'WHISPERIN' BILL' ANDERSON Songwriting skills haven't faded

'Whiskey Lullaby' is nominated for four Country Music Association awards.
By JOHN GEROME
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- It's not like Bill Anderson hasn't had his share of hits -- a slew of them in the '60s and '70s, with "Still" and "The Tip of My Fingers" even becoming standards.
Now, at age 67, the singer-songwriter nicknamed "Whisperin' Bill" for his breathy, conversational style is on the charts mostly as a writer rather than singer.
"Whiskey Lullaby," a song he co-wrote with Jon Randall that Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss recorded as a duet, is nominated for four awards at the Country Music Association show tonight, including song of the year.
"There's no way to describe it," Anderson said of the honor. "I knew when we wrote it that we had written a good song, but I didn't know that we had written a good song for 2004."
It's a dark tale about a woman who breaks a man's heart, watches him drink himself to death and then is so guilt-stricken that she too -- as the songs says -- "put that bottle to her head and pulled the trigger."
He pitched the song for several years before Paisley recorded it.
"I think the general perception of it was that it was the dreaded two words -- too country," Anderson said. "It went against the grain of everything. It was sad, it was a drinking song, it was long.
"I had given up on ever getting it recorded as a mainstream country song."
Praise for Paisley
Anderson credits Paisley with having the vision not only to record it, but to make it a duet with Krauss, whose stark voice seems perfect for the song's plaintive tone.
"It made sense because the first part is about the guy and the second part about the woman," Paisley said. "And when I thought about that line 'The angels sang a whiskey lullaby,' I wondered what voice best follows that. And I thought, 'If I'm lucky enough to hear angels sing in heaven someday, I'd be disappointed if they sounded anything less than Alison Krauss."
The song, Paisley said, is reminiscent of classic, tragic country songs like George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today."
"The melody is wedded perfectly to the words, and that's the key," he said. "It was exactly what I was looking for. To me, it's classic; it's genius."
Not slowing down
At a stage of his career when most country singers have long since retired or are at least winding down, Anderson's sails are full. He's co-writing with some of Nashville's top tunesmiths, still releasing albums and hosts a weekly interview show on XM Satellite Radio.
Backstage before a recent performance on the Grand Ole Opry, the venerable radio show where he has been a cast member since 1961, he arrived from a songwriting session with Jeffrey Steele, who's penned tunes for Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, Trace Adkins and Rascal Flatts.
He and his six-piece band rehearsed in his dressing room. He wore a black jacket with white cowboy boots and a string tie, and with only an hour until showtime, he still hadn't decided which songs to sing.
"Any requests?" he asked the band.
They ended up doing "But You Know I Love You," a hit for Anderson and Kenny Rogers in 1969; and "The Tip of My Fingers," an Anderson composition that's been a hit for five different singers: Anderson, Jean Shepard, Roy Clark, Eddy Arnold and Steve Wariner.
His songs are remarkably versatile that way. Everyone from Elvis Costello ("Must You Throw Dirt in My Face") to Aretha Franklin ("I May Never Get to Heaven") to Conway Twitty ("I Never Once Stopped Loving You") have recorded them.
Even a recent tune like "Whiskey Lullaby" has already been done by Paisley and bluegrass singer Melonie Cannon, and will be on upcoming albums by Anderson and Randall.