APRIL 11
1913: Mildred Goad was born in Mount Carmel, IL. Using the stage name Millie Good, she joined her sister, Dollie, to form the duo The Girls Of The Golden West, the first successful all-female act in country music history.
1925: Guitarist George Shuffler was born in Burke County, NC. He joined The Stanley Brothers’ band, the Clinch Mountain Boys, in 1950, performing with the group for most of the next 18 years.
1953: Hank Williams’ “Your Cheatin’ Heart” owned the top spot in the Billboard country chart.
1956: Elvis Presley recorded with The Jordanaires for the first time, after a flight in which his plane developed engine trouble. They do only one song, “I Want You, I Need You, I Love You,” in the Nashville session.
1957: Singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale was born in Troutman, NC. The Americana icon wrote George Strait’s “I Gotta Get To You,” Mark Chesnutt’s “Gonna Get A Life” and Patty Loveless’ “Halfway Down,” among others.
1964: Steve Azar was born in Greenville, MS. He first gained attention with an independent album in 1996, although he waited another six years to score his first hit, “I Don’t Have To Be Me (‘Til Monday).”
1972: Connie Smith recorded “If It Ain’t Love (Let’s Leave It Alone).”
1977: Songwriter Eddie Miller died of a heart attack at his Nashville home. A 1975 addition to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, his credits include: Ray Price’s “Release Me,” Eddy Arnold’s “After Loving You” and Ernest Tubb’s “Thanks A Lot.”
1978: Waylon Jennings recorded the single version of “I’ve Always Been Crazy” at the Jack Clement Studios in Nashville.
1978: Tanya Tucker recorded “Texas (When I Die)” in Burbank, CA, namechecking Willie Nelson in the second verse.
1980: With their single “My Home’s In Alabama” moving up the national charts for independent MDJ Records, Alabama signed with RCA Records.
1981: David Frizzell & Shelly West’s “You’re The Reason God Made Oklahoma” went to #1 on the Billboard country singles chart.
1983: The Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb began producing the Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton duet “Islands In The Stream.”
1985: MCA released Patsy Cline’s “Heartaches” album.
1992: Wynonna gained her first #1 single as a solo artist with “She Is His Only Need.”
2015: Bill Arhos, who founded the PBS show “Austin City Limits,” died. Among the artists who appeared on the program during its first 40 years are Willie Nelson, Dierks Bentley, Kenny Chesney and Eric Church.
