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Ask Bill – December 1, 2022

1) At almost 65-years old I find myself yearning to write songs. Is one ever too old to get a publisher’s attention?

There’s a saying in the songwriting profession that the two best things about our job is that we never get too old to do it…and we get to wear the coolest uniforms! We can write in our pajamas, bathing suits, or tuxedos, and at any age. I’m still doing it at 85. You’re a spring chicken. Go for it.

2) Does the Grand Ole Opry management schedule your appearances or is there a mutual discussion as to when you will appear?

At the beginning of each month, the Opry will e-mail a notice to all the members letting us know what nights the following month that Opry shows are scheduled. We are then asked to let the Opry know which of those nights we might be available to perform. The schedulers take it from there.

3) I live in Ft. Worth, Texas, and I met most of my favorite country artists at a place called Panther Hall back in the 60s and early 70s, but I never remember you playing there. It’s been torn down now, but have you ever played at Panther Hall?

Yes, I played there many times. It was a fun place to work, with one of the highest stages I ever remember. We’d come in in the late afternoon and do a live TV show with our buddy, Bill Mack, then play a show and dance from eight to midnight. It was on my bus in the parking lot at Panther Hall that I got choked one night on some toothpaste, and Jan Howard had to come to my rescue. And the restaurant next door had the best chicken fried steak I’ve ever eaten. Lots of good memories from Panther Hall.

Our Question Of The Month comes from John, who is also in Texas, and who asked a very timely question: Do you ever exchange Christmas presents with other artists and/or band members?

Yes. Over the years I’ve always given my employees Christmas bonuses, and each of them will usually give me something in return. I don’t want them spending their bonuses on me, though, so it’s usually just a book they think I might like to read, an inexpensive bottle of wine, or perhaps something homemade from their kitchen. Most of the gifts I’ve given and received from other artists over the years have been nothing serious…just silly little tokens of our camaraderie and friendship. But we do celebrate the traditions of giving at Christmas time….just like normal folks!

Quickies: Did you ever have a home recording studio? I know artists like Jim Reeves and Hank Snow did. I once had a small area in my basement where I could record station breaks for disc jockies and commercials for some of my upcoming concert dates, but I never had anything close to a studio where I could make records. Nearly all the younger artists have some type of home studio today. When you write a song do you pick the person to sing it? No, I just try to write the best song I can and let it land wherever it happens to land. What songs in your illustrious career are the most emotional for you to sing and why? “Mama Sang A Song” is the most emotional of all for me because it brings back so many memories of my mother, my childhood, and my home. “Five Little Fingers,” because of my daughter, and “I Wonder If God Likes Country Music,” because of Roy Acuff, have both been known to stop me in my tracks as well. I used to see you at the Taft Theater in Cincinnati back in the good old days. Were you ever on the Ruth Lyons TV show here? I think I may have been on with Ruth one time before she retired, but I visited her successor, Bob Braun, on several occasions. He and I became good friends. What a fun show…and popular show…that was!  Did you ever tour or sing with Buck Owens? No I didn’t…other than on Brad Paisley’s recording of “Too Country” where Brad overdubbed vocals from me, Buck, and George Jones. Buck was based in California, and with me working out of  Nashville, our paths didn’t cross all that often. I wish they had. I was, and continue to be, a big Buck fan.

I also wish I had space to answer more of your questions, but I’ll save the leftovers for the new year. Meantime, if you have anything you’d like to ask, write to me at askbill@billanderson.com and I’ll try my best to provide an answer. If yours is chosen as our Question Of The Month, you’ll receive any item of your choice free from our online store. See you back here in 2023.

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Ask Bill – February 8, 2023

1) I am having a disagreement with a friend about one of your old records. It’s called “Country Music Died Today.” She claims I am thinking of “Murder On Music Row.” So did you have such a song and did it chart? Who is right? And is it available on compact disc?

I did record a song called “Country Music Died Today” in the one album I did for Swanee Records back in the mid-eighties. I didn’t write it, and I don’t think the label ever released it as a single, therefore it didn’t make the charts. It has never been released on CD, but I recently purchased the masters to these old recordings so anything is possible. Stay tuned.

2) I have always wondered how a country artist gets paid? Do they get a percentage of the venues and also a percentage of the records they sell? Do most artists divide the money equally with the band? I’ve always wondered how the band gets paid when the artist gets all the attention from the public.

This is one of those topics where there is no one-size-fits-all answer. But I will try to generalize and answer as best as I can. Artists have several sources from which they can make money, record royalties and personal appearances being the primary two. A royalty rate is established when an artist signs a recording contract, and it is usually based on a percentage of record sales or streaming money received by the label. Personal appearance fees can be negotiated on a percentage of ticket sales or on a guaranteed amount for the artist agreed upon ahead of time. Most artists do not divide their appearance money with the band but rather pay their band members a salary or on a per-show basis. There are probably as many variations to these answers as there are artists, but these are the simplified basic rules today. Somebody will probably re-write them tomorrow.

3) You produced some great albums on Lewis Grizzard. Please enlighten us on how you came to know Lewis and your friendship with him.

Lewis, who was a great southern humorist (some called him this generation’s Mark Twain), was a small-town Georgia boy who loved country music, journalism, humor, and the Georgia Bulldogs above everything else in the world. Does that sound like someone else you know? We had known of each other for a long time, but we connected over all that we had in common when he once came to speak at a PoFolks restaurant convention. I sat next to him at the head table and somewhere in the course of conversation I asked him if he had ever considered recording his speeches for a record album. Next thing I knew I was following him all over the country capturing all the funny things he said and editing them into a series of albums and CDs. I think we did eight in all prior to his untimely death in 1994 at the age of 47. Those were some of the best times I ever had, and hardly a day goes by but what I don’t quote something crazy that he said. He was truly one of a kind.

Our Question Of The Month comes from Marsha in Pennsylvania: What would you say is the biggest highlight of your career, and would your answer be different now from what it might have been thirty years ago?

Yes, my answer would be quite different. Thirty years ago I had not written two Songs Of The Year, been named to the national Songwriters Hall of Fame, been chosen BMI’s first country songwriting ICON, celebrated 60-plus years as a member of the Grand Ole Opry, nor been voted membership  into the Country Music Hall of Fame. THE highlight? My whole career has been a “highlight” to me because I never expected any of these things to happen. I guess the cherry on top of the sundae, though, would be my election to the Country Music Hall of Fame. That’s the top rung on the ladder that I’ve been trying to climb ever since I was a teenager, and to have reached it is a feeling like no other.

Quickies: During the credits for Coal Miner’s Daughter I noticed the name Bill Anderson Jr. Is he your son or any kin?  I must have been asked this question a thousand times over the years and my answer is still the same: No. How tall was Peter Cooper? I thought you were 6’2″ or so, and he is a lot taller than you. I don’t know Peter’s exact height, but he was a couple of inches taller than me. In some pictures, he appears to be even taller than that, but it was the camera angle that made it look that way. And on the subject of pictures: Did you know that in pictures featuring both you and Dolly you look a lot younger?  And a lot better too! Dolly makes everyone and everything around her look better!! I am inquiring about your favorite car. I go to many car shows and sometimes see a celebrity with a classic. What was your favorite car? I’ve never been a big “car guy”, certainly not in the league with someone like Jay Leno. My favorite car I’ve ever owned was a late sixties Cadillac El Dorado…turquoise body, white leather top, and an all-white leather interior. It was hard to keep clean, but it sure was fun to drive. One of my favorite songs of yours is “Next Time You’re In Tulsa.” I feel that song should have gone high on the charts, but I don’t know if it ever charted at all. Did anyone else ever record it? Thank you. That song was in my “I Love You Drops” album, but was never released as a single. I can’t recall anyone else ever having recorded it. I love your monthly newsletter. It’s like getting a letter from a friend. That’s awfully nice of you to say. Sometimes I wonder if anybody cares about what I write, but I keep doing it because I enjoy staying connected to country music as well as to my friends and fans. I put a lot of time into it each month, but receiving a letter like yours makes it all worthwhile. Thank you.

I appreciate all your questions this month, and I hope I’ve satisfied your curiosity with my answers. We’ll do it again in March, so if you have a question send it to me. If yours is selected as our Question Of The Month, you’ll receive any item of your choice from our online store absolutely free. Write to me anytime in care of askbill@billanderson.com, and I’ll see you next time.

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Ask Bill – January 3, 2023

1) You sang your song, “Peel Me A ‘Nanner” on the Opry recently, and included a verse that Roy Drusky did not sing on his recording of the song. Did you write it later? And have you made significant changes to any songs you wrote after they were recorded…other than adding a child to “Wild Weekend” after J-Bird was born?

So far as I recall, I wrote that third verse at the same time I wrote the other two verses, but for some reason Roy…or his producer…chose to not include it when they cut the song. Back in those days (mid-60’s), an artist would get more airplay the shorter a record was. Roy’s cut came in under two minutes, and the DJ’s played the fire out of it. I don’t recall any significant changes I might have made to any other songs, but there may well have been some I’ve forgotten about.

2) I have a bunch of your albums and CD’s, and I was wondering how many #1 hits you have had. And which song was your last #1 hit?

Oh boy, you are opening quite a can of worms here. Back in the day when I was having hit records, there were three national country charts published every week. One was in Billboard magazine, one in CashBox magazine, and one in a publication called Record World. These charts would generally reflect the same overall musical trends, but they were seldom identical. A record might be #1 in CashBox and only #5 in Billboard. Or vice versa. No one chart was considered “official.”

Over the years, Billboard kept track of their charts the best, and eventually became the source the industry trusted…partly because the other magazines went out of business and their charts and methodology were lost. If you go by Billboard, I have had 7 #1 records, but if you also include CashBox and Record World, I’ve have had between 15 and 20. In Billboard, I have also had 9 records that reached #2, most of which went #1 somewhere else.

According to Billboard, my last #1 hit was “Sometimes” with Mary Lou Turner in 1975. According to other publications my last #1 was in 1978 with “I Can’t Wait Any Longer.” Now is it clear as mud?

3) What is your biggest regret in your career?

When you’ve had a career as blessed as mine, it’s hard to look back and regret anything. Any regrets I might have would be so few and so insignificant compared to my blessings that they are hardly worth mentioning. So I don’t think I will.

Our Question Of The Month comes from Lori in Alabama: My husband and I love you and your music, but he lost his hearing 10-years ago. We watch Country’s Family Reunion and Larry’s Country Diner, and he likes to watch music videos. But none of your music videos are captioned. Could you maybe caption your videos so that he can enjoy them?

Nobody has ever brought that up to me before, and I appreciate it. My last two videos, “It’s A Good Day (To Have A Good Day)” and “Someday It’ll All Make Sense” with Dolly Parton, were both released in a lyric video format with the words to the songs printed on the screen. You might try checking those out on my website or on YouTube. And I’ll certainly stay aware of your request for any future videos I might put out. Thanks for the suggestion.

Quickies: Are you related to any Anderson’s in California or Washington? Not that I know of. A few of my Anderson kinfolks got as far west as east Texas, but that’s about it. Did you write “Peanuts & Diamonds?” It is right up there with “Golden Guitar” as my favorite of all the songs I’ve heard you sing. Well you picked two songs that I did not write! But I’m glad you like them. Bobby Braddock wrote “Peanuts & Diamonds.” Do you prefer to write by yourself or with others? I enjoy both and feel blessed to be able to do both. Do you have a favorite co-writer? If I did, I wouldn’t mention it here because I’d make all the other co-writers mad! And from England: Did you ever meet Ken Dodd? Yes, I did, and for our American friends, Ken is the British artist who popularized several of my songs in the UK, including “Still,” “8×10”, and “Happiness.” He came to see me once when I was performing ln Liverpool, and it was a great honor to meet him. He was an icon in your country long before he was dubbed Sir Ken Dodd. I treasure the memory of our shaking hands and sharing a few laughs. I am 86-years old and my DVD’s of Country’s Family Reunion are such a blessing. Will there ever be more? I’m glad you enjoy them, but right now I don’t see any new ones on the horizon. I try to never say “never,” but that’s the way it looks here in early 2023.

Thanks for another bunch of great questions. Like always, I have a few left over for next month, but don’t let that keep you from sending yours. You can write to me at askbill@billanderson.com and I’ll try to respond to whatever is on your mind. Remember our Question Of The Month earns the sender a free copy of any merchandise item from our online store. See you back here in February.

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Ask Bill – November 2, 2022

1) Did you ever go on tour with Loretta Lynn? Did you ever record together? I will forever miss her.

Many of our questions this month have revolved around Loretta and folks wanting to know more about my relationship with her. She and I came to town about the same time in the early sixties, and my first memory of her was seeing her in a white cowgirl outfit trimmed in red standing in the lobby of the old Cumberland Lodge Building downtown trying to get in to see the Wilburn Brothers. We all know how that turned out! Yes, I toured with her quite a bit in the early days, and used to love standing backstage watching her impersonate me during her performances. We never recorded together, but I sang with her on stage several times. In later years, when Conway Twitty couldn’t be with her, she would call me out to do Conway’s part on “God Bless American Again.” I wouldn’t take anything for those great times and all the memories.

2) I was reading in your autobiography about the song, “Saginaw, Michigan,” and your involvement in writing it. You say your name was added as a co-writer on the album copies, but I’ve never seen it there – even on the budget reissue that came out in 1973.

After Don Wayne asked me to help him finish writing, “Saginaw, Michigan,” I had every intention of recording it myself. And, as the artist, I was not going to ask for part of the songwriter’s share. However, when Don or Buddy Killen, the publisher, or somebody leaked the song to Lefty Frizzell, I felt I should be compensated. Don agreed, and my name was added to the song. By the time that happened, though, the first 45rpm copies of Lefty’s version had come from the pressing plant without my name on them. That was changed by the time his album was released, and my name has been on the song ever since. How it got left off that 1973 re-issue is anybody’s guess. The best part is that my name has been on the royalty statements for almost sixty years.
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3) Do you think that country music has lost its identity? I certainly believe that is has.

I don’t know that country music has “lost” its identity, but its style and its sound has definitely evolved and changed in recent years. But that’s nothing new. I imagine when Bill Anderson and Roger Miller and Willie Nelson and Harlan Howard and Loretta and Dolly and all the rest of us came to town in the early 60’s that Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb and the other pioneers thought country music’s identity had been lost too. We wrote songs and recorded them differently from the way it had been done up to that point, and I’m sure some longtime artists and fans didn’t take too kindly to our innovations. The one constant in music is that it’s constantly changing. It always has and it always will.

Our Question of the Month comes from Diane in Michigan and is an insightful one: “Back in 1969 I saw you perform at the Ryman Auditorium. When the time came to move on, what was it like to no longer have the Opry at the Ryman?”

It was strange at first. The Ryman was the only Opry home that I had ever known, as both a fan and as an artist, and there was a certain sentimentality to leaving it behind. It felt weird to drive to another part of town on Friday and Saturday nights, even though for the first time we had free parking near the stage entrance and spacious dressing rooms inside. As a performer, the distance from the stage to the front row at the Ryman had been short and the fans always felt close to us and us to them, an intimacy that was compromised in the move to the new, larger Opry House. At the same time, it was a move that had to be made. The Ryman had fallen into a sad state of dis-repair, and the surrounding area downtown had grown neglected and seedy, nothing like it is today. Some people wanted the Ryman to be torn down, but fortunately wiser and cooler heads prevailed and the building has a vibrant life today. What felt awkward at the time has turned out to be a win-win situation for everybody.

Quickies: Several of you responded to last month’s question asking if Hank Williams ever recorded a Christmas song. Many referred to his version of, “At The First Fall Of Snow” as being his one and only Christmas recording. I checked out the lyric, and while that’s a  wintertime country song, it is not “religious,” as some suggested, nor does it have any connection to Christmas. I think it stands that Hank never recorded a Christmas song. Who was your steel player on “Walk Out Backwards?” It was the legendary Hall of Famer, Pete Drake. Did you write the song, “Old Things New?” I know you have a version and so does Joe Nichols. I like them both. Thank you. I co-wrote it with Buddy Cannon and Paul Overstreet. What is Carol Lee Cooper doing these days? Does she still perform? I reached out to her to try and get an update on her current activities, but so far I have not heard back. I’ll let you know when I do.

Thanks for a great group of questions again this month. If you’ve got one rolling around in your head, feel free to send it to me, and I’ll try my best to answer. Write to me at askbill@billanderson.com and watch for your answer in a future column. Win your choice of any item free from our online store if yours is chosen our Question Of The Month. See you back here in December.