Inventor Guglielmo Marconi transmitted radio signals from London across the Atlantic Ocean for the first time in 1901. If you love listening to the radio, you can thank Marconi.
The Nashville Musicians Union–Local 257–was founded in 1902. All musicians who play on a “master” recording are paid through the AFM.
Hank Williams had his first recording session for Sterling Records in 1946. He was backed by The Willis Brothers and bass player Chuck Wright at the WSM Studios in Nashville. Among the songs recorded is Never Again (Will I Knock On Your Door).
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs recorded Foggy Mountain Breakdown in 1949 at the E.T. Herzog Studio in Cincinnati, OH. The song became a bluegrass classic, as well as the theme song for the 1967 movie Bonnie And Clyde.
Exactly five years after his first recording session, Hank Williams was back in the studio in 1951 for another important day. He recorded Honky Tonk Blues and I’m Sorry For You, My Friend during a midday session in Nashville at the Castle Studio. It was important as it marked his last recording date before dissolving the Drifting Cowboys.
That same day in ‘51, Hank Thompson was also in the studio. He recorded The Wild Side Of Life and Waiting In The Lobby Of Your Heart during the evening at the Capitol Studios on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles.
On a very big recording anniversary for his father, Hank Williams Jr. had his first recording session in 1963. The 14-year-old recorded some of his father’s songs: You Win Again, Your Cheatin’ Heart, Cold, Cold Heart and I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.
The 1976 National Finals Rodeo came to a close in Oklahoma City where Chris LeDoux walked away the world champion bareback bronc rider.
Jerry Reed recorded She Got The Goldmine (I Got The Shaft) in 1981.
Loretta Lynn makes her first acting appearance, portraying a waitress on ABC-TV’s Fantasy Island in 1982. Taking the role of her daughter is one Heather Locklear
A 1964 Cadillac owned by the late Teddy Wilburn sold for $1,000 at a Nashville estate auction in 2004.
Garth Brooks performed the first concert in a five-year deal with Wynn Las Vegas in 2009. He kicked off the show with Mama Tried. Also in the set list: Friends In Low Places, The Dance and If Tomorrow Never Comes.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Songwriter Arthur Q. Smith was born in Griffin, GA in 1909. He wrote Ernest Tubb’s Missing In Action and Ricky Skaggs’ I Wouldn’t Change You If I Could.
Dobro player Clell Summey was born near Sevierville, TN in 1914. Under the stage name Cousin Jody, he became a key member of Roy Acuff’s Smoky Mountain Boys and is credited as the first person to play a Dobro on the Grand Ole Opry.
Steel player Tom Brumley was born in Powell, MO in 1935. He became a longtime member of Buck Owens’ Buckaroos, appearing on such classics as Together Again, I’ve Got A Tiger By The Tail and Buckaroo. He also plays on hits by Rick Nelson and Dwight Yoakam.
Brenda Lee was born at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, GA in 1944. Little Miss Dynamite became a major pop artist as a teenager in the 1960s but shifted into country music in the 1970s. She was inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1997.
