Fans – Bill Anderson

FROM BILL

Hi Gang:

Let me begin this month by thanking each and every one of you who reached out and wished me a happy birthday on November 1st. For what may have been the first time ever, I worked a concert on my birthday, and the folks in Scottsburg, Indiana, couldn’t have been nicer. When I came back on stage for my encore, the audience started spontaneously singing Happy Birthday to me. What a cool experience that was! Thanks for all the cards, e-mails, Facebook posts (over 3,000 of them!), and the like. I’m so blessed to have made it this far on my journey, and equally blessed to have shared the ride with so many of you. Thanks again. You are the best.

By the way, my favorite greetings were the ones that said, “Happy Birthday young man!”

October was a great month here in Whisperville, starting with the Dottie West birthday bash on the 9th. Jeannie Seely, who puts these events together every year to remember her longtime friend, Dottie, chose to honor me this time, and what an array of talent she rounded up. There’s no way I can list everybody who came, but so many of my friends and co-writers showed up to play songs I had a hand in creating. Even better, the event raised almost $30,000 for the Musicians Relief Fund. My sincere appreciation to Jeannie and to all who shared the evening with us.

On October 11th, former President Jimmy Carter and his wife, Rosalyn, honored us with their presence at the Opry, on the 12th we honored Dolly Parton on the occasion of her 50th Opry anniversary, and on the 14th I inducted my friend and co-writer, Sharon Vaughn, into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. On October 21st and 22nd we gathered at the Mansion Theater in Branson to celebrate another Country’s Family Reunion with fans and friends. I had to go on the road on my birthday to get some rest!

So what’s up ahead? Well, I guess by now most of you have heard that the folks who own the Opry are starting a new television network next year called The Circle Network. I don’t know a lot of the details, but I am hoping to be involved with them on some level. I do hear that the Opry will be televised again, and that’s good news. I’m sure we’ll all be learning more in the days ahead. It’s exciting.

We are winding down our tour schedule for the year with a November 9th show at the Old Dominion Barn Dance in Hopewell, Virginia, just outside Richmond, and a Christmas show at the Wheeling Jamboree December 7th. Our Opry dates this month will be November 15th and 16th (2 shows each night) plus one show on the 19th and two more on the 23rd. We’re back at the Ryman now to begin our annual three-month run downtown.

I’m hoping to spend Thanksgiving again this year with my family here in Nashville. My granddaughter, Rae’s, birthday falls on Thanksgiving Day, so we’re hoping she’ll be able to come home from Chicago and celebrate both occasions with us. I have so much to be thankful for, and if you don’t believe that, listen to my song, “Thankful,” from the Anderson album. It says it all.

Enjoy the Holiday with the ones you love, and count your blessings. We all have so many…even though we don’t always recognize them as such. Enjoy the rest of our newsletter, and I’ll see you back here in December.

“Still”…

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ASK BILL

ASK BILL!

1) Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to help others understand the music business. We all appreciate it. My question is, after you write a song and have it copyrighted, how do you pitch it to an artist to record it? I’m not able to drive all over the place to get someone to listen. So just how do you go about getting them heard?

That’s a good question, particularly for someone who is not affiliated with a publishing company. For those of us who are, the publishers employ “song pluggers” to take songs to record companies, producers, and artists. You might try submitting some of what you feel are your best songs to a publisher and see what kind of feedback you get there. Just make sure it’s not a company that asks you to pay them to publish your song. Those are rip-offs. You might also contact the Nashville Songwriters Association and ask for their advice. They are a wonderful organization with helpful programs for aspiring writers. You can contact them at www.nashvillesongwriters.com. I wish you the best of luck.

2) In your October newsletter there was a question on who gets into the Hall of Fame. Please advise how the inductees are picked and who votes for them.

I asked the CMA to share their guidelines with me, and I got a four-page, single-spaced reply. Obviously, I can’t print it all here. Basically, a Hall of Fame nominating committee nominates a slate of candidates, another committee of not less than 100 Hall of Fame electors narrows that list to five, and the membership of the Country Music Association votes on the final ballot. Nominees are not eligible until they have accumulated a minimum of 20-years of national prominence. The Veterans category is similar, but those nominees, who have to have been in the music business 40-years or longer, are selected and voted on by people who have also been in the business that length of time. There are lots of other little ins-and-outs, but that’s the gist of the story.

3) I am looking for a 16×20 or larger picture of you. No 8×10 please.

I have no idea where you might find such an animal or if one even exists. The largest pictures we have available are the 8×10’s. Maybe you could take one of those to a photo shop and ask them to enlarge it. It might be worth a try.

4) I am writing to tell you that I just started going to Waffle House after I heard your song, “Waffle House Christmas.” I love it, and never would have tried it if it hadn’t been for your song. So my question is, what is your favorite meal there?

Page Two on the menu! I’m only kidding, of course, but I’ve yet to find anything there that I don’t enjoy. I probably order the Hashbrown Breakfast Bowl more often than anything. I like it with bacon and diced tomatoes. And my favorite thing to do at Waffle House is to go into the various locations and ask if Kid Rock is working today!

I love your questions and always enjoy trying to answer them. We had several this month from folks wanting to know when we’ll be touring in places like Washington state, Michigan, south Texas, Arizona, and so forth. Please know that I don’t schedule and promote my own shows like many of the top artists do these days. I go where my booking agent sends me. If you’d like to see us in person in your area, contact the venues where they bring in shows and ask them to try and schedule us. Tell them we are booked through Kinkead Entertainment in Nashville. Thanks, and here’s hoping we’ll see lots of you soon.

As always, you can contact me with your questions at askbill@billanderson.com. I’ll look forward to hearing from you.

LATEST PHOTOS

As I indicated in my letter, October was a month full of special moments for me, my family, and friends. When former President Carter and his wife visited the Opry, we were fortunate enough to have them pause for a picture with me, Eddie Stubbs, and Emmylou Harris. The next night my granddaughter, Hallie, thought she had died and gone to heaven when she got to meet her idol, Dolly Parton backstage. Dolly autographed a boot for Hallie, which I’m sure she will keep forever and never wear again. Another granddaughter, Greta, celebrated her 15th birthday last month and I was able to have dinner with her on her big night. Then later when we went to Branson, Mickey Gilley and I got to not only have a great visit, but we sang “City Lights” together onstage. Mickey had a #1 hit on my song in 1974, and it was a thrill to have him come forward and join me when I started singing it on our show. It was unrehearsed and a little ragged, but it was fun.

LATEST JOURNAL

I was extremely saddened by the news of Mac Wiseman’s passing over the weekend. My relationship with him went all the way back into the late fifties when he was an executive with Dot Records and called me at WJJC in Commerce wanting to buy my master recording of “City Lights” for his label. When I told him Ray Price had just covered it for Columbia Records, he laughed and said, “Well, never mind!” I worked with Mac when he ran the Wheeling Jamboree, toured with him on many occasions, and welcomed him several times to the circle on Country’s Family Reunion. He probably knew more songs than anyone in country music, and he loved to share them with his friends. He was truly a gentleman in every sense of the word. We’ll miss you, Mac. Thanks for blessing us with your music…and for allowing me to be a small part of your world.