APRIL 28

1928: Victor released The Carter Family’s debut single, “Bury Me Under The Weeping Willow.”

1937: Bill Walker was born in Sydney, Australia. He became a major arranger, contributing to such hits as Eddy Arnold’s “Make The World Go Away,” Johnny Cash’s “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and Roy Clark’s “Come Live With Me.”

1948: Audrey Williams filed for divorce from Hank Williams.

1953: Fred Knobloch was born in Jackson, MS. He earned hits as a solo artist and as a member of Schuyler, Knobloch & Overstreet during the 1980s. He also wrote George Strait’s “Meanwhile” and Lorrie Morgan’s “Back In Your Arms Again.”

1963: David “Dad” Carter died in Oklahoma City. He founded the Southern gospel group The Chuck Wagon Gang.

1969: Glen Campbell won three times in the fourth Academy of Country & Western Music awards at the Palladium in Hollywood. He took Top Male Vocalist and Television Personality; and shared Album of the Year, for “Bobbie Gentry & Glen Campbell.”

1971: George Jones & Tammy Wynette began two days of recording that yielded their first duet album, “We Go Together.”

1971: Sonny James recorded Jimmy Reed’s “Bright Lights, Big City” in an evening session at the Jack Clement Recording Studios in Nashville.

1973: Charlie Rich ascended to #1 on the Billboard country chart with “Behind Closed Doors.”

1976: Bruce Springsteen toured lower Broadway in Nashville during the afternoon, then played the Grand Ole Opry House that evening. Ten years later, Mel McDaniel recorded Springsteen’s “Stand On It.”

1978: Dolly Parton collected her first platinum album, for “Here You Come Again“

1980: Twenty years after his first hit record, Bill Anderson finally made his debut on NBC’s “The Tonight Show.”

1984: George Strait’s version of the western-swing classic “Right Or Wrong” hit #1 on the Billboard country singles chart.

1986: “Crook & Chase” debuted on TNN.

1986: ABC aired “Texas 150: A Celebration Special” with Willie Nelson, George Strait, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Lee, Delbert McClinton, Gary Morris, Johnny Rodriguez, Charley Pride, B.J. Thomas and others.

1991: The day after a concert in Wheeling, WV, Larry Gatlin decided to stop touring. In June, Gatlin told “Good Morning, America“: “I’m tired of having to operate on guts and faith and cortisone shots.”

1991: Actor Ken Curtis died in Fresno, CA. A member of The Sons Of The Pioneers from 1949-1953, he was best known as Festus on TV’s “Gunsmoke” and Monk on “Have Gun, Will Travel.”

1992: Atlantic released Confederate Railroad’s self-titled debut album.

1992: George Strait recorded “Heartland” at Nashville’s Sound Stage.

1992: Arista Records released Lee Roy Parnell’s second album, “Love Without Mercy.”

1993: John Michael Montgomery earned his first gold album with his debut, “Life’s a Dance.”

1998: Clint Black made his dramatic TV acting debut when he co-starred in the CBS TV movie “Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack,” with his wife Lisa Hartman Black.

1998: Trisha Yearwood made her dramatic TV acting debut on CBS TV’s “Jag“, playing Lt. Cmdr. Theresa Coulter – a forensic pathologist.

2009: Vern Gosdin died in a Nashville hospital weeks after suffering a stroke. Known as “The Voice,” he was a staunch traditional country singer and won the Country Music Association’s Song of the Year honor for co-writing “Chiseled In Stone.” 

2014: Willie Nelson was awarded a fifth-degree black belt in gong kwan yu sul, a Korean martial arts practice, at the Master Martial Arts studio in Austin.

2019: Chris Stapleton made a cameo appearance as a warrior in the final season of the HBO drama, “Game Of Thrones.”