Ask Bill – January 1, 2025

1) Back in the day did you ever take trains while touring or was it all planes and busses by then?

It was automobiles, station wagons, and anything we could find with wheels on it in the beginning, but I do recall taking a train once back in the early sixties to a concert date in Moline, Illinois. I booked a sleeper from Nashville to Chicago and then a regular passenger seat from Chicago westward. We left Music City around 11 p.m. the night before and were scheduled to arrive in Chicago in the early morning. I woke up around seven o’clock and noticed the train was standing still. I assumed we had arrived, only to learn we had run into a snowstorm in southern Indiana and had barely moved all night. I ultimately made my connection (barely!) and got to the concert date on time, but I cut it extremely close. (Someday I’ll tell you about a return train trip to Nashville with the late Faron Young. That was another adventure to say the least!) I love trains, but they probably aren’t the best mode of transportation for traveling entertainers.

2) In recent years there have been a lot of uploads on YouTube of the old Ozark Jubilee TV shows. I’ve seen two episodes with you on there, one from 1959 where you sang “99 Years,” and one from 1960 with you lip syncing “The Tip Of My Fingers.” What do you remember about doing that show, and is that where you met Jimmy Gateley and thought, “Boy, I’d like to have him in my band someday”?

I remember how excited I was to be on a show that I had watched for years, and what a thrill it was to meet Red Foley, the host, whom I idolized. Those shows were in black and white, remember, and I was shocked to see just how “red” Mr. Foley’s hair was! I remember how nice Uncle Cyp and Aunt Sap Brasfield and several others were to me backstage. I don’t think Jimmy Gately and Harold Morrison, who were a duet act in those days, were on the show when I was, but I never thought of hiring Jimmy back then. That didn’t unfold until several years later.

3) Can you please tell me the story of the song, “Wild Weekend.”

I got the idea to write it back when I was on the Board of Directors of the Country Music Association, and we were flying to the Bahamas for a Board meeting. I was taking my wife with me, and telling our friends we were getting away on a “Wild Weekend.” The idea grew from there when I hit on the premise of writing a song about guy getting out of town with a “blonde haired blue eyed darling” and making it sound as though he were slipping away with a girl friend….and then revealing at the end that the “girl friend” was actually his wife. When I had finished writing it, I went in to play it for my producer, Owen Bradley, and he stopped me after the first chorus. “You can’t record a song like that,” he said firmly. “People know you for songs like ‘Mama Sang A Song’ and ‘Five Little Fingers.’ They won’t accept you singing about slipping out of town with a girl friend!” I asked him to listen to the rest of the song. After the second verse, he was just as adamant. “You cannot record that song!” he roared again. When he finally calmed down long enough to let me sing him the final verse, he realized what I was doing. He slammed his fist down on the desk and shouted, “That’s GREAT! It’s BRILLIANT! Let’s cut it!!” And the rest is history.

4) We don’t have a Question Of The Month again this time, but I did receive a funny letter I’d like to share with you. It’s our Letter Of The Month addressed to Ask Bill: “I really don’t have a question, but I’d like to share an experience that was due to a Bill Anderson song. My grandmother, who raised me, got onto me and made me mad. I told her, “It’s my life, throw it away if I want to!”, referring to a Bill Anderson song that I had heard. She proceeded to tear my butt up! I’ll never forget that! Thanks, Bill Anderson!”

Quickies: Do you still do any shows other than the Opry? No, not at the present time. How many musicians have been a member of the Po’ Folks through the years? I’m sure I probably forgot one or two, but as I tried to put a list together, I came up with a total of 41. That’s from 1964 to the present. When you look back over 60-plus years that’s really not all that many. I’ve been very fortunate to have some great players who have stayed with me for long periods of time. You are the longest serving member of the Opry and Jeannie Seely has performed there more than any other member. Why don’t you do duets? We did record “When Two Worlds Collide” together in one of her albums a few years ago, and we have sung it together several times on the Opry. Maybe we should work up some new ones?? Is there any singer that you have wanted to sing with and haven’t yet? I’d love to have the opportunity to sing with many of them, but no one in particular stands out.  Which venue do you like to play the best, the Ryman or the Opry House? And which one do you believe has the best sound? I prefer the Opry House because we can park right outside the backstage entrance and enjoy the overall creature comforts that a newer facility affords. The sound is probably best at the Ryman, though, because of its natural acoustics. It has long been recognized as one of the best sounding venues in the world. This is not a musical question, but one I’m sure your fans would be interested in. Being a performer and traveling a lot, I’m sure it would be hard to have a pet. But, over the years, have you had a special pet? If so, what would it be? My best buddy growing up was a ragged little black mixed-breed puppy that simply showed up in our driveway one Sunday afternoon. His tail was longer than he was, so, naturally, I named him Shorty. I fed him, bathed him, petted him, and he hung around for the next ten years or so. I delivered newspapers on my bicycle after school in those days, and Shorty ran along beside me every afternoon. I used to joke and say he could have delivered the papers without me. He knew where all our customers lived. The saddest day of my young life was the day a pick-up truck hit Shorty while we were on the paper route, and we had to have him put to sleep. I still get sad thinking about it. I haven’t had a pet of my own since then.

Thanks for your questions again this month. You’ve helped get the New Year off to a great start.. We’ll do this again in February, so let me know what you’re curious about, and I’ll try my best to respond. Write to me anytime at askbill@billanderson.com. Submit our Question Of The Month and you’ll win free merchandise of your choice from our online store. Stay inquisitive and I’ll see you back here next time.