Apr 14, 1931: African-American blues guitarist Arnold Shultz dies from a heart disorder in Morgantown, Kentucky. He was a musical mentor to a teen-aged Bill Monroe
Apr 14, 1932: Loretta Lynn is born in Butcher Holler, Kentucky. Noted for her honest songwriting, she becomes the first woman to win the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award in 1972, landing in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1988
Apr 14, 1945: Buddy Harroll, of Pee Wee King’s Golden West Cowboys, is the first to play trumpet on the Grand Ole Opry, delivering “Taps” in honor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died two days earlier
Apr 14, 1958: Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me” claims the top spot on the Billboard country chart
Apr 14, 1959: “The George Burns Show” comes to a conclusion on CBS-TV following a six-month prime-time run. Twenty years later, Burns nets a country hit with the nostalgic “I Wish I Was Eighteen Again”
Apr 14, 1964: Fiddler Stuart Duncan is born in Quantico, Virginia. He joins The Nashville Bluegrass Band, and plays on numerous country hits, including Faith Hill’s “Breathe,” The Band Perry’s “If I Die Young” and Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like A Woman!”
Apr 14, 1972: Donna Fargo records “Funny Face” during an afternoon session at the Jack Clement Studios in Nashville
Apr 14, 1972: Larry Gatlin is fired from his job as a janitor at a Nashville television station. In a stroke of perfect timing, he finds himself working in a recording studio three days later with Johnny Cash
Apr 14, 1975: Colonel Tom Parker responds to a proposal for Elvis Presley to co-star in Barbra Streisand’s upcoming production of “A Star Is Born.” He demands $1 million plus 50% of all profits, effectively killing any possibilities
Apr 14, 1979: Barbara Mandrell’s remake of the R&B hit “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right” tops the Billboard country chart
Apr 14, 1981: Hank Williams Jr. records “A Country Boy Can Survive”
Apr 14, 1983: Ronnie Milsap is profiled on ABC-TV’s “20/20”
Apr 14, 1986: Alabama wins Entertainer of the Year for a record fifth straight time at the 21st annual Academy of Country Music awards, aired by NBC from Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California. The band also collects its sixth straight Top Vocal Group trophy
Apr 14, 1990: Lorrie Morgan reaches #1 on the Billboard country chart for the first time in her career with “Five Minutes”
Apr 14, 1995: Burl Ives dies of mouth cancer in Anacortes, Washington. Known primarily as a folk singer, he scored country hits in the early-1960s with “Funny Way Of Laughin"” and “A Little Bitty Tear”
Apr 14, 1997: The website country.com is officially launched. It’s eventually renamed CMT.com
