“My grandson, Blake, and I were all smiles after his team’s victory in the regional high school basketball tournament recently. He sure makes me look short, doesn’t he? Of course, a lot of his height comes from his hair which his mother keeps begging him to cut. Like many athletes, though, Blake is superstitious, and […]
“If you watch Larry’s Country Diner on TV, I’m sure you recognize the man with me in the first picture. He’s Gus Arrendale, president of Springer Mountain Farms chicken, and one of the best friends country music ever had. Gus has done so many wonderful things for so many of us that we decided to […]
Would you let these five masked hombres in your front door? Me neither. But that’s the way my band and I looked backstage at the Opry a few weeks ago. L. to R. James Freeze, Ziggy Johnson, some guy named Anderson, Cotton Payne, and our manager, Lee Willard. Our fiddle player, Kenzie Wetz, took the […]
“How sweet it was to come down the straightaway on Briley Parkway the night of October 17th and see the big illuminated sign saying that Bill Anderson would be performing that night on the Grand Ole Opry! It had been seven months since I had walked out on that world-famous stage, and I couldn’t wait […]
My granddaughter, Hallie (12), is a cheerleader for her middle school team, and I had the chance to go see her perform recently. Big brother, Blake, who is the starting center on the high school basketball team, was there as well along with little sister, Sophie. It was a fun outing, made even better by […]
“The top picture is a close-up of the Grand Ole Opry ring I wrote about in the Ask Bill section of our newsletter. You can see the year “1925” embossed on one side of the ring. That’s the year the Opry began. I couldn’t fit both sides into the picture, but on the other side […]
1) One of country music’s greatest radio voices and most noted historians, Eddie Stubbs, has announced his retirement from WSM and the Grand Ole Opry. I first met Eddie when he was on the air at WAMU in Washington, D.C., and encouraged him to come to Nashville. He is a dear friend and my personal […]
Our oldest living fan club member, Bertha Thomas of Pilot Mountain, N.C., celebrated her 103rd birthday on June 8th. She saw her first concert when she was 99, and her daughter brought her to see me in Mt. Airy, N.C. We became instant buddies, and I send her flowers every year on her big day. […]
My granddaughter, Hallie, turned 12-years old on May 9th, and I was able to go to her house and wish her a socially distanced Happy Birthday. Several of her friends gave her a drive-by birthday parade and she was all smiles. Not a normal birthday by any means, but one she definitely won’t forget! I […]