BILL BLOG
Thursday, June 4, 2026
And it’s Thursday morning, and time to pack for a flight tomorrow morning to Durham. More on that at the end of today’s Blog.
A high of 86 today in Nashville.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY
I’ll be celebrating another anniversary with this beautiful woman today.
Happy happy anniversary to my wife Kathy, whom I met in Cincinnati all those years ago while playing a gig with my band. She walked in, and that was it.
And now, she’s an author! Love you, baby.
YESTERDAY
It was an exciting Wednesday. I got my ears lowered—a truly exciting day.
CMA FEST
It begins in earnest today. Nashville has been invaded once again with a kazillion country music fans, here to party, go to Fan Club parties, catch concerts by all their favorite artists, and more. I can’t quit calling it Fan Fair, though they changed the name to CMA Fest many years ago.
CMA Fest is the weekend that brings the most folks down to Lower Broadway, where all the honkytonks are. In a year, over 10 million people are down there.
I covered the event for a lot of years as a radio broadcaster. When I was in Milwaukee on WMIL Radio, every Fan Fair season we would load 4 or 5 buses full of fans, and hang out and do our show “live” here in Nashville. Folks like Faith Hill would drop by our broadcast table.
It’s a huge event now, and seemingly anyone who has never worn a cowboy hat or owned a pair of boots will by the time the weeks are done. Then they’ll go home and probably never wear either again.
These days, I stay close to the house and put my feet up. But welcome to all the fans, and thank you for dropping a ton of dollars into our local economy.
SONG OF THE DAY
I’m sharing one of my favorite cowboy songs ever. “All That Cowboy Jazz” that I wrote with the artist Paul Bogart who is legit cowboy.
And we wrote it with our friend and multi-instrumentalist Zach Runquist one morning on Music Row at Sony. I had the idea, Zach got a great melody, and the next thing I know, Paul went in studio and recorded the heck out of it and added it to his album “Leather.”
I never get tired of hearing Paul sing this Texas swing tune.
HEALTH NOTES
A European study reveals that just one extra serving of processed meat a day is linked to a higher risk of cancer.
A flesh-eating worm has been detected in Texas, and the USDA is saying it’s a major threat to food production.
A new study suggests that cat ownership is linked to an increased risk of schizophrenia.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
Now there’s a solid emergency plan.
MAKING A COMEBACK
That would be all in one record player, with vinyl being hot again.
That new one costs $4,000. Wow. They were pretty cheap when I was growing up and dropping needles on records.
My biggest memory of that console kind of player was staying up most of the night, sitting cross-legged on the floor with a pair of headphones on, discovering Jimmy Buffett for the first time. A friend could not believe I had not listened to him yet, and gave me Jimmy’s first three vinyl albums.
His first one, “White Sport Coat & Pink Crustacean.”
His second one, “Living and Dying in ¾ Time.”
And one of my favorite albums of all time, “A1A,” had the song “Pirate Looks at 40,” which I played over and over that night.
I have vivid memories of those old, big floor console record players with built-in speakers. And I still have all three of those albums that helped launch the Parrot Head movement.
FUNNY
Gary Larson is my favorite comic-drawer guy. He looks at the world like nobody else. I found this comic strip of his yesterday that made me laugh. "When potato salad goes bad."
A NEW TOP DOG
Amazon just passed Walmart to become the Fortune 500’s top company, a place Walmart had held for the past 17 years. Over the last reporting period, Amazon made 717 BILLION dollars. Up 12% from a year ago.
I know the Whyte House has helped Amazon get there. They should send us a check to say, “thank you!”
GARTH
You can make money in the music business, especially if your name is Garth Brooks. He’s looking to sell his music catalog for 2 BILLION dollars.
His catalog is worth slightly more than the guy on his right in this picture.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
From Dale Carnegie:
“Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.”
PACKING
No writing today, so I’ll spend some time getting a guitar and a bag packed for a flight tomorrow to Raleigh-Durham for another Freedom Sings USA weekend.
TONIGHT
My dear friend Caroline Owens and her great bluegrass band are making their debut at the world famous Station Inn here in town, so I’m going to get to hear her sing her recent #1 song, “Telluride,” that I wrote with Andrea Pearson. Should be great fun.
Have a great Thursday!
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