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.
