February 1 2021

February 1, 2021

Hi Gang:

It’s hard to believe that it was one year ago this month that I played my last show on the road…in Wittenburg, Wisconsin, February 9, 2020. The night before we had performed in Wisconsin Dells, and we stayed over after the show because Wittenburg was not that far away. We didn’t count on the fact that eight inches of snow was going to fall while we slept.

We plowed through it on our tour bus the next morning, arrived in time to set up and do a sound check, but I told everybody we’d be playing to a bunch of empty seats. “Nobody is going to come out in this weather,” I said. Imagine my surprise when every seat in the theater was full. I’ve said it for years – country fans are the best fans in the world! And I miss every one of you!

We haven’t been back out on tour, but quite a few things have been going on just the same. The Grand Ole Opry has decided that they will celebrate my 60th anniversary as an Opry member on Saturday night July 17th, and here’s hoping things will be such that a whole bunch of you can come celebrate with us. Dan Rogers, the Opry manager, told me he did some research and the typical 60th anniversary gift is the diamond. I told him he could give me the diamond at Yankee Stadium!

The Country Music Hall of Fame has also confirmed with us that the Bill Anderson Exhibit, which was originally scheduled to open in 2020, is still on the books for a November 19th opening in 2021. Again, hopefully by then we’ll all feel freer to travel about, and I’ll look forward to seeing many of you at what promises to be one of the true highlights of my life and my career. The exhibit is scheduled to run until March, 2023.

With thoughts toward putting the pandemic in my rear view mirror, I had my first COVID vaccine shot January 12th, and I’m scheduled for my second February 9th. The biggest problem I ran into was all the other 75 and 80-year old drivers out getting their vaccinations on the same day. Most of them probably hadn’t driven in at least a year, and the parking lot resembled bumper cars at the county fair. Nobody could park straight, and a few could barely see over their steering wheels. I told someone I might survive the virus, but I wasn’t too sure I’d survive the ride home!

Many of you continue to reach out and ask what you can do to help get Country’s Family Reunion back on the air at RFD-TV, and my answer is nothing. Unless something unforeseen happens, I don’t think those shows will ever be on broadcast television again. The good news is that you can still stream the episodes on Country Roads TV and, of course, many of you have the DVD’s you have collected over the years. Just enjoy those…for the good times.

Thank you so much for all the wonderful responses my family and I have received in regard to the news I shared last month about my grandson, Gabe, and his upcoming bone marrow transplant. Many of you tell me you have ordered and are wearing the Team Gabe shirts, and we appreciate your support more than you know. Since we last visited, the timetable for Gabe’s procedure has been moved forward into May in order to allow time for him to have a series of radiation treatments that the doctors feel will greatly enhance his chances of never having his cancer return. Those treatments will begin Feb. 8th and could last for up to eight weeks. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks so much for your prayers and your concern.

Elsewhere in my personal world, my son, Jamey, has been called back to work at Delta Air Lines where he will begin training to pilot the 737 airplane in April. My grandson, Blake’s, high school basketball team currently has a season record of 16-3, and will soon be headed into tournament play. Last I checked, Blake is the leading rebounder on the team and #2 in scoring. Due to COVID restrictions, I’ve had to watch most of his games via streaming. I’m just sad that this is his final season.

I hope each of you will continue to stay safe, stay well, and stay in touch. And remember it’s always a good day to have a good day!!

Thanks for everything….

From Bill

August 2, 2021

Hi Gang:

Well, if I had known my 60th Opry anniversary was going to be so much fun, I would have scheduled it earlier in my career!!

Seriously, the whole weekend was surreal beyond belief, and I thank you so much for being here, for watching and listening, and for your countless cards, letters, and notes of congratulation. I wish I could respond to every one of you personally, but I simply cannot. Just know that every single message was read and deeply appreciated.

If you’d like to see the pictures and read a first-person account of the evening’s activities, we have a slideshow available. Just click the link https://wp.me/p36e3n-2zA or visit the Journal area and enjoy.

There are so many people I want and need to thank that I hardly know where to begin. Dan Rogers and Gina Keltner from the Opry were fantastic in planning everything and following through with a wonderful presentation on stage.The beautiful engraved watch (I thought they only gave watches to people who are retiring….reckon they’re trying to tell me something?) and the incredible private reception backstage afterward were simply amazing.

At the reception, I was given proclamations from both the City of Nashville and the State of Tennessee declaring July 17th as Bill Anderson Day. There were wall-to-wall flowers, a cake decorated like the Hatch Show Print poster that was on sale that night, and 500 specially engraved guitar picks courtesy of my friend, Jeannie Seely. One side of the picks is a drawing of me by artist, David Anderson, and the other side is dedicated to “Bill Anderson – Opry Whisperer – 60-Years (So Far). Thanks, Seely. You are truly one-of-a-kind!

All three of my children were at the show and the reception, along with six of my eight grandchildren. Add it all together and know that it was one of the most special nights of my life. I fell into bed about two o’clock Sunday morning…exhausted but feeling very, very loved.

I had done so many interviews leading up to the celebration that I was getting a little hoarse prior to going on stage. On Thursday night, I had joined with many of my country music friends in honoring our buddy, Keith Bilbrey, on a TV special geared toward raising funds for him and his wife, Emmy Joe, following their devastating house fire a few weeks earlier. On Friday, I taped a guest appearance on Larry’s Country Diner which will air in late September and early October. All week long it seemed someone was sticking a microphone and/or a camera in my face. It was a non-stop frenzy for sure.

The following Monday I was back in the recording studio beginning the mixing process on my new songs. I can’t tell you a lot right now, but I will share this with you: One of the songs I plan to release is a duet with Dolly Parton…and another features performances by Jimmy Fortune and Bobby Bare. I am somewhere ‘way beyond excited!

On the family front, my grandson Gabe, who will mark his 17th birthday August 6th, is back home from his fourth trip to the hospital since his bone marrow transplant in May. He has been battling pneumonia and high blood pressure. Your prayers continue to be vital and most appreciated. Gabe’s older brother, Blake, leaves for college this month while sisters Hallie and Sophie have begun middle school cheerleading practice. My oldest granddaughter, Rae, gets married on August 28th, and sometime this month I’m going to sneak away to the beach and work on my tan. I might just “accidentally” forget to take my phone and my laptop!!

Enjoy the month wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Thanks for everything, and we’ll see you back here in September.

From Bill

July 1, 2021

Hi Gang:

Welcome to our July newsletter…a month I’ve been looking forward to for quite some time.

I’m going to be busier this month than I’ve been in a long while, but it’s a good kind of busy with lots of exciting things going on.

Most of the excitement is built around my 60th Anniversary as a member of the Grand Ole Opry which we will be celebrating on Saturday night July 17th. Between now and then, I’ll be busy doing interviews and tending to all the million-and-one little details that go into making a milestone like this all that it can be. Many of you are coming in to help celebrate with us, and I’m looking forward to seeing you. We’ll be hosting a special meet ‘n greet for our fans and fan club members prior to the show that night.

I will be on the televised portion of the Opry which you can see on the Circle Network and in a variety of other places. For those who can’t be here, I’ll hope you’ll tune us in.

I’ve been back in the recording studio these past couple of weeks, and I’m excited about the new music we’ll be releasing later this year. I can’t share too many details just yet, but rest assured I have recorded a COUNTRY record like many of you have been asking for. Lots of fiddle and steel and country lyrics and melodies. A few of my country music friends have joined me on this new music, and I can’t wait for you to hear what we’ve done. If I sound excited it’s because I am.

And speaking of recordings, we are in the process of repackaging both our gospel and Christmas CDs, including a totally new design on the Christmas CD cover. We’ll be offering these with special pricing shortly. Stay tuned.

The next big event in Whisperville will come in early December when the Bill Anderson Exhibit will open at the Country Music Hall of Fame….and the process is underway full-blast. The HOF sent a big ol’ van loaded with cardboard boxes and bubble wrap out to my house and to my office yesterday, and they hauled off everything that wasn’t nailed down…stage clothes, guitars, record albums, song lyrics, pictures, awards, trophies. They are going to need a humongous exhibit space to display even half of what they gathered!

My friends at the University of Georgia library are pitching in to help, too, as they are bringing up some of the materials I gave them and lending them to the Hall for my display. That’s called “super cooperation.” Why can’t more people in this world get along like that??

June was both a happy and a sad month for me in that I lost a dear friend with the passing of Jim Bessman, a music journalist based in New York who wrote many nice articles about me over the years, and then the tragic house fire at the home of my buddy, Keith Bilbrey, and his wife Emy Joe. A bunch of us are getting together for a televised tribute and a fund-raising show for the Bilbrey’s on Thursday night July 15th. Larry Black and Mike Huckabee, who both host TV shows where Keith is the announcer, are putting it together. You can watch via CountryRoadsTV and hopefully other outlets as well.

The good news in June was that my grandson, Gabe, got to go home from the hospital after being confined for over a month following his bone marrow transplant. He still has a long recovery road ahead of him (he’s already been back in the hospital with pneumonia), but the doctors are pleased with his progress overall. I continue to be so grateful for your many prayers and messages of concern. I truly believe his support system is a big reason he is doing as well as he is. But please don’t stop now. The first 100 days following a procedure like this are critical, and we’re not even halfway there. Thank you.

Guess that wraps it up for this time. You folks here in the U.S. enjoy your Fourth of July and celebrate it in a safe and sane fashion. I’ll see you from the Opry stage on July 9th, the 17th, and the 31st, and back here again next month. Thanks for everything.

From Bill

June 1, 2021

Hi Gang:

Well, I’ll have to admit that returning to the Opry stage after our long, COVID-induced absence was a real hoot. Once I remembered which end of the microphone to sing into…and which way to face standing on stage…it was like riding a bicycle. I just hope I never have to be away for such a long time ever again.

And it was so cool to see fans sitting shoulder to shoulder in the pews and smiling and laughing without masks covering their faces. I’ve taken that for granted for almost sixty years, but never again. Now if we can just return to our normal backstage atmosphere. That’s where so much of the fun is for us…not to mention the free coffee and the free popcorn!

Our next Opry appearances will be on Saturday June 5th, Tuesday June 15th, and Friday June 25th. Hope you’ll tune us in when you can.

And speaking of the Opry, our fan section for my 60th Anniversary on July 17th has almost sold out, so they are adding more seats for those of you who have yet to sign up. Remember, to be part of our group…and a meet ‘n greet following the show if we’re allowed to have one…order your tickets from www.opry.com and put in the code BILL60. Did I mention you get a 20% discount? Well, you do.

I’ll have to admit that there was a bit of a bitter-sweet feeling to being back at the Opry because my longtime guitar player, Les Singer, wasn’t with us there for the first time in 40-years. Les is having some health issues that prohibit him from playing right now, and I hope you’ll keep him in your thoughts and prayers. Kerry Marks and Danny Parks from the Opry staff band filled in. Lester, it took two of them to take your place, Pal!

I’m getting ready to go into the recording studio here in a few days to begin working on what I hope will be a new album to be released later this year. At the moment I’m not sure if we’re talking a complete album or maybe a shortened EP with six or seven cuts, but regardless I’m anxious to put down some of the new music I’ve been working on. Stay tuned.

My buddy, Dallas Wayne, from Willie’s Roadhouse on Sirius-XM satellite radio, came to town recently and recorded a new song that he, Buddy Cannon, and I wrote called, “He Even Brought Her Flowers.” I’m not sure just when it will be released, but I’ll keep you posted. Steve Wariner has recorded a great new version of our song, “Christmas In Your Arms,” that will be featured in his new Christmas album later this year, and Joe Mullins’ bluegrass version of, “Go Spread The Gospel,” is now available in his new collection titled, “Somewhere Beyond The Blue.” Jimmy Fortune is hosting a new television show called, “My Life My Songs,” and I recorded an episode with him, laughing and discussing my crazy career. Hopefully, that will be airing soon. I may not be on tour this year, but I’m managing to stay busy. And I like it that way.

I was saddened, as I’m sure you were, over the Memorial Day weekend to learn of the passing of B. J. Thomas. He was a terrific singer, a wonderful man who overcame a lot of adversity in his life, and, I’m proud to say, a good friend. He left us a lot of great music. May he rest in peace.

On the personal side of things, I can’t begin to tell you how much my family and I have appreciated your thoughts, prayers, and concerns expressed for my grandson, Gabe, and his sister, Hallie, as they went through a bone marrow transplant this past month in an effort to rid Gabe’s young body of the rare form of cancer that he’s been fighting for the past ten years. It’s been a very intense period of time for all of us, but knowing you were lifting us up in prayer has meant more than you’ll ever know.

The transplant itself went well, but this was only the beginning of the journey. Gabe will be in the hospital for several more weeks followed by a long recovery time at home. I hope you will continue to keep him, his parents, and his siblings in your prayers. Hallie is sore and moving slowly, but overall she is doing fine.

I goofed in last month’s newsletter by failing to wish all the moms a Happy Mother’s Day, and, believe me, I heard about it. My apologies. So, lest I forget again, to all you dads out there, let me wish you a Happy Father’s Day on the 20th. Enjoy the hazy, crazy, lazy days of summer, and we’ll see you back here in July. Thanks for everything.

February 1, 2021

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