Aug 2, 1935
Songwriter Hank Cochran is born in Isola, Mississippi. His credits include Vern Gosdin’s “Set ‘Em Up Joe,” Patsy Cline’s “I Fall To Pieces,” George Strait’s “Ocean Front Property” and Eddy Arnold’s “Make The World Go Away,” among others. He joins the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2014
Aug 2, 1937
Songwriter Ted Harris is born in Lakeland, Florida. His credits include Marie Osmond’s “Paper Roses,” Charley Pride’s “The Happiness Of Having You” and Steve Wariner and Glen Campbell’s “The Hand That Rocks The Cradle”
Aug 2, 1941
Songwriter Homer Banks is born in Memphis. He pens the soul hits “(If Loving You Is Wrong) I Don’t Want To Be Right” and “Touch A Hand, Make A Friend,” which are remade for country by Barbara Mandrell and The Oak Ridge Boys, respectively
Aug 2, 1948
Steel guitarist Hank DeVito is born. After establishing himself as a member of Emmylou Harris’ Hot Band, he also writes such hits as Juice Newton’s “Queen Of Hearts,” Rosanne Cash’s “My Baby Thinks He’s A Train” and Hal Ketchum’s “Small Town Saturday Night”
Aug 2, 1951
Andrew Gold is born in Burbank, California. Known for his pop hit “Lonely Boy” and for writing the theme to “The Golden Girls,” Gold plays guitar and/or sings background on hits by Linda Ronstadt and Wynonna Judd, and writes Judd’s “I Saw The Light”
Aug 2, 1953
The Davis Sisters are involved in a head-on car accident in Cincinnati. Betty Jack Davis is killed, while Skeeter Davis survives. The driver of the other automobile later pleads guilty to manslaughter
Aug 2, 1972
Mel Tillis records “Sawmill” in Nashville
Aug 2, 1982
“I make a better whore than a secretary”: Dolly Parton, promoting the movie “The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas,” appears on the cover of People magazine
Aug 2, 1985
Epic releases the George Jones album “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes”
Aug 2, 1986
George Strait makes a stop at #1 on the Billboard country chart with “Nobody In His Right Mind Would’ve Left Her”
Aug 2, 1988
Reprise releases Dwight Yoakam’s album “Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room”
Aug 2, 1994
Arista releases The Tractors’ self-titled debut album
Aug 2, 2000
Felony charges are dropped against Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney over a backstage incident involving a horse in Buffalo, New York, in June. They are still, however, charged with misdemeanor offenses
Aug 2, 2002
Producer/songwriter Joe Allison dies in Nashville, following a lengthy illness. A former head of Liberty’s country division, he wrote “He’ll Have To Go” and “Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young,” entering the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1978
Aug 2, 2003
Brooks & Dunn’s “Red Dirt Road” beats a path to #1 on the Billboard country chart
Aug 2, 2014
Bristol, Virginia, declares Ralph Stanley Day as the Birthplace of Country Music Museum opens. The facility honors August 1927 recording sessions known as the Big Bang of Country Music
