APRIL 16

1929: R&B singer Roy Hamilton was born in Leesburg, GA. He earned a 1955 pop hit with “Unchained Melody,” later a country success for Elvis Presley and LeAnn Rimes. He also gained a hit with “You Can Have Her,” remade for country by Waylon Jennings.

1940: Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys recorded “New San Antonio Rose” and “Big Beaver” in Saginaw, TX.

1958: The movie “Country Music Holiday” debuted in theaters. The picture’s cast includes Faron Young, Zsa Zsa Gabor, June Carter Cash, Ferlin Husky, Rod Brasfield, Jerry Byrd and The Jordanaires.

1963: Grand Ole Opry member Hank Locklin appeared on England’s BBC-TV on “The 625 Show,” alongside a new band called The Beatles.

1968: Waylon Jennings recorded “Only Daddy That’ll Walk The Line” and “Yours Love” during an afternoon session at Nashville’s RCA Studio B.

1968: Jerry Lee Lewis recorded “What’s Made Milwaukee Famous (Has Made A Loser Out Of Me)” at Columbia Studio B in Nashville.

1969: “Hello…I’m Johnny Cash.” Cash taped the first of his ABC-TV weekly shows at the Ryman Auditorium, kicking off with “Folsom Prison Blues.” The show, which features guests Glen Campbell, Jeannie C. Riley and Joe Tex, becomes the fifth episode aired.

1972: Larry Gatlin sang “Help Me” during a service at Nashville’s Evangel Temple, attended by Johnny Cash and June Carter. Cash met Gatlin for the first time and asked him to come by his studio the next morning to help record the song.

1980: Alabama recorded “Tennessee River.”

1980: George Jones recorded “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will)” in an afternoon at Nashville’s Columbia Studio A.

1981: Barbara Mandrell’s “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool” arrived in stores.

1983: EMI, which included Capitol Records, began producing compact discs. Within seven years, the CD supplanted vinyl as the industry’s primary format, affecting such future Capitol acts as Garth Brooks, Tanya Tucker, Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum.

1984: Mercury released The Statler Brothers’ “Atlanta Blue” album.

1992: George Strait recorded “I Cross My Heart” at Nashville’s Sound Stage.

1999:  Billy Ray Cyrus guest starred on “Love Boat.” He played “Lonesome Larry Larson,” a sad country star, who cheers up when he finds romance.

1999: Shania Twain became the first woman to be honored as Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) during the 32nd annual Songwriter Achievement Awards.

2000: Recording engineer Aaron Shelton, a pioneer in the Nashville studio industry, died at age 89. In 1946, he co-founded the Castle Recording Studio, the home of legendary sessions by Hank Williams, Ernest Tubb, Carl Smith and Red Foley, among others.

2010: Alan Jackson was honored with a star at 6801 Hollywood Boulevard on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.