BILL BLOG
Wednesday, July 22, 2026
Hump Day, Wednesday it is. Sunny and a little cooler today with a high of 87 after an evening of storms and heavy rain last night.
YESTERDAY
My Tuesday morning was spent with Kevin Williamson, the Dad of the talented Williamson Branch Family Band.
These days, we spend a little time talking about Kevin’s new grandkids, as he’s a proud grandpa, and rightfully so. But after that, we got down to writing a cool country song about all the things that money can’t buy. Which is the good stuff. Like spending time with your kids, and/or your grandkids.
So time well spent at the writing office.
LAST NIGHT
I had the pleasure of catching a sold-out Ricky Skaggs show at the beautiful Ryman Auditorium last evening.
And as great as Ricky is, I went to see my friend Troy Engle, who is a member of Ricky's great band, "The Kentucky Thunder.” Angus Gill, my Aussie friend, went with me, and we sat in the balcony near the stained-glass windows of what used to be a church, and then later became the home of the Grand Ole Opry, and is now one of the best concert venues in America, complete with the old wood church pews. The “Mother Church” they call it.
During the show, Ricky introduced my friend Troy as the “Swiss knife” of the band, because Troy can play every stringed instrument. Last night I watched him play fiddle, guitars, steel guitar, and mandolin…and sing! Last night Troy was kind to acknowledge me being in the house, and mentioned that I was his co-writer on the song “Never Too Lost” that he sang last night during the show.
Doesn’t get any better than that for a songwriter! Thanks for the tickets Troy, and thanks for doing our song on the Ryman stage.
MEMORIES AND GIN
It’s always fun finding video clips of songs you’ve written show up on the social network, like “Memories and Gin” that I wrote with Alex Miller. That song landed on his latest album, “More Country Than You,” and the title track is also a song the two of us wrote with Emily Ann Roberts that became a big duet for them.
This morning I found out that “Memories and Gin” was just released as Alex’s new single! Thank you, Alex.
GREAT MUSIC STORY
Hannah Harper, who won American Idol this year and created a buzz when she auditioned with her original song, “String Cheese,” that made Carrie Underwood cry, had a very cool thing happen to her this past week.
Sargento Cheese sponsored her bus.
NEW ALBUM
Congrats to Jenny Tolman, who has a new album coming out next month.
And I’m blessed to have a very personal song on this project that I wrote with Jenny and her husband Dave Brainard. Jenny was one of the contestants on the “The Road Show” that was on CBS last year, produced by Taylor Sheridan. Jenny did well, and she obviously made a connection with one of the coaches on the show, Gretchen Wilson.
I’m saying that because one of the songs on Jenny’s new album is a duet with Gretchen. Check out this VIDEO, and you’ll see the fun they had recording this song.
Jenny’s album party is next month as well, and I’ll be there cheering her on, and I’ll get to hear her sing our song on stage with a full band.
Congrats Jenny!
SONG OF THE DAY
Jenny and her husband Dave have been long-time co-writers of mine, and over the years they have recorded several of our co-writes, including “Married In A Honkytonk,” that I’m going to make the “song of the day.”Check out the video at the link that was filmed out in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
HEALTH NOTES
A fifth person has died in the Legionnaire’s disease outbreak in NYC.
RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis is under control. Good. I’m kind of tired of hearing about ‘explosive diarrhea ’.
Meanwhile, Taco Bell is down 19% since the outbreak started, and many restaurants say customers are not ordering salad. That would include me…at least for a while longer.
HERE’S YOUR SIGN
Is that a verse in the Bible? Which chapter?
AM RADIO…GONE?
There is a movement by automakers to remove AM radio from our cars. They claim that AM radio interferes with electric drive trains.
There’s a bill being pushed forward trying to prevent that. I’m hoping it passes after a career that included several years broadcasting on the AM band. From my very first radio job in Bowling Green, Missouri on a 1,000-watt radio station in a cow pasture…
To the 50,000-watt AM radio station that is WSM, the radio home of the Grand Ole Opry.
AM radio is fighting back by reminding folks that it is a national security tool for emergencies, like natural disasters.
MY NATURAL DISASTER
I covered a tornado once when I was in that trailer radio station in Missouri. 1,000-watt radio stations were licensed to operate from sunrise to sunset, UNLESS there was an emergency. Then, you were allowed to stay on, or sign on earlier, to cover that emergency. I was on the air, 19 years old I think, when the owner of the station called me about the time I was to shut the radio station down, and told me to stay on the air to cover a tornado that was in our area.
Mind you, I’m in a single-wide trailer! He did tell me that if I saw it coming, to run outside and jump in the nearby ditch. That was not all that comforting. But I stayed on, and the tornado bypassed the trailer, but touched down not far away.
So yeah, automakers, leave AM radio in your cars.
FUNNIEST JOKE EVER?
You decide. But a global study claims this is the funniest joke ever.
Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn’t seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls 911.
He gasps, “My friend is dead! What can I do?”
The operator says, “Calm down. I can help. First, let’s make sure he’s dead.”
There is a silence, then a gunshot is heard. Back on the phone, the guys says, “OK, now what?”
BIG OLE NUTCRACKER
Here ya go. The biggest nutcracker is now in the town of Luverne, Minnesota.
66 feet tall. Wonder how big a nut you can fit in his jaws?
THE DAUGHTER
My wife and I were talking to our daughter Heather on FaceTime yesterday while she and her husband Casey were settling into their new home in HOT Yuma, Arizona, where Casey will be stationed for the next few years as a pilot for the Army.
When I asked her about the high temperature out there, she gave me the forecast of, “Hell…with a slight breeze.”
I don’t know where she gets her sense of humor.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
From Tallulah Bankhead:
“If I had to live my life over again, I’d make the same mistakes, only sooner."
TODAY
I’m online writing with my bluegrass friend from East Tennessee, Tim Stafford.
Something good always happens when we rhyme together.
MEANWHILE
My wife Kathy will be out signing her book at a great event this morning. So, both of us are busy.
Have a great Wednesday!
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