Bill Anderson's Blog, page 28

Latest Photos

Would you let these five masked hombres in your front door? Me neither. But that’s the way my band and I looked backstage at the Opry a few weeks ago. L. to R. James Freeze, Ziggy Johnson, some guy named Anderson, Cotton Payne, and our manager, Lee Willard. Our fiddle player, Kenzie Wetz, took the picture. In the second photo, I was guesting via Zoom on October 30th with the gang on “Coffee, Country, and Cody,” the morning show on WSM radio and the Circle TV network. Co-host Megan Alexander was in the Halloween spirit, and Bill Cody was caught in the act of being his usual smiling self. Below, I was welcoming Hal Ketchum to the Opry stage in the early 2000’s. Hal passed away Nov. 23rd at the age of 67. 

Bill Andersons talks about the Great Hank Locklin in new Documentary “Country Music’s Timeless Tenor”

Hank Locklin film by WSRE to air in 13 states this month celebrating his Grand Ole Opry anniversary

Hank Locklin film by WSRE to air in 13 states this month celebrating his Grand Ole Opry anniversary by “Hank Locklin: Country Music’s Timeless Tenor” release commemorates 60 years of “Please Help Me, I’m Falling” and the country crooner’s Nov.

 

Opry Royalty: Carly Pearce In Conversation With Bill Anderson & Jeannie Seely | Pollstar

Carly Pearce, with four CMA Awards nominations for New Artist, Song, Vocal Event and Video of the Year for “I Hope You’re Happy Now,” has a reverence for the Opry that extends well before her years playing Dollywood, dreaming of country fame. A Saturday night regular, the 30-years-young country phenom was the perfect person to explore the origins and evolution of the Opry with octogenarian icons “Whispering Bill” Anderson and red-hot Jeannie Seely, both half-century veterans of the Grand Ole Opry.
 
Anderson, a member of the Country Music, Songwriters, Nashville Songwriters, Georgia and South Carolina halls of fame, has been a songwriting force – as well as innovative businessman – since getting his start in the ‘50s. Beyond his own career, he took home the CMA and ACM Song of the Year Award in 2005 (“Whiskey Lullabye” by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss) and 2007 (“Give It Away” by George Strait); both songs were also Grammy nominees.

read the whole interview at Pollstar with the link below

 

https://www.pollstar.com/article/opry-royalty-carly-pearce-in-conversation-with-bill-anderson-jeannie-seely-146748

November 3, 2020

Hi Gang:

Thanks for checking out our November newsletter, and thanks so much for all the birthday cards, calls, Facebook posts and online greetings on November 1st. I read and appreciated every single one. With my birthday being on a Sunday, I didn’t expect nearly the number of texts and phone calls that I received, so it was a pleasant surprise. Thanks for them all.



Nobody over thirty relishes the thought of getting older, but I had a great day. All three of my children and six of my grandkids came over to my house for a weiner roast in the back yard and some outdoor family time on my deck. I couldn’t have asked for anything better.

October was quite the month as well with my getting to go back onstage at the Grand Ole Opry on the 17th and having a new single record released on the 30th. I wasn’t sure I could find my way back to the Opry House after having been away for seven months, but fortunately my car remembered how to get there. It was different with no one in the halls backstage and no socializing with the other acts on the show (the evening even started with my band members and I in separate dressing rooms), but it was still the Opry and good to be “back home.”

Quite a few of you have written and said some nice things about the new song I sang that night called, “Someday It’ll All Make Sense,” and I appreciate your kind words very much. The song seems to speak to folks in a personal way, just as it spoke to me when Bobby Tomberlin and Ryan Larkins and I were writing it. In answer to lots of your questions, yes I do plan to record it as soon as the studios open back up and I can safely get into one.

Beginning this week the Opry is resuming its regular two-hour shows on both Friday and Saturday nights with live audiences of approximately 1,000 people. I am scheduled to appear on Friday the 6th and Saturday the 14th and 21st. I hope lots of you will be tuned in.

Our new record, “It’s A Good Day To Have A Good Day,” has been released on all the modern day musical platforms, and I hope you’ll be checking it out soon. This is the song we were opening our road shows with last year, and right now just seemed like a good time to release a song with an upbeat, positive message. We have a lyric video in the works as well as a live video featuring all my band members that was filmed at the recording session back in February. Stay tuned for news as to when those will be available.

We also have some t-shirts, sweatshirts, coffee mugs, masks, socks, and smart phone covers in our online store, with the “It’s A Good Day To Have A Good Day” logo printed on them. Click on the Shop or Music sections of our website to see the different items and colors you can order. With what we’ve been through this year, we need some good days, and I you’ll help us spread that message.

Speaking of spreading a message, let me call your attention to the new Bill’s Journal post which went online today. If you’re looking for a special Christmas or birthday gift for a country music fan, go to Bill’s Journal and check out what we are offering. I think you might find it interesting.

Sadly, we had to say goodbye to some more members of our country music family last month with the passing of the great Texas singer, Johnny Bush, and former Opry member, Margie Bowes. Johnny recorded one of the great versions of “City Lights” years ago, while Margie and I were tour mates on the first big package show tour I ever worked ‘way back in 1959. I’ll never forget the two of us driving Lonzo & Oscar’s big new Lincoln Town Car from Nashville to Des Moines to join the tour, and Margie’s midnight screams when I ran the car into an eight-point buck deer and killed him up in Montana a few nights later. Margie and Johnny, along with singer/songwriter, Billy Joe Shaver, who also passed away last week, will be missed.

Have a great November…a wonderful Thanksgiving no matter how or where you spend it…and we’ll see you back here in December. Stay well…stay safe…and thanks a BILL-ion for everything.

Ask Bill November 3, 2020

1) I have been a huge fan of yours for most of my 52 years. In all those years I have never recalled your coming to British Columbia, Canada. Don’t you like us? 

Of course I like you, and I happen to think British Columbia is one of the most beautiful places on the planet. I even vacationed there once years ago. I have performed there several times, although not since 2003. Back in the sixties, I played several shows at the Queen Elizabeth Theater in Vancouver. I have also performed in Prince George, in Kamloops, in Victoria, and the last time with Kitty Wells in Vernon, B.C. I hope I get the chance to return to your wonderful province someday.

2. I was listening to satellite radio’s All Elvis channel recently, and I was wondering if you ever considered doing an All Bill Anderson program. You have written and recorded enough songs yourself along with so many other artists. Having you tell some of the stories would really be interesting.

Thank you. Sirius/XM has devoted several channels over the years to particular artists including Garth Brooks, Frank Sinatra, Jimmy Buffet, Billy Joel, and others. It might be fun to have a Bill Anderson channel, but nobody has approached me about it. Maybe somebody at headquarters will read this column and come up with the idea to try it.

3. I have a large record collection and have been going through and logging them. I wondered, “Does Bill have a record album collection? And is it large or just a few of your favorite artists?”

I had an extensive record collection at one time, but when I bought my radio station out in Utah years ago, I shipped most of my albums out there. The station’s record library was sorely lacking and they needed music to play. When I sold the station, I didn’t ask to get them back. These days I try to round up copies of all the albums that have songs of mine on them (mostly CD’s now), but I’m no longer a collector like I used to be.

Quickies: You and the band used to tape your TV show in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Do you remember what years that ran?  The show itself ran from 1965 to 1974, but we only taped in Windsor in 1966 and 1967. I have a friend who co-wrote a big hit for Eddy Arnold some 50-years ago. When the song is played now do they still receive payments? Provided the copyright has not been allowed to expire, yes they do. Have you ever considered bringing back the game show you hosted called Fandango? I’d love to see it back or at least released on DVD. I don’t think the Fandango master tapes exist anymore. When TNN sold to CBS years ago, everything was transferred to New York and  I’m told it was all destroyed in a fire. Sad but true. It tugs at my heart the way you talk about your kids and grandkids. Have you ever written a song about your feelings for them? No, but thank you. They are a very special part of my life, but I’m probably too close to them to write songs about them. Besides, I wouldn’t want to embarrass them.

Thanks for another month of great questions. If you’re curious about something connected to me or to the music business, let me know and I’ll try to satisfy your curiosity. Our address is askbill@billanderson.com or P. O. Box 888, Hermitage, TN. 37076. See you back with more next month.

Latest Photos

“How sweet it was to come down the straightaway on Briley Parkway the night of October 17th  and see the big illuminated sign saying that Bill Anderson would be performing that night on the Grand Ole Opry! It had been seven months since I had walked out on that world-famous stage, and I couldn’t wait to get back. The night turned out to be everything I had hoped for. So did the night of my birthday a little over two weeks later. I celebrated outdoors at home with my three children (L. to R.) Jamey, Jenni, and Terri. My granddaughter, Sophie, has a November 5th birthday, and it’s been our tradition over the years to celebrate our big days together. This year we each had a cupcake with a single candle. It’s hard to believe she turned eleven years old and that she has been part of our family for almost ten of those amazing years. Having the chance to spend my birthday with the ones I love the most is a truly special gift. As I’ve said many times, I…among men…am most richly blessed.”

November 2, 2020

Hi Gang:



There’s been a lot on television and in the news lately about how many people in America do not have access to computers and to the internet.


The subject has come to the forefront because so many children are having to receive their education online these days. Schools are closed due to COVID-19 and our whole world, it seems, is connecting via the world wide web.

But, if we are to believe the ads, there are 10-million households in the US alone with no internet service. I’ve seen stories of school kids tapping into WiFi and doing their homework from the parking lots of Taco Bell and McDonald’s. And it has got me to thinking.

So many of us take the connectivity we enjoy through our phones and our iPads and our computers for granted. We see the world on our screens and we assume that our neighbors and friends see it that way as well. Obviously, that’s not always the case.


When our fan club switched from our printed Journals and went online some dozen years or so ago, we offered our fans the option of receiving our monthly newsletters and related material through the internet or through a special print edition that we would mail to their home addresses. In the beginning, several hundred people opted to pay a small fee to cover the print costs and the postage, but as time has gone by the number of people on the mailing list has dwindled. I’m wondering if it’s because we haven’t continued to promote that we have that service available.

As we head toward the holiday season, it has dawned on me that some of you might have parents or friends or relatives who would like to take advantage of our printed materials….and perhaps you’d like to give a year’s subscription to them as a Christmas or holiday gift. For only $20 you can do just that.

If someone you know doesn’t have internet access, or if they simply like to hold their reading material in their hands like I do, you might think of our fan club newsletters as a gift. Especially if these folks are traditional country music fans and like to be kept abreast of things going on in our world. You can sign them up…or subscribe yourself…by clicking on the link in our store. They would begin receiving our newsletters with the January 2021 edition and go through December of next year. Each recipient of your gift will receive a letter from me explaining the gift and recognizing you as the giver, along with your name and address.

All of my letters to the fans, our Ask Bill column, our personal appearance schedule, our pictures, and our special merchandise offers are in the printed newsletter, other than those few that are only available online. 
 
I hope a lot of you will want to take advantage of this, and I hope you’ll help us spread the word that this service is available. You can order the membership in our store or click this link: http://cwired.co/BAfanclubcopy 







 









Thanks a BILLion….

[image error]

Happy Birthday Bill Anderson

ICONIC SONGWRITER AND COUNTRY MUSIC HALL OF FAME MEMBER WHISPERIN’ BILL ANDERSON RELEASES “IT’S A GOOD DAY TO HAVE A GOOD DAY”

Songwriting titan and Country Music Hall of Fame member Whisperin’ Bill Anderson releases “a new ray of country sunshine” (Wide Open Country / Bobby Moore) right when our world needs it, with his single “It’s A Good Day To Have A Good Day,” available now. This is the Grand Ole Opry legend’s first release since his critically-acclaimed 73rd album, The Hits Re-Imagined, was released this summer.

Though the hopeful tune was penned by Anderson before the novel coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the lyrics and sentiment arrived at the perfect time. Anderson tells Wide Open Country, “We finished it in February, very fortunately. I felt like the longer I lived with it and the longer this thing dragged on, maybe this is a good, positive message we need to put out there and let the folks hear it and listen to it and hopefully draw some comfort and inspiration.”

Anderson boasts a renowned career that has seen extraordinary milestones, including his Country Music Hall of Fame induction; 59 years as a member of the Grand Ole Opry and 80 top-charting songs—37 of which were Top Ten hits in addition to seven No. 1 singles. Anderson’s record-breaking songwriting has made him the only writer to chart country songs in seven consecutive decades. The prolific songwriter has received more than 50 BMI Awards, three CMA Awards and two ACM Awards; and in 2018 he was inducted into the all-genre Songwriters Hall of Fame. Anderson continues to make his indelible mark on country music history with the release of his 73rd album, The Hits Re-Imagined. To stream or download, click HERE.

Premier: Bill Anderson Offers Hope with ‘Its a Good Day to Have a Good Day’ | Wide Open Country

Bill Anderson Offers Hope With ‘It’s a Good Day to Have a Good Day’

Before forced him to stay off the road, Country Music Hall of Fame inductee and Grand Ole Opry member Bill Anderson brightened his live set with a new ray of country sunshine titled “It’s a Good Day to Have a Good Day.” The song, written in early 2019, gets an official release this Friday (Oct.