AUGUST 15
1909: Songwriter Johnny Lange was born in Philadelphia, PA. He created numerous western songs, landing cuts with Tex Ritter, Roy Rogers and Tennessee Ernie Ford, who recorded his song “Mule Train.”
1925: Rose Maddox was born in Boaz, AL. She fronted the California-based Maddox Brothers & Rose, a wild, energetic touring group in the 1940s and ’50s dubbed the Most Colorful Hillbilly Band in America.
1933: Bobby Helms was born in Bloomington, IN. His 1957 recordings of “My Special Angel” and “Jingle Bell Rock” made him one of the first performers to mine the stylistic crevice between rock and country.
1941: Don Ulich was born in Olympia, WA. As Don Rich, he handled lead guitar and harmony vocals for Buck Owens’ Buckaroos, who mixed rock ‘n’ roll energy with a honky-tonk base. Rich’s death in 1974 coincided with Owens’ commercial decline.
1946: Songwriter Jimmy Webb was born in Elk City, OK. He wrote “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” and “Wichita Lineman,” by Glen Campbell; and “Highwayman,” by Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson.
1951: Fourteen-year-old Merle Haggard was picked up for robbing a liquor store in a case of mistaken identity. Released five days later when the real criminals were caught, he expected to be tried as an adult: he was carrying a fake I.D. that said he was 18.
1952: Hank Williams wrote “Kaw-Liga” near the town of Kowaliga, Alabama.
1957: The Everly Brothers recorded “Wake Up Little Susie” at the Methodist Television, Radio and Film Commission studios in Nashville.
1961: Singer/songwriter Paul Jefferson was born in Woodside, CA. After a brief solo career in the mid-1990s, he scored a hit as the writer of Aaron Tippin’s “That’s As Close As I’ll Get To Loving You.”
1970: Janis Joplin attended her 10-year high school reunion in Port Arthur, Texas, then went to The Pelican Club to see Jerry Lee Lewis. Backstage, she slugged the Killer after he insulted her sister.
1974: Crystal Gayle recorded her first hit, “Wrong Road Again,” during the afternoon at Jack’s Tracks in Nashville.
1980: “Smokey & The Bandit II” debuted in movie theaters with Burt Reynolds, Jackie Gleason, Terry Bradshaw, Don Williams, Jerry Reed, Mel Tillis, The Statler Brothers and Brenda Lee. The soundtrack album includes The Statlers’ “Charlotte’s Web” and Tanya Tucker’s “Pecos Promenade.”
1983: Songwriter Chuck Howard died. His credits include Conway Twitty’s “Happy Birthday Darlin’,” Waylon Jennings’ “Come With Me” and Merle Haggard’s “I’m Always On A Mountain When I Fall.”
1983: Epic released the Merle Haggard album “That’s The Way Love Goes.”
1988: Kenny Rogers’ drummer, Bobby Daniels, allegedly shot and killed his ex-wife, Sylvia Coakley, after a domestic fight. Daniels handled the skins on numerous recordings, including Rogers’ duet with Kim Carnes, “Don’t Fall In Love With A Dreamer.”
1990: Lew DeWitt died of Crohn’s disease at home in Waynesboro, VA. A founding member of The Statler Brothers, he wrote “Flowers On The Wall,” the quartet’s signature hit. The Statlers joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2008.
1991: Vince Gill and Alan Jackson led the way in the 25th annual Country Music Association awards with six nominations apiece. Garth Brooks receives five. Brooks and Gill competed for entertainer against Clint Black, Reba McEntire and George Strait.
1993: In a Harris poll, Americans named Garth Brooks their favorite musical artist, ahead of Whitney Houston. Alabama was #3
1995: Roy Clark performed “Yesterday, When I Was Young” during the funeral for Mickey Mantle at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church in Dallas.
2017: Tim Rushlow performed in Texas in his first show since undergoing brain surgery in June. Also on the bill were Larry Stewart and Richie McDonald.
