Tennessee Ernie Ford was celebrated in a 1956 episode of NBC-TV’s This Is Your Life.
Jerry Lee Lewis secretly married his 13-year-old cousin Myra Brown in 1957 in Hernando, MS. At the time he wasn’t yet divorced from his second wife, Jane Mitchum. His career was severely damaged when he revealed the news in England.
Bobby Bare recorded Miller’s Cave during the afternoon at RCA Studio B in Nashville in 1963. It was first released by Tommy Tucker in 1960 and then Hank Snow that same year. Bobby’s version would get released in January 1964 and would make it to #4 on the Billboard country chart.
Loretta Lynn recorded The Pill during an evening session at Bradley’s Barn in Mt. Juliet, TN in 1972.
George Jones & Tammy Wynette recorded Near You in 1974. It was the last song they’d record as husband and wife – George moved out of their Franklin Road home the very next day.
Willie Nelson recorded Georgia On My Mind, Blue Skies and All Of Me in Southern California in 1977.
Reba McEntire’s name appears at #1 in Billboard on this date in 1987 with The Last One To Know.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Frank Sinatra was born in Hoboken, NJ in 1915. One of the best-loved vocalists of the 20th century, his 1940s hits September Song and All Of Me will be covered for the country market on Willie Nelson’s 1978 album Stardust.
Guitarist Phil Baugh was born in Marysville, CA in 1936. He appears on such hits as George Jones’ He Stopped Loving Her Today and Merle Haggard’s Swinging Doors and The Bottle Let Me Down.
Session guitarist Reggie Young was born in Caruthersville, MO in 1936. He played on Elvis Presley’s In The Ghetto, George Strait’s The Chair, Waylon Jennings’ Luckenbach, Texas and Willie Nelson’s Always On My Mind, among others.
Guitarist Dickey Betts, of The Allman Brothers Band, was born in West Palm Beach, FL in 1943. The Allmans influence many country acts, and Betts co-writes one of Mickey Gilley’s hits, Your Memory Ain’t What It Used To Be.
La Costa was born in Seminole, TX in 1950. The older sister of Tanya Tucker, she recorded a pair of Top 10 singles, Get On My Love Train and He Took Me For A Ride, during the mid-1970s.
Hank Williams Jr. and his wife, Gwen, had a son in 1972. Shelton Hank Williams has made his own mark with a rebellious mix of hard rock and stone country. We know him better as “Hank III”
