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FromBill-btn-blu

April 3, 2023

Hi Gang:

I didn’t have much news for you in March, but I’m about to make up for it in April. And the good news is that most of the news I have is good news!

First, the Country Music Hall of Fame told me four days before my “As Far As I Can See” exhibit was scheduled to close on March 19th that it wouldn’t be closing that day after all. It will now, in fact, be open until September 25, 2023, and, needless to say, I am thrilled.

Hopefully, lots of you who weren’t able to get to Nashville over these past 15-months will be able to visit and tour the exhibit this spring or summer. And I hope you’ll help  spread the word to your friends, family, and other country music fans:The Bill Anderson exhibit is still open for business! Thank you.

Second, I told you in March that we’d have news in April about some “new/old music” that we’ve got coming your way. And here it is:

Back in 1984, I recorded an album for a small label called Swanee Records. I cut 20 sides in all, ten re-makes of some of my biggest hits and ten songs I had never recorded before. They were released in a double-LP titled, “Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow.”

Well, Swanee Records didn’t stick around very long, and not a whole lot of people ever heard that music. Recently, though, I was able to purchase those 1984 master recordings, and you know what? They still sound pretty good even after almost forty years, especially to ears that miss hearing the sounds of traditional country music.

So we’ve decided maybe some of you would enjoy discovering the ten new/old songs for the first time, so this Spring we’re going to release them on CD and in digital download form for the first time in a package called “1984.” I’ll warn you…these recordings are full of fiddles and steel guitars and songs about real life as lived by real people. If that’s not your thing, then feel free to pass. But if that kind of country music speaks to you, you might want to add this new/old music to your collection.  The CD’s will be available soon and only in a Limited Edition for our fan club members! Keep your eyes on our website for more details coming shortly.

What else is going on? Well, Moe Bandy just released a new song I wrote called “God Is Great God Is Good” in his new gospel album titled “Thank You Lord.” I hope lots of you will want to check it out. And our bluegrass/gospel song, “Go Spread The Gospel,” by Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers, was just voted 2022 Song Of The Year by Real Southern Gospel Radio. Thanks, y’all…that’s quite an honor.

People ask me all the time if I’m still writing songs and making new recordings, and the answer is a definite YES. In fact, since I am not touring at the present time, I’ve got more time to devote to creating new music, and I’m trying to take advantage of that. I plan to release several new singles this year that you can download and add to your digital playlists. And hopefully some new videos as well. Stay tuned.

Thanks to each of you who reached out with concern and prayers for our city and our people last week. What happened here was senseless and heartbreaking. Your compassion is most appreciated.

Enjoy our first full month of Spring, and I’ll see you on the Opry April 8th, April 15th, and April 25th…and hopefully back here again early in May. As always, thanks for everything.

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FromBill-btn-blu

May 1, 2023

Hi Gang:

They call it the “Merry Month Of May,” and let’s hope that’s exactly what it turns out to be for all of us. Here in Whisperville, it’s definitely starting off on the right foot.

Our “1984” CD is out and available to our fan club members ahead of its national release date of May 26th. This is the music I recorded for a now-defunct record label back in the eighties. Not many people ever heard it, but hopefully, now they will as it is being released digitally for the first time.

The CDs are priced at only $20 with free shipping, and you can send for yours now and expect prompt delivery. All the ordering instructions are on down in the newsletter. If you’d rather wait and download your copy, those digital downloads will be available, as I said, on the 26th. Either way, I hope you will enjoy a helping of traditional country music…the kind you don’t hear very much of these days.

In addition to my promoting this old/new music, May is going to be busy on some other fronts as well. I’ve got several songwriting dates on the books, and four Grand Ole Opry appearances. We’ll be doing two Opry shows on Saturday the 13th, another on Tuesday the 16th, and a final May show on Saturday the 27th. You’re always welcome to come see us and to tune us in wherever you find our broadcasts.

On the personal side of things we’ve got two high school graduations coming up in our family this month and, needless to say, I am excited about both. The first, on May 13th, will be my remarkable grandson, Gabe, who in spite of fighting an incredibly long, hard battle with a rare form of cancer ever since he was six years old, somehow managed to keep up with his schoolwork and is receiving his diploma on schedule. So many of you have lifted Gabe up in your prayers throughout his journey, and our entire family thanks you. Your prayers…all of our prayers…have most assuredly been answered. I hope you share our joy in his accomplishments. Gabe plans to attend college in the fall and major in electrical engineering. He is truly a walking miracle.

My granddaughter, Greta, will be graduating two weeks after Gabe, and hers has been a different kind of journey although no less strenuous. Greta’s dad, Chuck, died of a brain tumor when she was 9-years old and in the 3rd grade. Losing her father at such a young age left emotional scars that most of us can only imagine. She has toughed it out, though, is graduating on time, and plans to attend college to study elementary education. She wants to be a teacher.

And before I leave the subject of family, I told you a few months back that my grandson, Blake, who is wrapping up his sophomore year in college, will be leaving this month for a six-week Christian missionary trip to The Czech Republic. I ask that you keep him and his group of 20-something fellow college students in your thoughts and prayers as well. Prague is a long way from the hills of Tennessee.

I am an extremely proud PawPaw, and thank you for allowing me to divert your attention away from the music business for these few lines to share my happiness and my pride with you.

Let me wish all you moms out there an especially Happy Mother’s Day coming up on the 14th. May you get to spend it with the people in your life who mean the most.

Thanks for all you mean to me, and thanks for allowing me time for another little visit this month. Hopefully, we’ll see all of you back here again in June. I send all best wishes to each of you….

FromBill-btn-blu

March 1, 2023

Hi Gang:

I told you in our February newsletter that I was scheduled for some elective surgery on February 27th and that I’d be taking the month of March to rest and recuperate.

Well, that procedure was postponed, and I have very little news to report in this month’s letter. So I’ve decided to use the time and space to catch up on a whole bunch of questions you have submitted to our Ask Bill column these past several weeks. I still can’t get to them all, but this is a good sampling.

I plan to resume my monthly letters in April when I’ll have news about some new old music that we’re about to make available. What is “new old” music? You’ll have to join us here next month to find out. Meantime, enjoy!

FromBill-btn-blu

February 8, 2023

Hi Gang:

Well, I had hoped to start off our February newsletter by telling you that I was safely home from California with my first-ever shiny new Grammy Award tucked up under my arm. But, alas, a funny thing happened on my way up to the podium.

They gave “my” Grammy in the American Roots category, where I had been nominated for my performance on “Someday It’ll All Make Sense” featuring Dolly Parton, to Aaron Neville. Aaron is a great artist, very deserving, and I offer him my congratulations. Sure, I’m disappointed, but I’m not heartbroken by a long shot. It was a thrill to have been nominated. 

Had I won the Grammy I had planned to thank a whole bunch of people who contributed so much to the effort. Since I didn’t get to do that onstage, I’ll do it here: Dolly, you made the record come alive with your great voice and styling, and I can’t thank you enough for laying it all on the line for me. Cheryl Riddle, thank you for making sure Dolly heard the song in the first place. Thomm Jutz, thank you for producing a great record. Bobby Tomberlin and Ryan Larkins, thanks for allowing me to co-write this amazing song idea with you. Rusty Gaston, from Sony Music Publishing, thank you for believing enough to take the record to Cindy Mabe at UMG Records…and, Cindy, thanks to you and your incredible team for working so hard to get us the Grammy nomination. It was a team effort from the get-go, and I couldn’t be prouder or more grateful to you all.

And to each of you, my fans and my friends, thanks for your love and support. I’m just sorry I couldn’t have rewarded you with the prize you were helping me seek.

My trip to the west coast was not a wash-out by any means. My son, Jamey, found an empty seat on a Delta airplane and flew out to join me for the festivities. Between his hectic schedule and mine over the years, we haven’t had the chance to do many things like this together, and it was a hoot sharing such a special time with him. Now I’ve just got to go to work and try to create something good enough to get another nomination next year!

In other news, I’m anxious to go back to the Opry House this month for my first shows there since the new backdrop and new sound system have been installed. I’ve heard nothing but good things about the upgrades, and I’m anxious to see and hear them for myself. We have two scheduled appearances this month, on Valentine’s Day Tuesday the 14th and the following Saturday February 18th. Come see us if you can…tune us in if you can’t. 

I feel I should mention that our exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame is heading into its home stretch with a closing date of Sunday March 19th. Many of you have said you still hope to come see it before it closes, so I’m just reminding you. It was open the entire year of 2022, and I’m happy to tell you that more people attended the museum this past year than any year in history. I’m proud to have perhaps been a small part of that.

I won’t be performing anywhere in March due to a minor elective surgical procedure I have scheduled for February 27th. If all goes as planned I will only be in the hospital overnight, and will be recouping at home for a few weeks after that. So I’m stacking up on books to read and movies to watch. As always, your positive thoughts and prayers on my behalf will be most appreciated.

Enjoy as best as you can these final few weeks of winter, keeping in mind that Spring will be here before we know it. Thanks for all of your continued kindnesses to me, and I hope to see you back here as early in March as possible. My best to you all.