APRIL 13
1946: R&B/gospel singer Al Green is born in Forrest City, Arkansas. He earns a nomination from the Country Music Association in 1994 when a duet with Lyle Lovett, “Funny How Time Slips Away,” appears on the album “Rhythm Country & Blues.”
1952: Mandolin player Sam Bush is born in Bowling Green, Kentucky. He gains acclaim with the progressive acoustic group New Grass Revival, but also plays on hits by Pam Tillis, Kathy Mattea and Garth Brooks, among others.
1959: George Jones picks up his first #1 country single in Billboard magazine as a recording artist with “White Lightning.”
1963: Bill Anderson goes to #1 on the Billboard country chart with his biggest hit, “Still.”
1965: Roger Miller wins five trophies in the seventh annual Grammy Awards: Best New Country & Western Artist; Country & Western Album, for “Dang Me/Chug-A-Lug”; and Country & Western Single, Song and Male Vocal, for “Dang Me.”
1970: Bettie Azevedo picks up five trophies on behalf of Merle Haggard in the fifth annual Academy Of Country & Western Music awards at the Hollywood Palladium: Single Record, Song and Album of the Year, for “Okie From Muskogee”; Top Male Vocalist and Top Touring Band.
1971: Merle Haggard records “Carolyn” at the Capitol Recording Studio in Hollywood. It’s the last of his sessions in which Glen Campbell plays as a sideman.
1972: The Statler Brothers record “The Class Of ’57” during an afternoon session at Nashville’s Mercury Custom Recording Studio.
1977: Charlie Rich records “Rollin’ With The Flow” during an afternoon session at the Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville.
1979: Warner Bros. releases Emmylou Harris’ “Blue Kentucky Girl” album.
1982: George Strait records “Amarillo By Morning” at Nashville’s Music City Music Hall.
1982: RCA releases Jerry Reed’s album “The Man With The Golden Thumb.”
1984: Tanya Tucker has a guest part on the ABC spy series “Masquerade.” The theme song is performed by Crystal Gayle.
1986: Lorrie Morgan calls ex-husband Ron Gaddis and tells him she’s had a change of heart about trying to get back together. Instead, she has a first date with Keith Whitley: Wendy’s hamburgers in Nashville’s Centennial Park.
1986: NBC airs the TV special “Return To Mayberry” with Andy Griffith, George “Goober” Lindsey and the bluegrass band The Dillards.
1987: Mercury releases “Johnny Cash Is Coming To Town,” the Man In Black’s first album for a label other than Columbia in nearly 30 years.
1991: Alabama’s “Down Home” begins a three-week occupation of the #1 position on the Billboard country singles chart.
1993: MCA/Curb released Wynonna’s “Tell Me Why” to retail.
1998: MCA and Arista jointly released the Brooks & Dunn/Reba McEntire collaboration “If You See Him/If You See Her.”
2001: Giant Records shut its doors in Nashville. The label’s artists are shifted to sister label Warner Bros. Those acts include Clay Walker, The Wilkinsons, Blake Shelton and Neal McCoy.
2003: Guitarist Zeke Turner died in Daytona Beach, FL. A former member of Hank Williams’ Drifting Cowboys, he played on “Lovesick Blues” and “I Saw The Light,” plus hits by Ernest Tubb, Jimmy Wakely and Red Foley.
2017: Mercury released the Chris Stapleton track “Broken Halos.”
