Blue Collar Gospel

BILL BLOG Wednesday March 20, 2024

Hump Day…Wednesday. And what a nice day it is with sunshine and a high of 71 in Nashville today.

YESTERDAY I hooked up with my friend Rick Lang yesterday who was in to write from New Hampshire where he and his wife have lived for years. Rick is the guy I’ve been blogging about who has the new album “Blue Collar Gospel” that’s going to be released in mid-May. Found that out yesterday from Rick. He and I along with our friend and producer Jerry Salley wrote the title track that features Jerry and the Oak Ridge Boys. And Rick and I wrote a second gospel-grass song titled “Church Bells Are Ringing” that’s also included on this great album.

The first album of Rick songs, or co-written songs was nominated for a Grammy. So I’m excited to be part of this great project that I found out will have a follow up in 2025 “Blue Collar Gospel 2”. The concept for these albums is that these are all songs from Rick or folks he’s written with, and each of the songs features different artists or groups singing these songs.

There is also going to be a Christmas album done in this vein as well as a flat-out gospel album done this way. Since Rick and I have songs that fit all these I have a feeling some of our collaborations will wind up on these projects as well for Billy Blue Records.

We wrote a new gospel-grass song yesterday, and I got a lot of great news. So that’s a pretty good Tuesday!

MORE GOOD MUSIC NEWS I found out yesterday that the new Darin & Brooke Aldridge album will be released April 19th. I’ll be in Germany when that happens so I may celebrate with a beer and a pretzel. I’m excited to have two songs on this. One of those being the last single they released “Wildflower Too” that got a lot of airplay on bluegrass radio stations. Thank you for that. And there’s a second song that’s new titled “That’s Where You’ll Find Me” that I wrote with my friends Lauren Mascitti and Kristen Bearfield. Can’t wait for folks to hear that little mountain song as well.

AND THEN… I’m hearing that Kristy Cox’s new album will be released on May 31 that will include three of my songs and one of those will also feature the great Jimmy Fortune who helped me write a very personal song titled “How Lucky Am I” that the two of us also wrote with our talented friend Sydni Perry who’s out touring with Carrie Underwood right now. So the next couple of months is going to be pretty exciting with all the new songs coming out.

YOU CAN CHECK IN BUT YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE That line for from classic “Eagles” song is now real life stuff in California. The Golden State has two new taxes. A new tax for the wealthy AND…a tax for those who choose to leave the state! It’s called an “Exit” tax. So it’s really expensive to live there, and now it’s expensive to leave. Just when I thought I’d heard it all about taxes.

Mark Twain once asked, “What is the difference between a taxidermist and a tax collector”? His answer was, “The taxidermist only takes your skin.”

HAPPY HAPPY Forbes just released its list of the “Happiest Countries In The World.” Finland landed in the #1 spot for most happy for the 7th consecutive year in a row followed by Denmark, Iceland, Sweden, and Israel. The U.S. dropped out of the top 20.

The least happiest country they say is Afghanistan with Lebanon, Lesotho, Sierra Leone, and Congo joining them in the bottom 5.

HEADLINE OF THE DAY Poverty Meeting Attracts Poor Turnout. The editor of that newspaper apparently took that day off.

TODAY An off day. Pretty exciting stuff on my agenda. Clearing the lawn for the first mowing of the year. That time.

Have a great Wednesday!

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First Day of Spring

BILL BLOG Tuesday March 19, 2024

And a good Tuesday morning….happy FIRST DAY OF SPRING to ya! A high of 58 here in Nashville on this Spring Day.

YESTERDAY A pretty non-eventful day to kick off the week after a pretty good string of road dates. So I spent some if working on my “catch up” list that seems grow whenever I’m out of town.

My road schedule eases up a bit now before it gets crazy starting around August again. Part of the inactivity is because of a trip coming up to Germany to see my daughter and son in a law for a couple of weeks in April but here’s a look at where I’m at from now until July.

Sunday April 7 at Dollywood with Steve Dean & Victoria Venier for three shows at the Palace Theater.

Sunday April 28 in Kemah, Texas for “Gulf Coast Days” with Brent Burns. A big Trop Rock event that will be held at T-Bone Tom’s right on the water.

June 18 & 19 in Heyworth, Illinois with Freedom Sings USA writing songs with veterans.

You can always check my calendar here on the website for additional shows and details on those shows that are already booked.

HALL OF FAME The Country Music Hall of Fame has selected John Anderson, James Burton, and Toby Keith as the next inductees. All so deserving.

James Burton,, the great guitar player who played on so many huge iconic hits and led the band for Elvis all those years on tour. Mr. Burton is in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame AND now the Country Music Hall of Fame just as Elvis is.

John Anderson, one of the great traditional country singers ever.

And the now late Toby Keith. Sure would have been nice if he were alive for this wonderful news.

Congratulations to the 2024 class.

FUNNY This quote from the late and brilliant comedian Robin Williams.

A woman would never make a nuclear bomb. They would never make a weapon that kills-no, no. They’d make a weapon that makes you feel bad for a while.

BRADFORDS We have a couple of Bradford trees in our yard. Beautiful to look at right now but the danged things do stink like rotten eggs. Experts say they threaten the surrounding ecosystem. South Carolina is getting ready to ban the purchase of them and the planting of them and Missouri and Kansas are not far behind. Who knew? Some even think they should be cut down.

Right now they’re in full bloom so I’m going to enjoy the view as long as I can.

CAN I GET A TICKET? The Eagles are going to do a residency at that gigantic new SPHERE venue in Las Vegas. No dates announced yet but that for me would be a ticket I’d want. I’ve mentioned before that I once saw the Eagles “live” in Milwaukee when Glenn Frey was still alive and it’s my favorite concert of all time. And I would not mind seeing them in Vegas with Vince Gill who may be the best “have to replace” someone guy ever.

I’ve got a birthday coming up. So I hope my wife is reading this.

HERE’S AN EARFUL Why would Mike Tyson climb back in the boxing ring at the age of 57 to fight You Tube sensation Jake Paul? He’s going to make 20 million dollars. Guess that answers that.

TEXT FROM THE WIFE The funny folks at Babylon Bee just printed what some of your texts that you get from your wife REALLY mean. Here’s my favorite.

Text: Can u pick up some bread?”

Translation: I will text you after you wait in line and have just checked out.?

TODAY I’m off to write with Rick Lang at my publishing company today. Normally the two of us write on line but he’s in town from Maryland today so we get to write in person. Rick’s news CD of gospel-grass songs is going to be released in just a few weeks. The amazing first single “Just Beyond” is out right now and getting a lot of airplay, and one of two songs I have on this great project titled “Blue Collar Gospel” (which is the title track) will also be released in a few weeks and it features my friend Jerry Salley AND the Oak Ridge Boys.

Can’ wait to be able to share that song shortly.

Have a great Tuesday!

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Toby

BILL BLOG Tuesday February 6, 2024

Tuesday arises y’all. Sunny and 59 here today. We’re having a great run of weather right now

YESTERDAY I wrote with my bluegrass friend Rick Lang once again who was home in Maryland on his computer. Rick had sent me a start on a gospel kind of song and we finished that up and put it in the stack of co-writes we have that keep growing. We talked some about the great listening party at Billy Blue Records a couple of weeks ago celebrating his songs on the soon to be released album “Blue Collar Gospel” that I have two songs on with Rick including the title track featuring Jerry Salley & The Oak Ridge Boys. Rick shared with me that the first single off this album should launch in early March. Can’t wait to be able to share our two songs on this wonderful project.

TOBY I was so sad to read the news this morning that Toby Keith lost his battle with stomach cancer at the young age of 62. He fought such a quiet and brave fight. Me and I think most of his fans worried but hoped for the best. His moving and stunning “live” performance of “Don’t Let The Old Man Down” at the CMA Awards while looking frail and worn out from his battle is especially moving now. It was extremely moving when he did it…but even more so now.

One of the nice things about working in radio as I did for a long time is that you get to meet and interview most of the stars. I interviewed Toby multiple times through the years, but my favorite experience with him was when I got to sit on his tour bus with him and just sit and talk and laugh. That happened because his longtime manager TK Kimbrell asked if I’d like to do that. Ya think?

I remember talking about his infamous “bus” songs. Funny songs…inappropriate songs sometimes like “Weed With Willie” and he told me about some other funny song ideas he had that had me laughing out loud.

He’s a guy that most definitely did things his way. He bought his own album away from the record company at the time giving him ownership…and that move helped him become a superstar. And he always wore his patriotism on his sleeve which I also admire.

A sad day for country music fans.

MILLENNIALS 51% of all millennials don’t carry a real wallet. Everything is digital on their phones. Credit cards, ID, tickets to concerts. Digital wallets only. They think it’s an old persons thing.

And when I think about it, I RARELY pay in cash anymore. I’ll download baseball game tickets into my digital wallet, but I’m not there yet as far as feeling safe to put my license and credit card there.

Maybe someday I’ll feel safe enough to go that way and take the chain off my wallet. Maybe.

SPEAKING OF WHICH A guy tweeted this out. “If my wife doesn’t want to hold my stuff, then why the big purse”? Uh…ladies? Good question.

I tease my wife all the time about how stuffed her purse is. And then I’ll be riding with her somewhere and ask, “you don’t by chance have…whatever” and she’ll reach in and pull it out and then look at me look for an apology. I swear if I ask for a lawnmower she would pull it out of her danged purse.

MICKEY D’S The CEO says McDonalds is going to concentrate on affordability after watching sales dip when they increased prices. The $18 Big Mac caused a bit of an uproar. Affordability at Mickey D’s would be good. A McNugget shouldn’t cost a McMillion.

QUESTION OF THE DAY Someone (not me) asked, “If money is the root of all evil then why do churches ask for it”?

TODAY I’m off to write with hit writer Brian White today who’s written a literal string of hits including the smash “Watching You” that he wrote with my friend Steve Dean for Rodney Atkins. And Brian is a big Cincinnati Reds fan as am I so we get to talk baseball and write a song all in the same day. Can’t complain about that.

Have a great Tuesday!

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