Bill Anderson Interview: The Hits Re-Imagined
Written By: Amanda Tempel
Published: June 1, 2020
Country Music Hall of Famer Bill Anderson has spent decades building one of the most respected careers in country music as a singer, songwriter, Grand Ole Opry member, and storyteller. In this interview, Anderson talks about The Hits Re-Imagined, the stories behind several of his songs, the Grand Ole Opry, and his memories from a lifetime in country music.
Amanda Tempel: I heard that the song you wrote with John Berry, “Don’t Think I Ain’t Country,” just went to #1 on the Christian Music Weekly Country Chart. Congrats!
Bill Anderson: I don’t know who is the most surprised – me or John! He sent me a text the other day, and he said, ‘I didn’t even have any idea about this.’ And neither did I. You never get too old to enjoy nice little surprises.
Bill Anderson on Songwriting
Amanda Tempel: Have you been writing a lot during quarantine?
Bill Anderson: You know, actually, I have. I’ve never been one of those guys that would try to see how many songs I could write, but I have been writing a good bit. I did one Zoom co-write with Brad Paisley, and he says he’s gonna record the song that we wrote. I think that’s pretty encouraging.
I’ve gone back to doing what I first began doing as a writer, and that’s writing by myself. I wrote by myself for 25 or 30 years before I discovered co-writing, and then I got into a lot of co-writing. I think sometimes, maybe, we tend to use co-writing as a crutch. I wondered a few times over the last few years, ‘Could I still go back and write songs by myself?’ And during the shutdown, I’ve gone back and written a good bit of stuff by myself. It’s real nice to know that I can still do it. It may not be as good as if I had co-written, but I have been able to write and finish a few songs.
Amanda Tempel: I was 13 years old, back in 2003, when I made my first visit to the Opry. That night, T. Graham Brown performed a new song, “Which Way To Pray,” and you actually wrote that. I’ll never forget how powerful that song was.
Bill Anderson: Thank you. Well, T. Graham and Gary Nicholson wrote that with me; it took three of us to do it. I had the idea for it, and it took us a while to flesh it out. In a few areas where T. Graham is really well known that song was a big hit. It was number one in Atlanta, which is my home and T’s home. That song is really special, and I did have people tell me that song touches them.
Amanda Tempel: In March, you performed on the Opry during the first night there was no audience. What was that experience like?
Bill Anderson: I told Jeannie Seely that night, ‘This is nothing different for me, I’ve been playing for empty seats for 50 years.’
I was joking, of course, but she got a kick out of it. It was weird, it really was. Of all the places that you play, the one place you don’t expect to see empty seats is at the Opry. It’s not totally sold out every night, but it’s usually pretty doggone full. It was very different. Let’s put it this way; I’m not sure I’d want to do it again. It’s a lot more fun when the place is full.
Amanda Tempel: Eddie Stubbs recently announced his retirement; I’m certain you will miss having him around at the Opry.
Bill Anderson: Oh, golly, I really will. Eddie and I have been really good friends since even before he came to Nashville. I remember when he was still a disc jockey up in Washington D.C., so we’ve known each other for a long time. I’ll miss him. He’s such a historian. He and I can talk about artists from bygone days that nobody else ever heard of. I’ll miss our backstage conversations. He’s such a good guy, and I wish him well.
How The Hits Re-Imagined Came Together
Amanda Tempel: This new album is such a neat concept! You spotlight some of your most well-known classics, plus you have instrumental versions of them. How did this album come together?
Bill Anderson: The whole thing started when I was doing an audiobook back in 2016. I was narrating the audiobook myself, and I was working with an engineer and a pretty good musician named Thomm Jutz. And we were in the middle of doing the audiobook, and he said, ‘You know I did an audiobook not long ago with Tom T. Hall. I played a few instrumental things, and I would be talking to Tom and play instrumental snippets from those songs.’
And I said, ‘Why don’t you try that on this book?’ We were doing the chapter about “Whiskey Lullaby,” and he took his guitar and kinda played that signature lick.
I said, ‘That’s great!’ and the lady producing the audiobook said, ‘Let’s do that.’
We started putting little instrumental snippets, 10 or 15 seconds or so behind the various songs that I was talking about in the audiobook. And when we finished, I liked it so much, I said, ‘You know we oughta just do whole instrumental versions of some of these songs.’ And he said, ‘Well, I’ll get some players in here if you want to.’
And I said, ‘Well, do them in a key that I can sing them in because maybe one day I’ll want to go back and put my vocals on them.’
The whole thing was born accidentally from the audiobook to doing the instrumentals to going back and putting my vocals on. I thought when we got finished that this is really something different. The instrumentals were very simple; they weren’t over arranged or overcomplicated. They were mostly acoustical, so they allowed me to sing not too hard, and take a laid-back approach to the vocals. I thought it turned out pretty good and thought, maybe we should put this out? Maybe somebody might like to hear it? We’re getting really good reactions to it.
Amanda Tempel: How do you even begin to narrow down choices for an album of hits with a career like yours?
Bill Anderson: I’m saving those for volumes two, three, and four! They were primarily the ones that we were talking about in the audiobook. Each one of these songs was kinda like a point in my career. Of course, “City Lights” being the first one and “Po Folks” being the song that was out when I was asked to join the Opry. “Which Bridge to Cross” was the first co-write thing that I did with Vince Gill. “Whiskey Lullaby” and “Give It Away” were both named Song of the Year. They were all songs that were meaningful to my career. Not to say that some of the others aren’t meaningful. But these just kinda seemed to be floated to the top.
Bill Anderson on Writing Country Hits in the 1990s
Amanda Tempel: ‘90s country has made a resurgence in the last few years. You were responsible for a lot of those big hits. You mentioned “Which Bridge to Cross,” which is featured on this album. And I remember “Roots and Wings” that both Doug Supernaw and James Bonamy recorded. Plus, Mark Wills had a big #1 with “Wish You Were Here.” What was it like writing in that ‘90s era?
Bill Anderson: That’s when I started co-writing. Vince and I wrote “Which Bridge to Cross” in 1994. And he recorded it, and of course, it was number one. Gosh, I haven’t thought of “Roots and Wings” in a long time, wow. That was one of my favorite songs. Skip Ewing and I wrote quite a bit together back in those days; he was such a good writer. He was on “Wish You Were Here,” too. “Two Teardrops” with Steve Wariner, of course. It was exciting for me because the co-writing thing was so new for me, and it was fun to wake up in the morning and say, ‘so-and-so called and wants to write with me.’ Or I call so-and-so and say, ‘Would you like to try and write?’ It was kinda like Christmas everyday writing with all these different people, and they were having so much success. I had been away from writing for ten years or so, and when I started back, it was like it was all brand new again. It was fun.
Amanda Tempel: Thanks for the chat, Bill. Congrats on the album! I can’t wait to hear volumes 2 through 500! One last thing, I was ten years old when “One Small Miracle” was released. I love Bryan White, and I still think that’s one of the best songs ever!
Bill Anderson: Steve Wariner and I wrote that song together. I always thought Bryan had a great record on that song. That was a song I was proud of!
You can listen to Bill Anderson’s “The Hits Re-Imagined” wherever you stream your music. For the latest updates, visit BillAnderson.com.