September 1, 2020

Hi Gang:

Do you sometimes feel as though we’re all actors in the movie, “Ground Hog Day?”

I sure do…one day after another with very few changes. Oh well, it is what it is, and we just have to stay strong, hang onto our faith, and believe it will all be behind us someday soon.

Actually, life is marching on, and some good things are happening all around us. The Country Music Hall of Fame is reopening Sept. 10th and that’s good news. Even better news broke today that the Opry is considering some limited audience shows later this month. Jeannie Seely’s new album, on which we sing “When Two Worlds Collide” together, is receiving rave reviews. We recorded a Zoom session the other day with Jeannie, Willie Nelson, Steve Wariner, Rhonda Vincent and myself which you should be able to see and hear sometime soon. Moe Bandy’s new record was released on Aug. 28th, and I’m honored to have written or co-written three of the songs in his package. He told me he recorded “City Lights,” because his son asked him to. It’s his son’s favorite song.

And speaking of “City Lights,” on the night of August 27th, the 63rd anniversary of my writing that song on top of the little hotel in Commerce, Georgia, I sat outside on my deck in Nashville teaching my 12-year old granddaughter, Hallie, how to make a few chords on her guitar. My life was changed forever on August 27th all those years ago. I wonder if she’ll look back someday and say her life was changed on that exact same date in 2020. Stranger things have happened.

But back to recordings: We’ve continued to receive several outstanding reviews and many very positive comments on our “Hits Re-Imagined” project, and I thank all of you who have added it to your collection. It’s part of a 2-CD special we’re offering our fan club members this month, and if you haven’t ordered your copy yet, now might be a great time. A reminder that any item you order from us online comes to you personally autographed.

I’ve been approached recently by some folks…including a couple from overseas…asking me to record some new material either with them or for them. I can’t go into the details just yet, but some interesting things might be about to happen. If we can just get the recording studios back open, maybe I can get inside and start whispering again!

On the personal side of things, my oldest granddaughter, Rae Robeson, had a bad fire at her apartment in Chicago last month, and she’s been living in a hotel for the past couple of weeks. Fortunately, she was not at home when the fire…supposedly caused by an electrical malfunction…broke out. Her fiance, Zach, was not at home either, but their beloved English bulldog, Winston, was in the apartment alone. Fortunately, a neighbor alerted the firefighters, and they broke down the door and rescued him. The apartment was a total loss, but it could have been so much worse.

I got a lot of great responses to the story last month of my attempting to peel a peach only to drop it into my garbage disposal and having to remove it by hand. One fan even went so far as to mail me a disposal cover which has already come in handy. Well, if you think the peach story was funny, wait ’til you hear what else I have done.

A friend was visiting late one afternoon when I said I needed to go outside and water my plants and flowers. My friend went out on the deck with me, and as I turned the hose toward a pretty blue-green plant and began to wet it down she asked, “Why are you watering that?”  “Because it’s thirsty,” I replied.

“No it’s not,” she laughed. “That’s an artificial plant.” I bent forward and looked more closely. “You’re right,” I answered, totally embarrassed. I had spent the last six months watering an artificial plant! No wonder it didn’t grow!

Join us back here again next month for another chapter in the continuing saga of why a hillbilly singer/songwriter should never be quarantined at home!

Thanks a BILL-ion….