BILL BLOG
Friday, March 27, 2026
Friday morning, with the weekend sneaking up. A high of 71 today in Nashville.
YESTERDAY
I had no appointments on my calendar, so I had a chance to watch my Reds Opening Day game in Cincinnati.
Unfortunately, the Red Sox beat us in the first game of the 2026 season, but it felt great seeing baseball on the TV again. I failed to mention yesterday that a songwriter friend from Missouri, Gary Boevers came to see the songwriter show I was in on Wednesday night at the Station Inn for Tin Pan South.
When the show was over, he gifted me this.
That’s a Johnny Bench model bat. He knew what a Reds fan I was, and had this lying around, he said, for a long while, so he gave it to me. How cool is that? Thank you, Gary. I wish Johnny had been in the lineup yesterday with that bat!
MARCH MADNESS
Illinois, Arizona, Purdue, and Iowa all advanced to the Elite 8 after Sweet 16 play last night. I watched most of the Iowa matchup with Nebraska, and after Iowa won, I sent a text to my old radio partner up in Milwaukee, Scott Dolphin, to say “congratulations.”
We had not communicated in a long while, so it was great going back and forth with him. Scott’s brother, Gary Dolphin, has been the radio announcer for the Iowa Hawkeyes. He left tickets for me and Scott to come down and see a game years ago at Purdue, which we did, when the Boiler Makers were hosting Iowa. Great fun.
I asked if Gary had long ago retired, and Scott told me that Gary is still calling games at the age of 74. Love that! Nothing beats having a job you love that much.
SONG OF THE DAY
The Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival is still going on, and last night my friends Jenny Tolman and her husband, Dave Brainard, sang “Lonely in The Lonestar,” a song the three of us wrote that has quite a story behind it.
A few years ago, the three of us had a writing session, and I brought a song title with me that I thought Jenny in particular would like. Jenny and Dave had just toured Texas and had fallen in love with the Lone Star State. And they did love the title.
I thought the song would be about a wife or girlfriend missing her husband who was out on the road for his job. Musician, truck driver, etc. But Dave had a much better and bigger idea. Dave is an Air Force veteran who served for a few years. He played in an Air Force Band. He thought maybe the song should be about a veteran’s wife whose military husband doesn’t get home from the war. And that took it to a new place.
Shortly after we wrote the song, Jenny put up an acoustic version of the song on YouTube, just her and her guitar. One thing led to another, as the song was found by a veteran’s wife who lost her husband, Lance Corporal Rylee McCollum in the Kabul bombing. And that led to Jenny and Dave performing our song at the service for that veteran out in Wyoming. Fox News covered it, and for one day, our song became the most downloaded song in America, over folks like Adele. And we donated all of the proceeds to all of the Gold Star Moms who lost their sons in that bombing.
So it’s my choice for the song of the day. And I found this video interview with Jenny, which I had not seen before, telling the story behind our song, and then singing it acoustically again. Watch this VIDEO.
HEALTH NOTES
Iran’s war’s environmental toll could leave damage and health risk for decades, experts say.
Data is showing that more and more people are turning to chatbots for health advice.
New York has become the 13th state, along with Washington, D.C., to legalize medically assisted suicide.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
Choose carefully.
MORE MUSIC NEWS
We lost Dash Crofts yesterday, half of the great duo “Seals and Crofts,” who had great hits like “Diamond Girl,” “Summer Breeze,” and more.
My sympathy goes out, in particular, to his daughter, Lua, whom I know here in Nashville. She and my friend Brady Seals, who is related to the other half of “Seals and Crofts,” in Jim Seals, formed a duo called “Seals and Crofts 2”, and they tour and sing some of those great songs together.
But they also sing some of their own song in concert, like this one, “Running to the Sun,” that Brady and I wrote.
I’m happy to have a tiny connection to that great duo.
Dash Crofts was 87 when he passed.
CHARLIE DANIELS
And how about this? For America’s 250th celebration up at Fort Campbell, where my son-in-law and daughter were once stationed, the 82nd will get to see Charlie as a hologram singing some of his biggest hits. True. One of the great patriots in our country who passed away some six years ago.
Pretty cool. Charlie was always, always, a great interview on the radio. He would most definitely tell you what he thinks, and that was refreshing. I’m glad I got to be around him a bit.
I emceed a fishing tournament once here in Nashville that had Charlie’s name on it. After the fishing part was done, there was a concert, and the organizers honored Charlie with a very special Billy Bass.
What made this one so unique was that when you hit the button, the fish started singing “The Devil Went Down To Georgia”. Makes me laugh today thinking about Charlie's expression when they handed him that fish.
UH…I DON’T THINK THAT’S DONALD
I’m going to file that under things you don’t see every day.
BORING
Elon Musk and his crew are set to dig 20 miles of tunnels in Nashville to try to ease some of the traffic back-ups we have. A recent poll now shows that most folks in Nashville are opposed to the idea, after being for it initially.
I’m not sure why they’ve changed their minds, but a long tunnel looks to be in our near future.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
From George Eliot:
“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.”
TODAY
I’m going to be watching some tree acrobats today as two big trees are coming down. That big ice storm took a toll on them. The guys who go up in those trees on ropes with chainsaws are amazing. I swear, it’s like watching a Cirque show. So I’m gonna grab a cold drink and some popcorn and watch the show.
THIS WEEKEND
I have a show with Steve Dean in the beautiful community that is West Haven, south of Nashville. It’s our second time getting to play this event, and we’re both looking forward to it.
Have a great weekend!
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