Billy Bridge

Songwriters Find Bridge to Australia
By Sandie Thurston

"If It Hadn't Felt Like Rain" was an idea for a song that had been kicking around in my head for a while. It was during an elevator ride with Sandy Williams and Bob Clay at an NSAI Song Camp that it started to actually get written. Working from Virginia, Missouri and Maryland, sending mp3 files over the Internet, worktapes through the mail, and meeting in the writers rooms at the NSAI Nashville headquarters, we wrote, and re-wrote, and re-wrote until we were pleased with the final version.

A chance encounter on a website chatline led to our big break. An Australian country music artist, Billy Bridge, contacted Wayland Patton's Songwriter Forums site looking for fresh material for his new CD project. Sandy sent him a copy of "Rain," and he loved it. With the publishing being handled by Bob's company, Billy Bob Bodine Music (BMI) we now have an international cut!

NSAI has played such a huge part in my songwritng career. I have had the opportunity to meet and write with Bob and Sandy, and my other writing partner Frank B. Jones, because of our affiliation with NSAI, and I have made other strong lifelong friendships there as well.

An NSAI member since 1999, I have attended several Song Camps and Symposiums, and have gotten to know quite a few amazing songwriters through my association with NSAI. Bob Clay, an active member of NSAI since 1995, is a former coordinator for the Tysons Corner, VA/Washington, DC NSAI workshop. Bob is also a charter member of SongU.com. Sandy Williams was a workshop coordinator for the Joplin, MO, NSAI Workshop. Bob and I have joined Bart Herbison, Debi Cochran and other NSAI Board members on several of their trips to Washington, D.C., lobbying Congressional members on behalf of songwriters' rights. Recently, my husband Jerry and I formed our own publishing company, Possum Point Publishing, (BMI). With the assistance of our staff, Ginger Click, Jay Alvey and Sandy Williams, we are looking forward to this new endeavor and its opportunities.


About Billy Bridge:
Over the past few years Billy Bridge has enjoyed enormous success on the country music circuit in Australia and overseas. He won the Rising star Male in the 2003 Independent Country Music Awards of Australia. In 2004 he was a Top 4 Finalist in the Male Vocal section, and his Top 10 Hit, "Mallee Dust," earned him a Top 5 Finalist berth in the Country Music Awards of Australia, also known as the "Golden Guitars," in the Best New Talent category. In 2005 he was named Entertainer of the Year at the Victorian & National Country Music Awards. His new album "Doin’ OK" is a compilation of his best work. Self-produced with the cream of Australia's country musicians, the combination of his own writings and songs from all over the world, including NSAI members Sandie Thurston, Bob Clay & Sandra D. Williams, is sure to please all country music fans. For details of the new release go to his website - http://www.billybridge.com