APRIL 14
1931: African-American blues guitarist Arnold Shultz died from a heart disorder in Morgantown, KY. He was a musical mentor to a teen-aged Bill Monroe.
1932: Loretta Lynn was born in Butcher Holler, KY. Noted for her honest songwriting, she became 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.
1945: Buddy Harroll, of Pee Wee King’s Golden West Cowboys, was the first to play trumpet on the Grand Ole Opry, delivering “Taps” in honor of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who died two days earlier.
1958: Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me” claimed the top spot on the Billboard country chart.
1959: “The George Burns Show” came to a conclusion on CBS-TV following a six-month prime-time run. Twenty years later, Burns netted a country hit with the nostalgic “I Wish I Was Eighteen Again.”
1964: Fiddler Stuart Duncan was born in Quantico, VA. He joined The Nashville Bluegrass Band, and played 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!“
1972: Donna Fargo recorded “Funny Face” during an afternoon session at the Jack Clement Studios in Nashville.
1972: Larry Gatlin was 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.
1975: Colonel Tom Parker responded to a proposal for Elvis Presley to co-star in Barbra Streisand’s upcoming production of “A Star Is Born.” He demanded $1 million plus 50% of all profits, effectively killing any possibilities.
1979: Barbara Mandrell’s remake of the R&B hit “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right” topped the Billboard country chart.
1981: Hank Williams Jr. recorded “A Country Boy Can Survive.”
1983: Ronnie Milsap was profiled on ABC-TV’s “20/20.”
1986: Alabama won 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, CA. The band also collected its sixth straight Top Vocal Group trophy.
1990: Lorrie Morgan reached #1 on the Billboard country chart for the first time in her career with “Five Minutes.”
1995: Burl Ives died of mouth cancer in Anacortes, WA. Known primarily as a folk singer, he scored country hits in the early-1960s with “Funny Way Of Laughin’” and “A Little Bitty Tear.”
1997: The website country.com was officially launched. It’s eventually renamed CMT.com.
