Hank Williams recorded Long Gone Lonesome Blues, My Son Calls Another Man Daddy, Why Should We Try Anymore and Why Don’t You Love Me in his first session in 1950. He used the Original Drifting Cowboys at Nashville’s Castle Studio.
Jim Reeves made his national television debut in 1955 on CBS-TV’s Toast Of The Town. The variety show was later renamed The Ed Sullivan Show.
Without fanfare, Patsy Cline became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1960.
January 9th has been a big day for recording in country music. In 1966, Roger Miller cut Husbands And Wives and I’ve Been A Long Time Leavin’ (But I’ll Be A Long Time Gone). Loretta Lynn recorded Fist City in 1968. Charley Pride was in the studio in 1970 to record Wonder Could I Live There Anymore and Jerry Reed cut Lord, Mr. Ford in 1973.
Sony Music bought Tree Publishing for an estimated $50 million in 1989. The catalog includes titles such as I Fall To Pieces, Heartbreak Hotel and Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Artist manager Jack McFadden was born in Sikeston, MO in 1927. His clients included Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Keith Whitley, Lorrie Morgan and Billy Ray Cyrus.
Steel player Jimmy Day was born in Tuscaloosa, AL in 1934. He played with the likes of Webb Pierce, Hank Williams and Willie Nelson, appearing on such hits as Ray Price’s City Lights, The Everly Brothers’ Bye Bye Love and George Jones’ The Race Is On.
Session guitarist Billy Sanford was born in Natchitoches, LA in 1940. His credits include Freddie Hart’s Easy Loving, George Jones’ He Stopped Loving Her Today, Kenny Rogers’ The Gambler and Keith Whitley’s I’m No Stranger To The Rain.
Singer/songwriter Al Downing was born in Centralia, OK in 1940. He scraped the Top 20 in 1979 with the self-penned Touch Me (I’ll Be Your Fool Once More), then watched Tom Jones take it to the Top 5 in 1983.
Brenda Gayle Webb, Loretta Lynn’s youngest sister, was born in Paintsville, KY in 1951. She adopted the stage name Crystal Gayle, and her pop-influenced country earns a string of hits, including the million-selling Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue.
