heather, who was little, had just joined the Girl Scouts. So I had her come into the studio one morning, and we sold Girl Scout cookies on the air. “Hi, this is Heather. What kind of cookie would you like”? Yep…it was really cute. We got a LOT of orders.
The radio station then gave me the use of their van, and Heather and I, in her Girl Scout uniform, delivered all those orders in person. It helped break the ice for a new guy in a new city, and of course, they loved my daughter way more than they loved me.
NEW iPHONES
They rolled out four new ones yesterday. One is ultra-thin and lightweight, and one has 8 hours longer battery life than any iPhone has ever had. Does anyone not want more battery life on their phone?
Now if they can give me one that eliminates Spam calls and texts…I’m buying.
TODAY’S HEADLINE
Man Skipped Work For 6 Years And No One Noticed Until He Won An Award. (Now accepting this award is…)
TODAY
Back to the writing room. Today I’m with Jerry Salley to work on an idea that Jerry really wants to write. So I’m for that.
Have a great Tuesday!
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