Bill Mack

Bill Mack (born 1932) is an American country music singer, songwriter, and radio host.

For many years, Mack was best known as the host of The Country Roads Show, (later U.S. 1 Trucking Show, and later still, Midnight Cowboy Trucking Show) the overnight country music show on WBAP, a clear channel station in Fort Worth. Mack's show catered primarily to truck drivers who traveled during the late-night hours. Its opening theme music was an instrumental rendition of Orange Blossom Special, performed by Felix Slatkin and his orchestra.

Because of WBAP's clear channel signal range via skywave at night, Mack's show was heard over most of the continental United States. Mack began his show in 1969. He briefly took his show to Mexican "border blaster" station XERF, but returned to WBAP when an agreement for Mack to do his show from his Fort Worth home fell through.

In addition, Mack hosts the syndicated radio show Country Crossroads, heard on more than 800 stations across the country, and a similar cable television show on FamilyNet. He also hosts the Overdrive Top Ten Countdown, a weekly one-hour country music countdown geared toward truckers, in syndication.

Bill Mack (baseball)

William Francis Mack (February 12, 1885 – September 30, 1971) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the Chicago Cubs in July 1908.

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Bill Mack (sculptor)

Bill Mack is a contemporary American sculptor and painter born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Early life

Mack was born in Minneapolis. He attended University of Minnesota and majored in Journalism with a minor in art history while continuing to do commissioned work as a free-lance artist.

Relief Sculptures

Mack's early background as a commissioned sculptor also included creating several full-round artworks. This ability has continued in his gallery work, and in the creation of several life-size or larger cast bronze sculptures for the Minnesota Twins' Target Field,Hazeltine National Golf Club, and corporate executive commissions.

Mack 's reliefs and full-round sculptures are in many major sports hall of Fame in America, including the NBA Hall Of Fame - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Baseball Hall of Fame - Harmon Killebrew, Figure Skating Hall of Fame - Peggy Fleming, Tennis Hall of Fame - Arthur Ashe, Cowboy Hall of Fame - Casey Tibbs, The Canadian and U.S. Hockey Halls of Fame - The Hobey Baker Award.

Blue (Bill Mack song)

"Blue" is a song written and recorded in 1956 but released in 1958 by Bill Mack, an American songwriter-country artist and country radio disc jockey. It has since been covered by several artists, in particular by country singer LeAnn Rimes, whose 1996 version became a hit. The song won Mack the 1996 Grammy Award for Best Country Song, a 1996 Academy of Country Music Award for Song of the Year, a 1997 Country Music Association Awards nomination for Song of the Year, a 1997 Country Radio Music Awards nomination for Song of the Year, and is included on the CMT list of the top 100 country songs of all time.

Composition

"Blue" is a heartache ballad about a lonely man who is wondering why his lover can't be blue or lonely over him. However, he later realizes that words his lover had whispered were only lies:

History

Contrary to popular opinion, Mack has often denied that Patsy Cline was his inspiration for writing the song, stating "I didn't write it for Patsy. I never wrote one for anybody." In his autobiography Bill Mack's Memories from the Trenches of Broadcasting, Mack again debunks the publicity claim that he had written the song specifically for Cline, when in fact he did not have Cline in mind when he wrote it. According to his self-penned article for Truckers Connection, Mack reveals that his "most noteworthy inspirations have been a billboard and attempting to create note changes on a new guitar" in which he also states,